My Hidden Chimp: From the best-selling author of The Chimp Paradox

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Professor Steve Peters – Consultant Psychiatrist – BA, PGCE, MBBS, MEd, MRCPsych, PhD, DSc, Dip Sports Med. It’s liberating for both children and adults to know we’re not mad or bad, it’s just our minds need managing. And as we are unique, some people’s minds need more managing. ‘People come in and they will say to me things like, “I’m a really anxious person”,’ says Peters. ‘In scientific terms, that’s not factually true.’ He explains it like this: ‘the body and mind you’ve been put into, is prone to going towards anxiety.’ Manage your mind, and ‘you’ll find you’re not an anxious person, you’ve just got an anxious machine.’ Being fully present and actively listening to your child when they share something like this is so important. In other words try to establish ideally how she would like to be in these situations and then allow her to make her way towards that gradually on her terms.

Try to become aware of any negative words your child might say. As adults, we can get used to hearing and thus ignoring self-deprecating and negative comments. However, actively listening out for the negative words your child uses can be so helpful in recognising where their inner chimp shows up. It could be words such as:My Hidden Chimp is an effective and powerful new educational book that offers parents, teachers and carers some ideas and thoughts on how to help children to develop healthy habits for life. These 10 habits should and can be retained for life. This is an important and another groundbreaking new book from the bestselling author of The Chimp Paradox and the creator of the chimp management mind model. I believe it is important for him to distance himself from the machine in his head that is causing this problem. I am sure he doesn’t welcome it any more than you do. The examples in the book are 4 children and their chimps in various different circumstances where the human thinks one thing and the chimp is thinking something else. For instance you want to go for a walk but your chimp wants to stay at home and do nothing or you know that you’re safe in bed but the chimp is scared of the dark. The examples given are wide ranging so that readers will recognise themselves in some of the characters. The chimps are given names (readers name their own chimp too) and are often presented humourously.

Essentially, one system is all about reason and logic (the human system), one is about emotional reaction (the chimp system) and one is based on established beliefs. These systems are constantly vying for attention and, biologically, the chimp – the animal instinct we’re born with – has the upper hand. The book states that it can be read by the child on their own or with an adult. I would suggest that (for younger readers especially) the book should be read with an adult as I feel misunderstanding the content could have negative effects. Potential Criticisms When we talk about the inner chimp during our coaching sessions, it’s incredible to see the clarity and transformation it can create. I love a dual process theory metaphor as much as the next rationalist (researching this post I came across King Louie and the Apes which I quite like). The Blue minimising robot series completely changed how I thought about myself and cleared up a lot of the confusions that I had about myself (e.g. what I would now call akrasia). I would say that, personally, dual process theory is the most useful thing that I have learnt under the umbrella of rationality.The 'problem' could be that as adults we try to thwart this powerful and sensible drive to conform with what is practical. Having said that, it's not a helpful drive if it's being overdone. So I do appreciate your frustration. Currently it sounds as if she is focused on the problem. It might be worth discussing with her what solutions there could be for her to overcome or at least lessen these anxieties. For children, emotions show up in many different, unpredictable ways, and it can be even harder to make sense of them. The book also functions as a workbook as it includes space to respond to the messages, for example by listing how you want to feel and behave and how you don’t. It encourages the child to name their Chimp and gives them practical tips to help develop new skills like a three-step guide for what to do when you can’t accept that no means no.