Indigo child

Photograph during a live radio program on indigo children.

Indigo children, according to a New Age pseudoscientific concept, are children believed to possess special, unusual, and sometimes supernatural traits or abilities. on concepts developed in the 1970s by Nancy Ann Tappe and further developed by Lee Carroll and Jan Tober.

The concept of indigo children gained popular interest with the publication of a series of books in the late 1990s and the release of several films in the following decade. A variety of books, lectures and related materials have been created around the belief in the idea of indigo children, their nature and abilities. Interpretations of these beliefs cover a wide spectrum, from that they are the next stage in human evolution, and that in some cases they possess paranormal abilities such as telepathy, to the belief that they are more empathic and creative than their peers "not indigo".

There are no scientific studies that support the credibility of the existence of the indigo children or their supposed characteristics. Some parents choose to label their children who have been diagnosed with learning disabilities in this way as an alternative to a medical or psychological diagnosis. Critics see this as a way for parents to avoid considering pediatric treatment or a psychiatric diagnosis. Some lists of traits used to describe Indigo children have also been criticized as vague enough to apply to most people. people, a form of the Forer effect.

Origins

The term "indigo children" originated with parapsychologist and self-described psychic and synesthetic Nancy Ann Tappe, who developed the concept in the 1970s. In 1982, Tappe published a comb-bound book, which she later expanded and republished in paperback in 1986 under the title "Understanding Your Life Thru Color" (Understanding your life through color) . In these publications, Tappe introduced the concept of "colors of life", defined as "the only color of the aura that remains constant in most people from the cradle to the grave". of "colors of life" it was popularized nationally by Tappe alumnus Barbara Bowers, who published "What Color Is Your Aura?: Personality Spectrums for Understanding and Growth" (What Color Is Your Aura?: Personality Spectrums for Understanding and Growth) in 1989, and by Bowers student Pamala Oslie, who published Life Colors: What the Colors in Your Aura Reveal in 1991.

Tappe stated that in the late 1960s and early 1970s he began to notice that many children were born with indigo auras (or, in his terminology, with indigo as their "life color"). The idea was later popularized by the 1998 book The Indigo Children: The New Kids Have Arrived, written by the promoting couple self-help organization Lee Carroll and Jan Tober. Carroll claims he got the concept by telepathically conversing with an extraterrestrial entity he calls "Kryon".

In 2002, the first international conference on indigo children was held in Hawaii, drawing 600 attendees, and similar conferences have since been held in Florida, Oregon, and elsewhere.

Several films have been produced on the subject, including two films by New Age writer James Twyman: a 2003 film titled "Indigo" and a 2006 documentary: "The Indigo Evolution".

Sarah W. Whedon suggests in a 2009 article in Nova Religio that the social construction of indigo children is a response to an "apparent crisis of American childhood" in the form of increased youth violence and diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Whedon believes that parents label their children as "indigo" to provide an alternative explanation for their children's inappropriate behavior stemming from ADHD.

Characteristics assigned to indigo children

Descriptions of the indigo children include that they:

• They are empathic, curious and strong will.
• They are often perceived by friends and family as strangers.
• They have a clear sense of self-definition and purpose.
• They show a strong subconscious spirituality innate from early childhood (which, however, does not necessarily imply a direct interest in spiritual or religious areas).
• They have a strong sense of "right" or deserve to be here.
• Higher levels of intuition, imagination and spontaneity.
• They may have supernatural abilities such as telekinesis, clairvoyance, piroquinesis or healing capacity.

Other putative traits include:

• High intelligence.
• Intuitive skill inherent.
• Resistance to rigid and control-based paradigms of authority.
• Having a strong feeling to generate a "significant difference" in the world.

According to Tober and Carroll, Indigo children may perform poorly in conventional schools because of their rejection of rigid authority, because they are more intelligent or spiritually mature than their teachers, and because of their lack of response to discipline based on belief. guilt, fear or manipulation.

According to research psychologist Russell Barkley, the New Age movement has yet to produce empirical evidence for the existence of indigo children, as the traits most commonly attributed to them are closely aligned with the Forer effect, so vague that could describe almost anyone. Many critics view the concept of indigo children as made up of extremely general traits, a false diagnosis that is an alternative to a medical diagnosis, with a complete lack of scientific rigor or supporting studies.

Psychiatry and psychology have dismissed the veracity of the claims of proponents of the existence of the Indigo Children, as no earthly evidence of their existence has been proven. Child psychiatry experts state that New Age supporters "should produce empirical evidence".

Relation to psychiatric diagnoses

Indigo as an alternative to diagnosis

Retired philosophy professor and skeptic Robert Todd Carroll notes that many of those involved in the indigo phenomenon have different qualifications and experience, and that parents may prefer to label their child as indigo as an alternative to a diagnosis that could imply a poor parenting, narcissistic parenting, damage, or mental conditions. This belief is shared by many academic psychologists.

Some mental health experts worry that labeling a disruptive child as "indigo" may delay proper diagnosis and treatment that might help the child or investigate the parenting style that may be causing the behavior. Others have argued that many of the traits of Indigo children could be interpreted more prosaically as simple lack of of discipline and attention.

Relation to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Many children labeled as indigo by their parents are diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Tober and Carroll's book "The Indigo Children" (The Indigo Children) linked the concept to the diagnosis of ADHD. David Cohen notes that labeling a child as Indigo is an alternative to a diagnosis implying mental illness, which may appeal to many parents. Cohen has stated: 'The opinion in medicine is that ADHD is a defect. It is a disorder. If you're a parent, the idea of 'gifted' it's much more appealing than the idea of a disorder".

Linking the concept of indigo children to disgust at the use of Ritalin to control ADHD, Robert Todd Carroll states: "The hype and near-hysteria surrounding Ritalin use has contributed to an atmosphere that makes it possible for a book like Indigo Children to be taken seriously. Given the choice, who wouldn't rather believe their children are special and chosen for a great mission than believe they have a brain disorder?"

Stephen Hinshaw, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, says that concerns about over-medicating children are legitimate, but even gifted children with ADHD learn better with more structure than less, even if the structure initially causes difficulties. Many labeled as indigo children are or have been home schooled.

Many children labeled as indigo children meet the same identification criteria as those children who have been raised by a narcissistic parent and are considered to have suffered emotional abuse.

A 2011 study suggested that parents of children with ADHD who label their children as "indigos" they may perceive problem behaviors emblematic of ADHD as more positive and experience less frustration and disappointment, although they still experience more negative emotions and conflict than parents of children not diagnosed with ADHD.

Relation to autism

Relation to autism

Marketing

The concept of the Indigo Children has been criticized for being less about children and their needs, and more about the profits to be made by self-described experts from book and video sales, as well as lucrative counseling sessions, boot camps, and more. summer, conferences and talks.

Discussion as a new religious movement

Nancy Ann Tappe originally noted that a type of indigo child (the "interdimensional child"), despite being seen as abusive, was expected to lead new religious movements.

A pagan author, Lorna Tedder, anecdotally notes that every pagan woman she knew who had or was going to have a child believed their child was an indigo child.

S. Zohreh Kermani states that "Despite their issues with authority, uncontrollable tempers and overbearing egos, indigo children are the ideal offspring of many pagan parents: sensitive, psychic and strong-willed." But he also points out that the concept has less to do with the child's psychic abilities than the parents' own hopes and desire to "distinguish themselves from the less evolved masses."

Daniel Kline, in an essay titled "The New Kids: Indigo Children and New Age Discourse" (The New Kids: Indigo Children and New Age Discourse), points out that the magical belief that children's innocence equates to spiritual powers has been around for centuries, and that the indigo children movement has its roots in a religious rejection of science-based medicine. In particular, he claims that Nancy Ann Tappe derived some of her ideas from Charles Webster Leadbeater (her main innovation is emphasizing the connection between children and the color indigo), and that New Age adoption of the concept is a reaction against ADHD and autism diagnoses. Kline also discusses how Carroll and Tober have tried to distance themselves from religious beliefs about indigo children in order to maintain control of the concept (even recanting their earlier claims about auras), and how both skeptics and New Agers alike use references rhetoric to science (despite the latter's rejection of scientific methods) to legitimize their ideological beliefs about the existence of the indigo children.

At the 2014 Cambridge University Ideas Festival, anthropologist Beth Singler discussed how the term "indigo children" it functioned as a new religious movement, along with Jediism. Singler's work focuses on the Indigo movement as part of a general discussion of "moral panics related to children, parenting, diagnosis of conditions like ADHD and autism and conspiracy theories about Big Pharma and vaccines".