What Would Need to Be True
For position 1 (same structure):
Evidence that successful inner-child recovery precisely matches successful mother-imago separation outcomes
Evidence that "wounded child" work and "imago separation" work produce identical psychological transformations
Theoretical bridge showing these are descriptively equivalent
For position 2 (nested layers):
Evidence of distinct trauma patterns: relational (from internalized mother) vs. archetypal (from presence-destruction)
Evidence that working at one layer without the other produces incomplete integration
Clinical evidence of people whose relational wound healed but archetypal capacity remained frozen (or vice versa)
For position 3 (sequential):
Evidence that child-recovery work produces resources necessary for imago-separation work
Evidence that premature imago separation without first stabilizing the child produces destabilization
Clinical evidence of optimal sequence for male psychological development