In DID therapy, we want parts to change. We want them to be more oriented, to gain new knowledge about the world today and we want them to learn how to live and act in this new world. Old behaviors that belong to TraumaTime are not useful anymore and get in the way of […]
DID
Phobic Avoidance and Integrative Capacity
Professional literature about DID lists a number of ‘phobias’ that classically appear in DID therapy and that patients have to overcome. The phobias that are usually listed are the phobia of attachment and attachment loss (both, but showing in opposite parts) thought/feelings/memories/wishes associated with trauma other dissociative parts traumatic memory change and healthy risk-taking […]
Resolving complex situations with DID parts
Sometimes we run into problems that are more complex than a flashback. It needs more than simple Grounding or separating past from present. Several parts are activated at the same time and they are influencing each other in a way that maintains the problem. We have to actively intervene. I will explain 3 different versions […]
Relational vs Integrative Approaches for inner Work
[CN: this post is very much pro Integrated Functioning and can cause difficult emotions in people who insist in seeing DID as ‘many people in one body’] There are 2 main ways to approach inner work with dissociative parts. One is based on building relationships between parts, the other is based on resolving the […]
The Other Face of DID: Are we forgetting something?
The more recent literature that explains therapy approaches for DID seems to focus on impulsive behavior, visible stress responses and maladaptive coping like self-harm and drug use. It describes how demanding these patients are, how chaotic, and the kind of extreme boundaries it needs for therapists to protect themselves. I feel a growing unrest about […]
The Hours after Trauma Processing
The basic idea behind trauma processing is that trauma memories were stored but they weren’t integrated into our memory properly. They never became part of our life history and when they come up, it feels like they are happening now. Completely over-simplified, we can say that something about them didn’t settle right. When we process […]
The Way of Tears (Spirituality and Suffering)
During my own therapy process, therapists notice that my system seems stable and well connected. We have strong inner bonds, we pace ourselves better than anyone from the outside could do it, and even trauma processing is kind of smooth and safe. We do have something like a secret recipe for that and I will […]
Integrating abuser-loyal Parts
Abuser-loyal parts often feel closely attached to abusers and hold warm feelings for them like love, gratefulness, awe etc. In the past, that was a helpful survival strategy because it has an appeasing effect. The efforts to please these people granted us more safety. We also split up the inner picture of abusive people in […]
Integrative Actions in Trauma Processing for DID
The concept behind trauma processing is usually to bring up the traumatic memory in a controlled setting, use an intervention to break up the fixed way in which it got stuck and then support the brain in re-organizing the memory in a new and more connected/integrated way. That is why you will find the term […]
Screen Technique in Trauma Therapy
For the Screen Technique, trauma patients are asked to imagine their memories like a movie on a screen. It is supposed to create some distance to the memory to avoid flooding. The memory is not happening right here right now, it is just on the screen. The pictures on the screen can then be changed […]
Preparing for Trauma Processing for DID
We can treat trauma processing like any other difficult situation and prepare for it by making a BDA Plan. It is a structured way to make sure that we have everything we need so that the therapy session can go smoothly. Being informed and organized takes at least some of the stress out of a […]
In the Mirror of the Other (advanced)
Our own integration starts in the thinking mind of our therapist I wrote that almost exactly 3 years ago when talking about the therapeutic relationship. As I move into later phases of therapy it seems to me that this is one of the most profound things I have ever said. So please forgive […]
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