When trauma has become chronic and our stress responses become the mode of normal functioning in the world, we will notice an impact on our personality. The way we see ourselves and the world and how we act within the world are guided by defensive actions. We might develop patterns of behavior that are based […]
therapy
Recovering from bad therapy
With DID, it is not rare at all to experience bad therapy. There are a multitude of reasons why therapists fail us and not being properly trained is just the most common one. Returning to the tasks of therapy with someone else will be exponentially more difficult after we got hurt. When we first started […]
The Discovery of Free Will
There is a small exercise that I have been doing for many years now. It offers a true and free choice within a safe setting. These choices are different from double binds that we might have experienced as we grew up. They are choices between positive or neutral things and whatever a part chooses they […]
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 […]
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 […]
Misinterpretations of DID-related behaviors (for helpers)
When we have DID, it is incredibly easy to get a misdiagnosis because the behaviors that we show based on our trauma history or inner experience get misinterpreted by mental health professionals. Common misdiagnoses are all kinds of personality disorders, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. In some cases, we might show isolated behaviors that are considered […]
Grounded Rescripting with dissociative parts
In Rescripting Techniques we work with the traumatic memory by looking at the scene and then changing things about it in our imagination to resolve the situation and bring it to a new and better ending. It is often done in the form of a rescue mission where our present self or adult parts enter […]
Recovery from trauma processing
Trauma processing is difficult on a number of levels. There is emotional stress when we look at scenes from the past, physical stress because we re-experience some of the stress responses, mental stress because our brain is trying hard to process the memory and figure out the necessary integrative actions and there is stress within […]
The 3 Phases of Trauma Therapy 3: Integration
Trauma and DID therapists commonly agree on working with a 3-phase model. It describes an order in which to do work for the best, fastest and safest results. In an attempt to keep articles short we will share about the different phases in separate articles. The 3 phases are Stabilization Trauma Processing Integration It […]
House of Healing: After-Care for Memory Processing with dissociative Parts
There are different ways to approach trauma processing with dissociative parts. All of them are exhausting and slightly incomplete. Our therapy sessions are long enough to work with the memory but they are never long enough to deal with all the feelings of hurt and injury, they can never cover a whole recuperation phase. What […]
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