Trauma and Dissociation Informed Internal Family Systems: How to Successfully Treat C-PTSD, and Dissociative Disorders by Joanne Twombly

Author:Joanne Twombly [Twombly, Joanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-07T13:30:00+00:00

Some people with DID/OSDD have complex systems with many layers of parts. Do not activate parts in different layers as that makes the work overly complicated and adds to the possibility of overwhelm. Some therapists believe that all parts should be included in all of the treatment. This is not practical or helpful for those with many parts.

Example: One client worked with a therapist who encouraged him to meet all of his parts. He eventually connected with over 80 parts. This slowed down his healing as it was impossible to work with all the parts at once and since they had been activated, they all wanted attention.

Key Strategies for Getting to Know Parts

Different clients have different responses to finding out that they have parts and/or that to heal, they need to get to know them. Some have actively suppressed parts either unconsciously or consciously and have been running their lives without any knowledge or real connection to their systems. For them, it is a shock to find out that to heal, they need to accept, get to know, and work with all the parts in their system.

One woman said, “I hate those whiny parts of me. They’ve been ruining my life for years.” To clients like her I say, “It makes sense that you aren’t interested in knowing yourself as a whole person. Your parents weren’t interested in you as a whole person. They wanted you to be compliant, to not complain, to not ask for help, etc. But we need to do better than your parents.” I might also say, “You’ve been trying to get rid of the parts for years and it hasn’t worked. Let’s try it my way.” Or, “If we could work on you healing without you working with parts, I would do it. But that would be a waste of time and I’m not doing anything that slows down your healing.” I say these things along with compassion and acceptance of their grief and loss. Imagine what it would be like to suddenly find out that you are one of many and that you suddenly have to get to know and accept all of them to heal.

Others will have more awareness of parts and have an easier time connecting with many of the parts in their systems.

There are several ways to assist with parts getting to know each other. IFS language can be extremely helpful. For instance, I might say: “Focus lightly (note: “lightly” as in this population feelings can be extremely strong) on the anxiety. Where do you feel it in and around your body?... Ask the part holding this feeling (these feeling, this belief, the image etc.) to give you some space or sit next to you. We don’t want the part to go away, this will help us get to know the part.” Or “Focus lightly on the anxiety and notice how you’re feeling toward the part who’s holding it.” If the manager/adult/ or other part (at times systems are entirely run by child parts) says, “I hate that part.

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