Trauma creates a disconnection from our body. Sometimes it shows in numbness for physical sensations and needs. We don’t feel hunger, cold or pain. It makes taking care of ourselves difficult and we might neglect our body. A lot of trauma survivors think of the body as their enemy. Something that needs to be avoided […]
concerning integration
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 […]
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 […]
Earned secure attachment within a DID system
Everyone has attachment. It is how humans are built. Not everyone has secure attachment though. The 3 insecure attachment types are anxious/preoccupied, avoidant/dismissive and disorganized. The vast majority of people with DID have disorganized attachment when we look at the whole person. This presentation is based on some parts who are attachment seeking and anxious […]
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 […]
Integrating Contradicting Parts
Dissociated parts are not all the same person at a different developmental stage. The functions and abilities of one complete person were separated into many pieces to cope with traumatic situations. And then parts kept developing and growing around the piece of functioning that they contain. Today, they are more than this one ability or […]
Blending dissociative parts (advanced)
Blending is an act where dissociative barriers are dissolved for a limited time so that the experience of one part mixes with the experience of another. They experience a temporary unity of self and they can move apart again intentionally, as they wish. During the first phases of our treatment we want to avoid blending […]
Halfway home – bridging the gap between worlds
When we work with our DID system, we can face situations where traumatized parts were cut off from the normal world. They have never been in contact with it and all they know is the world that the abusers created around them. Especially in organized abuse, the world that they know will have a limited […]
Epiphany #10: Paradox Lost
What is this? Some would insist it is a vase. Others would swear it is two faces. Neither of them is right. It is both a vase and two faces. It needs the existence of the vase to get two faces. It needs the faces to make a vase. Yet it is […]
Elements of Integration 4: Presentification
Presentification is an integrative mental action where we connect our experiences with their specific time in our life. There is a realisation, that the past is past, that we are currently in the Now and that there is a future ahead of us. Life events can get sorted into their place on a timeline and […]
Elements of Integration 3: Personification
Personification is a specific form of realization. In this mental action we connect our experiences with our first person perspective. It means we introduce the concepts of ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘mine’ and ‘myself’ to experiences of the past, present and expected future. I experienced painful things. They happened to me. My family treats me that way. […]
Elements of Integration 2: Realization
Realization is an integrative mental action that needs more and a slightly different kind of energy than synthesis. We take our traumatic and dissociated experience out of the fog of ‘not knowing’ or only ‘kind of knowing’ and enter a felt sense of its reality. It means knowing with our knower that bad things happened […]