Re: Ego States

You've got it! With a little help from your friends....

Again I can't comment on your specific case but I just want to be clear that it is part of normal human functioning to have ego states. It only starts to be a problem with there is more dissociation -- meaning, more inner conflict with pushing away of painful or unacceptable parts of self.

Example of normal ego states: I'm one way with with my dog (you should hear how I talk to that dog!), another way with my husband, another with my women friends, another with my elderly mother, another with my clients -- but I can remember each way of being if I think about it.

For trauma survivors (not fully dissociative but a bit) some of the ways they had to learn to be -- to survive -- may be so disturbing to other parts of self that they keep them away from consciousness. Example, A part had to be there during the trauma on a regular basis in childhood so may be, let's say, sexualized at age 7. Another part of self may hold shame, another rage, another terror, another sadness. Each of those feeling parts are like containers to keep the distress contained so the person can "do life". Completely udnerstandable and necessary for survival, but overwhelming if all accessible to conscious awarenesss. So they are walled off. Preserved for decades.

In full dissociation (DID) those containers have lives of their own, amnesia for being in the same body, there is amnesia for time (episodes of lost time) and other things that tell us there is extensive dividedness.

EMDR, with anyone no matter where they are on the dissociative continuum, brings more of self into simultaneous consciousness. Moreover, in EMDR one is more likely to "own" the experience, meaning, the ego states are more integrated. With more dissociation, there is more preparation needed to make sure parts of self who believe they are separate to consent to this integrated experience or the EMDR will get stuck and churn and loop. Summary: EMDR finds divdedness and moves towards integration, if the self-system is ready.

Replies:

Re: Ego States, by , 08/26/00 Re: Ego States, by uncertain, 08/26/00 Re: Ego States, by Sandra Paulsen Inobe, PhD, 08/26/00 Re: Ego States - update & thanks, by uncertain, 08/31/00 Re: Ego States - update & thanks, by Robert P. O'Brien, Ph.D., 09/05/00 Re: Ego States - update & thanks, by Too many to write down......hehehhe, 11/07/01 Re: Ego States - update & thanks, by Sandra Paulsen Inobe, PhD, 11/08/01

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