A large part of dissociative therapy is learning to recognize and decipher the parts of a clients system.
So awareness and presence are key for the therapist.
Although, these are not the only pieces necessary to embark on this detective work with the client.
Because the inner world of a client is largely imaginative, subjective, and individualistic it can be a challenge to identify these parts of self.
Everyone’s internal organizing principle is different and as such will look different so a tool to guide us could be helpful.
What I utilize in my practice is something I borrowed from Richard Schwartz in his Internal Family Systems approach.
His approach is a wonderful adaptation of family systems theory applied internally which has a robust language of parts and borrows a lot from the Ego States Theory by Watkins and vice versa.
Schwartz identifies that every person has a true self, and when a person lives in connection with that true self there are certain characteristics or traits that naturally flow out of it. These characteristics of the true self are deemed the 8 C’s
- Calmness-feelings of physiological or mental calm
- Clarity– the ability to perceive situations without distortion from extreme beliefs and emotions
- Curiousity– the ability to become nonjudgmentally interested in even our most despised inner parts.
- Compassion- the ability to feel empathy, seeing a person’s suffering identifying that you suffer as well
- Confidence- the ability to remain calm and clear in the face of anger because one trusts that no matter what the offended/offender claims, it doesn’t mean they or you are bad or are going to be permanently harmed.
- Courage- the ability to be a voice for the disenfranchised, and also to recognize the damage we do to others and try to make amends.
- Creativity- the ability to freely express the self.
- Connectedness- the ability and desire to connect with the true self in others.
This is what therapists and clients can use to help map out and delineate whether a part or the self is active or if the self is active. Parts or Alters can be co-conscious or blend with the host so it can be challenging but using the 8 C’S can be a litmus test to identify and categorize the emotions, self-talk, and thoughts that are running through the mind.
As an example,
I have had several clients come to sessions with me and present a baseline and then have sessions outside of the normative.
We as people typically can just chalk this up to an off day, or a challenging day, or we could look at the outlier as an indicator of the presence of a part of self being out.
One client changed significantly after some risk behaviors, and for a while after had a completely different disposition and presentation in sessions.
As the client’s therapist, I point out the difference that I see in order to help the client to build self-awareness of what is going on, but the defense mechanisms and blending with the host can make it very difficult to have Clarity or Curiosity about the difference that I see. Often when I point out the difference I see or the potential presence of a part I am met with irritability or animosity showing that aspects of the self (Calmness, Courage, Compassion) are not active further solidifying that a part of self is present. I have even had some clients when a part is out completely changing the aptitude or willingness to be Creative showing that this part is blocking out the self. Typically the parts that I engage with lack a Connectedness with self (as per the diagnosis of DID or OSDD) or a large scale disconnection with people in their lives.
I think it is helpful to have assessments for identifying the presence of the diagnosis but without an ongoing tool that the client and the therapist can use as a metric of parts or self-mapping a clients system and getting to the roots of the trauma will be arduous.
I hope this tool is helpful!
Musings 