This is a link to one of the first articles written on Discussing Dissociation — an oldie, but a goodie.
Being Kind to your Internal System.
Yep — that article is about treating your internal system with kindness. Kindness plus a few other words come to mind….. Gentleness. Compassion. Tenderness. Empathy. Softness. Understanding.
All that warm gooey emotional stuff might feel difficult to do, but it is absolutely essential for healing.
Being kind sounds like a very basic concept, but for many dissociative systems, treating the other parts INSIDE the DID system with kindness may not come easily. This can be a very difficult skill to learn for trauma survivors.
At the same time, it is crucial to not be hurting each other inside, to not be abusive to each other inside, to not be mean to each other inside — or for the body either, for that matter. Teach yourselves to use kindness and compassion instead of self injury, even in the face of adversity, when dealing with conflicts, or having intense feelings.
All too many insiders are treated with internal violence and left in dirty, messy, filthy conditions. That was how the abuse happened — I get that. But please move forward in your healing by giving your insiders a nice place to live internally.
How are you doing with these ideas?
Warmly,
Kathy
Copyright © 2008-2019 Kathy Broady MSW and Discussing Dissociation
I dont want any of the inside kids being nice to me.
I deal better with michael.
People are jerks in real life.
At least michael is real and not fake and not a liar like most people. He at least tells me what he really thinks of me. I can deal with that.
The inside kids pretend to be nice by
Ut really there a bunch of brats.