How many of you have been watching the award-winning HBO Series, "In Treatment" with Gabriel Byrne, Dianne Wiest, and John Mahoney? This HBO series is currently near the beginning of its second season, centered around how Dr. Paul Weston (Byrne) conducts therapy sessions with four different clients, and then his own individual therapy process with his own therapist, Dr. Gina Toll (Wiest). In my opinion, the "In … [Read more...]
Do’s and Don’ts for Singleton Friends of Multiples
I am not sure who wrote the following list of “Do’s and Don’ts for Singleton Friends of Multiples”. This list was e-mailed to me years ago by a person with Dissociative Identity Disorder, saying this list was comprised by an anonymous group* of multiples. I am sure that there could be many other suggestions added to the list, but for today, I will post it in exactly the same format as I received … [Read more...]
When It’s Dark and Scary on the Inside…
Trauma survivors with Dissociative Identity Disorder can see an internal world. Step back, turn around an look inside - it will be there. What happens if you have looked inside and all you see is a lot of darkness, or desolation, and not so many people with welcome arms? First of all, think about what internal darkness means to you as an individual. There are a variety of … [Read more...]
Using Collage as a Way of Communicating
Creating a collage is another way of allowing your internal system parts to tell more about themselves. Pictures can be a powerful way of communicating. And a collage - a collection of pictures - can tell a lifetime of stories. Most trauma survivors were repeatedly told by their abusers, "Do not tell". Violence, threats, abuse, and pain often accompanied these rules. How many times did you hear "don't say … [Read more...]
Working with Difficult and Destructive Alters
I'm going to take a slight detour in the internal communication series and write a little about working with difficult alters (aka insiders, inners, system parts, inside people, etc). It is crucial to work with these internal parts, no matter how challenging and hopeless things seem in the beginning. Your therapy and healing will never be resolved unless you approach the issues connected with these difficult … [Read more...]