Authentic Counselling Training

Personality Dissociation:
Subpersonalities and Multiple Personality

 [Under construction: 1 July 2005]

Preamble

Contents

  1. Preamble, disclaimer, word of warning, purpose of report
  2. Introduction
  3. Who has written about subpersonalities?
  4. Origins of subpersonalities
  5. Recognising subpersonalities
  6. Identification and dis-identification
  7. Working on a subpersonality
  8. Potential in subpersonalities
  9.  
  10. Bibliography

Preamble

This document is a simple introduction to aspects of personality dissociation. It is based on a paper I wrote some years ago about subpersonalities. I am in the process of expanding the document to include aspects of multiple personality, and I hope to make changes to this document monthly. Suggestions, guidance and advice on where and how to strengthen the document will be received with enthusiasm.

For people reading this in Britain, the term multiple personality will be poorly known, whereas for people living in North America, the term may be almost commonplace. I have discovered from correspondence that North American use of the term multiple personality tends to incorporate aspects of what would be more likely to be termed subpersonality in Britain. This serves to illustrate that personality dissociation is not an on-or-off phenomenon, but is instead a continuum. Where lines are drawn between different terminology says something about the person and society using that terminology.

Disclaimer

Presented here are views that I hold, or, where I state otherwise, views that I do not hold. I am not a medical practitioner, make no claims to be a medical practitioner, and should be profoundly unhappy were I to be cast in that role. I cannot and do not diagnose medical conditions, and disclaim all responsibility if anyone attempts to use this document for diagnostic purposes.

Word of warning

Several personal development exercises are included in this document. They are tried and tested. I have used them all, both on myself, and with other people, one of them with hundreds of people over many years. In the main, the exercises are found to be helpful, sometimes profoundly so, although occasionally a person is left entirely unmoved: we are all individual. I have never found any of these exercises to be remotely harmful. However, all personal development activities carry with them the risk of discovering something about yourself which you do not like and may cause you distress. If you intend to do anything more than simply read through the exercises, please ensure that you have close-to-hand support of a partner or friend, most likely to share your joy, but also to comfort you if you become upset. Unless you happen to be a well-experienced counsellor, please do not try these exercises out on anyone. Were you to do so, you would be meddling in what is not your business: your business is you. However, if you think the exercises are good, then invite your friend to visit this website and encounter the exercises for themselves.

Purpose of report

The purpose of this report is to present a brief exploration of the area of personality dissociation, to comment on some of the techniques in use with subpersonalities, and to offer some personal views from my experience.

I offer the opportunity to work on subpersonalities to counselling clients in order to help them to understand themselves better, and to course participants on counselling skills courses as a means to develop their own personal awareness. As a result of this work, over a number of years, I have developed my own techniques, and to some extent my own perspective. Contrary to some of the received wisdom on the subject, particularly relating to psychosynthesis, I consider the integration of subpersonalities into a notional `true self', except where the client expressly wishes it, to be neither necessary nor even desirable.

The 'integrationist' model attempts to unite disparate parts of ourselves which have become manifest, and may have further developed, in response to internal or external environmental circumstances. To attempt to integrate disparate behaviours, values and emotions tied up in one subpersonality with potentially contradictory behaviours, values and emotions associated with a different subpersonality seems to me to be an odd thing to want to do. We live demanding, multi-faceted lives, requiring of ourselves different, and maybe even contradictory, aspects of ourselves. As a counsellor, I cannot take with me into the counselling room the values and attitudes of which I make good use in my business affairs. I use my different strengths to help me in different circumstances. I benefit from my plurality of subpersonalities, and am accordingly willing to accept the plurality in others. There is a sense in which the contrast between the two approaches (integrationist and pluralist) is echoed both in national politics: the `integrationist' approach desiring strong national boundaries and fearing subsidiarity, i.e. the devolution of political power at levels other than the national state level; and the `pluralist' approach wanting a dispersion of power to competent authorities at appropriate levels.

In this report, I present and explore both sets of ideas, including ways of working with them, and explain why I believe the `pluralistic' approach to be more suited to my goals as a counsellor and personal development trainer.

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 p.g.h@btinternet.com

This document in all parts is copyright © Peter Hughes from the date of construction given above. Please feel free to make use of them for solely personal purposes. However, should you wish to use them for teaching, training, commercial or other purposes, you are required to ask me first.