Authentic Counselling Training
Personality Dissociation:
Subpersonalities and Multiple Personality
[Under construction: 1 July 2005 ]
Working on a subpersonality
As a counsellor, I work with the subpersonalities of
a counselling client when the client finds it helpful. There
are three simple ways in which clients find it helpful to address their subpersonalities. An understanding of subpersonalities helps clients:
- to make sense of
contradictory behaviour, thoughts and emotions;
- to make sense of
incomprehensible behaviour (e.g. over-use of alcohol);
- to
approach dilemmas creatively and with sensitivity.
Once a client understands something of the concept of subpersonalities,
and recognise some of their own, they are easily able to understand their own
contradictory behaviour, thoughts and emotions. No counselling client with whom
I have worked in this way has failed to grasp this. Behaviour, thoughts and
emotions which are otherwise incomprehensible, pose
more of a difficulty. However, working in a client-centred fashion, I attempt
to stay in the client's frame of reference, which means that together we can
affirm behaviour, thoughts and emotions which are less
acceptable when censored by the vehicle of the subpersonalities
used most of the time. It feels good when a client spontaneously realises a
principal need or strength of a subpersonality that had previously been considered only troublesome.
The third use which clients make of understanding their subpersonalities is becoming more aware of what is
involved for them in making decisions. When a client recognises that different subpersonalities are bound to be pulling in different
directions, then it becomes obvious that, rather than
simply feeling uncomfortably torn, an agenda has been set, and constructive
work can be done to address the needs of different subpersonalities.
In addition to these points, some clients, when recognising particular subpersonalities, or "bits of themselves" as I
tend to say, feel liberated to go and `be that subpersonality' for a while, in the appropriate
environment. This pluralistic approach is empowering, and can allow clients to
gain confidence in situations in which a silent voice had formerly carped.
By way of contrast, the following exercise, drawn from Piero Ferrucci (1), is
typical of the `integrationist' position. It starts from a state of altered
awareness (walking through countryside), and is therefore communicating that I
may be expecting, or be expected, to work with hidden parts of myself. A strength of the exercise is that it will allow the ‘transformation’
or reframing of poor quality features of the subpersonality
into high quality features. The weakness of the exercise for me is that the
frame of reference remains ‘I’, and is a form of personality totalitarianism.
Exercise Three
- Choose a subpersonality with whom you are already familiar.
- Imagine yourself in a
valley with this subpersonality. Together, the
two of you experience your surroundings. You look around and see the
grass, the flowers, the trees, and a mountain. Take some time to become
aware of the sounds of nature around you-the chirping of the birds, the
sounds of the leaves in the wind, and the like.
- Now start walking up the
mountain with your subpersonality. As you keep
ascending, you can imagine seeing all kinds of scenery, climbing through
woods and rocks, walking on wide meadows or near precipices. Keep in touch
with the increasing sense of elevation, feel the air becoming purer and
more energising, and listen to the utter silence of the heights.
- Throughout the ascent, keep
in contact with your subpersonality. You may see
it going through subtle transformations-like a variation in mood or facial
expression or dress-or even a radical transformation: the subpersonality changing completely into something
else.
- When you reach the top, let
the light of the sun shine on the two of you and
reveal the very essence of your subpersonality.
You may see a transformation taking place once
more. At this point, let the subpersonality
express itself for what it is now, and let it communicate with you.
References
- Ferrucci, P., 1982, What We May Be, London: Turnstone Press.
Personality
dissociation pages: Previous page 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next page
This
document in all parts is copyright ©