#parts work

[kellymagovern]

Internal Family Systems (IFS) explained [x]

[healingchildhoodtrauma]

[subsystems]

Developing an Inner Safe Space for Parts

Note: This post was written for people with dissociative disorders, but anyone else can use the methods here if they're helpful!

This post is all about inner safe spaces! What is an inner safe space, though? Here's what Coping with Trauma-related Dissociation says:

"Inner safe spaces are images of places where you can be safe, relaxed, and cared for. These images have been shown to be helpful to many people, not just those with dissociative disorders. This type of imaginal activity is well known to produce a feeling of relaxation and well-being in those who use it regularly. If your inner experience feels so jarring, unsafe, and frightening, as it often does in individuals with dissociative disorders, the ability to imagine these spaces becomes especially important and helpful."

Inner safe spaces can be useful for many things. You can use it to relax & alleviate anxiety. It can be a tool for soothing dissociated parts of the self, or aide in your communication with them. You or other parts can enter your inner safe space to protect yourself from feeling overwhelmed or potential triggers. Overall, creating an inner safe space can help make your mind a safer, calmer place.

So, how do you make one? All you have to do is imagine it!

Your inner safe space can be anything you want to imagine. There are no rules and it can always be changed! You can create one imaginary place for all parts of your system to share & add to. Or, each part of your system can create their own inner safe spaces to match their own needs. Some people already experience some sort of inner world, too. This can always be changed in order to make it feel safer and calmer for all parts of the system.

🌟 Ideas for inner safe spaces:

Outdoor areas like a meadow, beach, forest, mountain, etc.

Buildings like a cabin, tree house, castle, library, etc.

Vehicles like a car, pirate ship, submarine, spacecraft, etc.

Something underground, underwater, in the sky, or in space.

An entire planet or world of your own.

A fictional world that brings you comfort.

An inner safe space isn't a safe space if it doesn't make you, including all parts of you, feel safe. A good place to start is by writing down things that make you feel safe. If you don't know what makes you feel safe, try looking at what makes you feel less unsafe. It might also help to ask a loved one or therapist for help!

Invite your system to include their own needs, too. Try not to judge them even if you disagree. It's important for all parts of the system to feel safe.

🌟 Ideas for things that you can add/adjust to make your inner safe space feel more comfortable:

Add games, food, and movies that you like

Create individual rooms for each part of the system

Give yourself an inner appearance that makes you happy

Add your favorite colors, sounds, smells, & sights

Add people, characters, animals & creatures that you like

Give yourself a comfortable bed, with soft blankets & maybe even some plushies

Add pride flags!

Create a protective force field around your safe space

You or other parts may want to have a safe space that no one else can intrude upon and that's okay. It's important to respect each other's privacy. You can also adjust the inner safe space to make communication between parts easier! For example, you could add intercoms, mailboxes, telephones, or even a meeting area for aiding communication.

🌟 Having trouble visualizing, or can't visualize things at all? Try...

Drawing or painting it.

Writing about it.

Building it. You can use a video game like the Sims (get it for free!) or Minecraft.

Basing it off of a real place.

Collecting photos/videos of what you want it to be like. You can find royalty-free images on Unsplash and Pixabay. Or you create a Pinterest account!

Filling a journal, document, blog, or discord server with pictures, writing, and anything you want about your inner safe space!

Trying guided exercises for creating inner safe spaces. (IMO this is best done with a therapist's help.)

Asking your friends, therapist, or loved ones for their suggestions.

Creating a physical safe space instead of an inner one.

[fragmentedfae-userboxes]

[chillizabeth777]

[angels-wantme-dead]

It is my personal philosophy that individualistic identity is an illusion. We're bred and raised as people to value one true identity, but I don't believe identity is a single point you can put your finger on.

It is my belief that not only are we as people ever changing, but that we all have multiple selves. Let me explain.

The body theory states that personal identity is tied specifically to your body. But if this is the case, it begs a similar question to the ship of Theseus. Cells are born, they grow, they contribute to our living body, and they die. We are still us.

Is it such a stretch to suggest that identity is not a solid object but far more akin to a more abstract concept?

Another example;

Are you the same person you are when you were 5 years old? 10? 15? 20 even? I severely doubt it. Change is a part of human nature in the sense that we are living beings. Beings that grow. Beings made up of cells that are born, they live, they die. Much like we do collectively.

So why are we as people so focused on a single minded identity? The very concept of an alter ego is a rarity, something you only see in comic books. Even dissociative identity disorder, (which has more symptoms than just plurality and thus is not exclusively defined by it) is very often relegated to a Hollywood horror stereotype.

The alternate identity is shunned. Is encouraged to be kept secret. To be controlled. To be silenced. When the truth of the matter is that while many of us thrive in this single identity centric society, many of us struggle within it as well.

Those of us drawn to define ourselves as plural, our mindset is different. We see between the cracks that make us ourselves.

Think of a gemstone. A gemstone is composed of many things. Pressures and minerals that form faceted sides. Sides that shape to a point and become the whole; a gemstone.

We as people are the same. Our cells make our organs, our organs make our bodies, our bodies make us.

But who are we?

Are we the person we become at work when we talk to our boss? Are we the person we become around our partners? Our closest friends? Or are we our 'true' selves around our family? Do you have a twin? Are you your true self around them?

Now again, this isn't to say that all people suffer from dissociative disabilities. This isn't the case. What I'm discussing with you now is not the diagnosis of DID/OSDD but rather the philosophy of multiple identities.

Because plurality, or multiple identities, are not the only symptoms of these disabilities. Many are very content in their singular identity.

But why is it such a crime for a person to indulge in the philosophy of multiple identities if that is what they're drawn to?

Who is to say what part of this plural is their 'true' self.

All in all, what I mean to say is that I reject the idea of 'true' self.

Because it's my philosophy, my personal belief, that we are all like the ship of Theseus. We are all gemstones.

And in the end there is no higher authority that falls onto you that makes your thoughts on the matter any more real than mine. Because I am not arguing the science. Science is irrelevant here.

I am arguing self determination. I am arguing for the rights of others to be who they are drawn to be. And if that identity is multiple, then so be it.

[butterflyinthewell]

Meet my “Inside Out” crew!

I’m doing “parts work” in therapy. It’s where I take aspects of my personality or emotions and assign them a name/face. These are not DID alters, it’s more like a poker hand where they’re all there all the time, it’s just some may be in conflict or upset. I assigned them an appearance or a fictional character that I feel matches them.

For example: I’ve realized I have outward trauma reactions when Trauma and Angry Fighter clash. They want to fight because they have the same goal and can’t agree on how to achieve it, so I have to step in as the core and keep them apart.

A big chunk of my therapy is figuring out what all these parts do and what they want.

So let’s meet them! Strap in, there’s 10 of them.

MY PARTS

Seasonal Anxiety— transparent deer in the woods, usually feels caught in headlights of oncoming vehicles. This poor thing pees cortisol everywhere all the time. She knows there is danger in all directions, from tigers, hunters with guns, vehicles and unseen holes in the dark. She is afraid to move because it might mean she gets hurt or causes someone else to get hurt. She doesn’t feel heard when she cries out in warning and gets hit by cars a lot, but still she tries to warn when she sees the light beams from Watchtower. She is terrified of the other parts, but Curious is taking notice of her existence. Angry Fighter is the only part that listens to Seasonal Anxiety, with disastrous effects. She is terrorized by Trauma during traumaversaries.

Territory: Amygdala, often hijacks the limbic system.

Watchtower— a lighthouse on a cliffside overlooking the sea. It is the hypervigilance always scanning every horizon for danger and distress. If anything on the horizon changes, it activates whatever other parts need to wake up to act. It NEVER turns off. The light will be bright or dim, but it is always on, sweeping, waiting. Its beam gets distorted by Black Hole Depression, which pisses off Angry Fighter and scares Seasonal Anxiety with constant false alarms.

Territory: occipital lobe, though the beam sweeps the whole brain.

Angry Fighter— Monsterverse Godzilla, big, angry, can topple a city and destroy everything in his path. He sees the danger and fear and responds by trying to fight, to restore balance, because that’s what Monsterverse Godzilla’s role is in those movies. He doesn’t tolerate what he thinks is injustice and is very loud about speaking up when anxiety isn’t stuck in the way. Curious tries to reason with him and he just steps on her and tramples over Imaginative Writer during his fights with Black Hole Depression and Trauma.

Territory: sleeps in the cerebellum, roams the limbic system, likely to hijack the amygdala and frontal lobes when rampaging.

Curious— 13th Doctor from Doctor Who, she is the one who asks questions, wants to know all the reasons for everything and runs around through time and space looking for answers. She is hungry to understand what all this means and how all these parts connect. She tries unsuccessfully to reason with Angry Fighter and is trying to talk to Seasonal Anxiety. She’s afraid of Trauma, but wants to understand him.

Territory: cerebral cortex, prefers higher thought areas.

Imaginative Writer— a tiny mouse in a tiny office typing on the tiniest keyboard you’ll ever see. She wrote all these profiles and she does the work of translating concepts into words. Sometimes she squeaks out ideas and sometimes the other parts listen. She writes all kinds of fanfiction, though not all of it gets typed, and she gets absorbed in fictional stories. Curious and Bubbly Butterfly are her buddies, they feed her creativity. Battles between Angry Fighter, Trauma and Black Hole Depression demolish her office frequently, which she hates. She activates Watchtower and Seasonal Anxiety with her squeaks when things go awry. All she wants is for the noisy parts to shut up and leave her alone to type in peace!

Territory: Precuneus region, with messages sent to Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area.

Critic— looks like Rita Repulsa from the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and she barks in her screechy voice at everything the other parts do. She never has anything nice to say and makes everybody else feel like crap. She’s almost as hated as Black Hole Depression. Angry Fighter stomps her fortress all the time and she just rebuilds it and carries on being nasty.

Territory: Cerebral cortex, where she sometimes punches down into the limbic system or hippocampus.

Bubbly Butterfly— a sparkly, iridescent butterfly surrounded by bubbles, her sparkling wings and bubbles act as a shroud to cover up the other parts. She flits around, lighthearted, making jokes when things get bad and tries to be social, though it often falls flat. People often find her irritating. She just wants to be liked and to make people feel better. Trauma and Black Hole Depression terrify her and she unsuccessfully tries to keep them hidden from everybody else.

Territory: limbic system and frontal lobes.

Black Hole Depression— a black hole that bends time, space and matter around it. It absorbs everything, it is in excruciating pain, it feels unloved, unheard, ignored and dismissed. Oftentimes it doesn’t care what happens to it or those around it. It is afraid anyone who comes too close will be sucked in or flung away. It unbalances and distorts everything by sucking up too much serotonin and spitting out norepinephrine as radioactive jets. It thinks it destroys everything it touches. NOBODY LIKES IT. Everybody is afraid of it except Angry Fighter, who often steps in and starts fights to keep the balance. I don’t know what purpose it serves.

Territory: basal ganglia, with its gravity affecting the orbitofrontal cortex the most.

Trauma— Godzilla from “Godzilla Minus One”, is sometimes hidden in the glare of Black Hole Depression’s accretion disk. They’re in a symbiotic relationship. Everybody except Angry Fighter runs for cover when Trauma emerges, and Black Hole Depression tends to follow the paths of his rampages because it’s free food. He’s in pain, enraged, hates everything and wants whatever woke him up to be obliterated. When he wakes up and rampages, he destroys everything in his path. He terrorizes Seasonal Anxiety with roars and stomps during traumaversaries, to never let her forget. His atomic beam throws the entire brain into chaos. Angry Fighter tangles with him sometimes, but it's always a draw.

Territory: orbitofrontal cortex until he rampages, then the entire brain is caught up in his wrath.

Insight— Piccolo from Dragonball Z/Super. This quiet part is an observer that prefers to sit off to the side from the others and contemplate. He is responsible for the other parts being discovered, he directs the core to Curious when questions arise, and he wants the core to believe in herself more. His sphere of influence seems to grow during training, and he trains whenever the core is in a therapy session or practicing what she learned from her therapist.

Territory: Hippocampus, but his training takes him to the limbic system, precuneus region and cerebral cortex.

[the-midnight-in-me]

Parts work is challenging when your loudest part is avoidance

[daughterofanarcissistwoman]

At this point in my life, you only really have one chance to make my inner child cry like this and we’re done. (Partner, friends, family, anyone)

Now, I’m going to make up for all the years I stayed with people who had me like that repeatedly.

[unwelcome-ozian]

[raining-tulips]

parts work is wild

[healingchildhoodtrauma]

[barking]

hey my osddid/parts friends! i recently discovered a great resource on youtube called the CTAD Clinic. it's run by a very knowledgeable therapist/psychologist, and is a GREAT resource for both those in and out of therapy. i highly recommend checking it out -- it's been an invaluable place of information for me (and he posts very regularly!)

[fragmentedfae-userboxes]

[rachelleacomics]

Who’s afraid of little old me?

[arcane-sync]

I want to talk about something that I have never seen mentioned on this website before. That is, the duality of alter lists. And tangentially, switching multiple times to chat with people online.

When I was first coming to terms with this diagnosis, I too made an alter list with basic info and shared it with people I talked to. It was a trend in the groups I ended up in.

What is interesting was the info I dug up for those lists was TRUE but not AUTHENTIC. Let me explain that.

Factually, the information was mostly accurate. But I am not sure exactly how I came up with it. I dont know if it was a mischevious part sharing personal info behind their backs, if the info was floated to me willingly, or if I ripped the info out of my own mind (probably doing some damage in the process). At the very least, it seemed to do some damage to my relationships with these parts.

Actually MEETING these parts has turned out to be a radically different process than learning about them was. It has been a process of years and building up trust. And yes, my original info was true, but it lacked DEPTH. My 4 or 5 main parts are so, so much more than the pithy information I originally had. Reducing them to some simple info on a list simply does not do them justice. Getting to know THEM and not facts about them has been a radical and humbling series of events. I am so much more connected to them now, and I am coming to love them as fully developed parts now. These 4-5 main parts were all ANPs at one point, and were around long enough to develop their own trauma before passing the torch to a new primary ANP. They really are fully developed, and it will be a long time before they integrate, if they ever do. Those alter lists also reduced the EPs as well though, reducing their trauma to words on a page, intellectualizing information that desperately needed to be experienced, felt, and processed. Again, nothing on those lists were wrong, and they had their own uses. But they were... awfully reductionistic and left me wholly unprepared for the complexity of those alters.

Getting the information on those lists from the mouths of the parts themselves means so, so much more than having the factual info. It is useful and has its place, I think, but its not an end-all, be-all.

Now to the tangent mentioned at the beginning. If I am only recently meeting these parts, how was I switching multiple times to talk to people online? Honestly? I do think that was a different part entirely. I think they knew each alter well enough to know how they would respond and fed me that information. I think it was a third party alter who was helping me adjust to the idea of having DID. Without the added stress of bridging the gap with these parts to genuinely interact with them. A form of exposure therapy, essentially, from one of my own parts. None of that info was WRONG, but again, it wasnt AUTHENTIC.

So this is how I've made sense of my journey with my personal growth and online communities. I would love to hear any thoughts, reflections, or experiences others have.