Every trauma victim’s Parts share the same body, brain, and environment. When the victim experiences a thought or feeling, it is important for them to be able to differentiate the “voice” behind it. That requires the person to stop, listen, and understand when that Part is speaking.
There is a lot of healing that can come from the process of becoming curious and empathizing with the Parts. But getting to that point is the challenge. Trauma victims need to learn how to avoid identifying with their Parts to the point where they interpret their feelings and thoughts as their own. Blending, shifting, and switching are all behaviors that need to be unlearned.
Blending of the Parts
If you have ever said things like, “I’m depressed,” or “I’m anxious,” you have experienced blending. Blending occurs when you identify with your Parts and you don’t have the ability to differentiate them from your Self. This is actually where a lot of trauma victims begin the healing process.
It is very freeing to realize that you’re not depressed or anxious; but you have Parts that are experiencing those emotions.
Parts that Shift
In her book, Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors, Janina Fisher discusses a couple that was taking a vacation in the Caribbean. The wife woke up one morning feeling extremely lonely, even though her husband was sleeping beside her. She felt the feelings were hers and not a Part’s, and by the time he woke up, she had convinced herself that he no longer cared about her.
What she didn’t realize was that while she was sleeping, she had blended with a young Part and she had also experienced shifting. When she woke up, she felt like she was in another place and time. She was acting on a memory of a little girl that felt very lonely in a scary family environment.
Switching Parts
Switching can occur in people who have dissociative identity disorder. That means the person changes from one state to another. Switches are typically sudden, happen often, and may even cause people to lose consciousness while they are happening.
Janina Fisher clarifies what switching is by discussing an individual who would change states by making lunch dates with friends. When they were around, her Self was present. She felt better after seeing them, and they triggered those good feelings. But when she went to sleep, her depressed Part would take over. In the morning, she had no memory of the good feelings she had the day before. She would go back to bed and the next time she woke up, her shame Part would accuse her of being lazy and not good enough. It was a vicious cycle.
Trauma Therapy Can Help
In all of the above situations, trauma victims needed to learn how to separate their Selves from their Parts’ responses. Assuming that those thoughts and emotions belonged to them only perpetuated their trauma responses.
Trauma therapy can help with this process. I have a lot of experience assisting clients in healing through the Internal Family Systems model and other, related forms of therapy. Please contact me to make an appointment.
