Are you a plural?
According to Internal Family Systems (a proven psychotherapy approach used to treat PTSD and a range of other severe dissociative disorders) everybody is a plural, so there is nothing to be concerned about!
Once we combine that with the Theory of Structural Dissociation it is quite intuitive to see how distinct parts of us could take on a life and identity of their own if they needed to.
We will discuss both extensively, as well as other approaches to treating trauma in general, and chronic trauma specifically, on our website. Remember that our goal is always that ephemeral happiness, so we do dip into everything that we believe could be useful and therapeutic.
Not everything is therapeutic, but only trial and error can determine each person’s individual path to psychospiritual balance.
Wonderful, so here we are. We are a little nervous about publishing this information here, but it is only fair that we show you by example that it is ok to have an inner family. đ
Foreword
Our inner fam is rather large
Our inner fam is rather large and it is only in the past few years that we have been able to begin the process of acknowledging and validating everyone.
We found unblending to be very useful. We will talk about the process of discovering parts, bonding, and healing them in many posts and pages in the future. It is a hot topic and anyone who follow us on Quora has probably read extensively from us on the subject.
To get to the point quickly, we only identify the types of people we have, rather than give them names. So we have the Heart People, the Soul People, the Ferals, and the Nerdies. They seem to be divided rather well into the 4 different types of consciousnesses of heart/mind/body/soul (something else we will be writing about extensively).
It is probably intuitive to understand how each of those logic, thinking, choices, and perspectives differ.
The dissociation between those sets of parts can cause cognitive, emotional, spiritual, and sensory dissonances when associating them which can be rather unsettling. However, it also enables us to gain a unique perspective on alternative realities within our own and find unique blends of options and choices that we would not otherwise have.
Going back to the inner fam, there are very few exceptions where some of our inner members who sometimes live IRL have chosen names.
The main two hosts are Charlie and Herbie. We are at our best when they are blended together, although there are occasions when one is better than the other.
Charlie’s gang
We sometimes refer to them as brain people as they only seem to exist in the brain. They don’t even try to use the body, they just like to think and study and learn, and do neuro-stuff with each other …
They make up what is known as the ANP system (the apparently normal parts) and they are very good at their job. They have been out of action for a while due to some weird medication we had been prescribed, but they are coming back into action. We did miss them because they are really good at being good, if that makes sense.
Since we have decided to be fully authentic, we decided that we would not need an ANP system, and instead we prefer to call them The Nerdies because … well they are … and we refer to them as the least weird person.
We will be talking and writing extensively about giving parts/selves/alters/whatever you call your inner fam new roles and identities as an intrinsic part of each of their individual healing journeys, so watch this space.
So, Charlie and their gang are a little unemotional and rely on the others, or cognitive empathy. They are our researchers, thinktank, inspirational cognitive leaders that even Spock would be proud of.
Herbie & gang
These lovely people are mainly our EPs (Emotional Parts). They get a lot of flashbacks and are rather delicate. They are the ones that we are working on healing.
But they are also our moral compass, our feeling and sensing, our empathy, our compassion, our love for the world and as incongruent and oxymoronic as that may seem, our zest for life!
If you want to find out more, follow us on Quora or check out our Posts
