A DID Perspective On Inner Healing 5-04
A DID Perspective On Inner Healing 5-04
A DID Perspective On Inner Healing 5-04
I. Introduction
I would like to clarify at the outset that I am not a mental health professional. In the
past I have called myself a Biblical counselor but am starting to use the term prayer
minister to avoid any confusion with psychological terminology and the diversity of
terminology used by the various state licensure boards. My Ph.D. is in Biblical
Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary. I served as a pastor for 25 years and have
been an ordained minister since 1969.
This material is intended to be educational in nature. The content is largely based
upon my experience with many hundred survivors of severe abuse and their
therapists, counselors or prayer ministers. Because I have dealt mostly with severe
ritual abuse cases, I want to clarify that I am not assuming that all dissociated
individuals manifest the complexity herein described. On the other hand, I believe that
understanding the most complex cases will yield principles that will apply to all
dissociated individuals.
This material offers no guarantees or promises regarding a certain outcome or result.
In fact, what I talk about doing is not necessarily what I do in any or all situations. A
lecture of necessity must be a generalization.
Some of the terminology comes from Dr. Jim Wilder, who has based his work on that
of Dr. Dan Siegel, Dr. Alan Schore and Dr. Bessel van der Kolk. I make no claim that
my understanding is an accurate reflection of their thinking. What I do is spiritual
ministry, and my use of psychological terminology is designed to aid in
communication with people coming from a diversity of backgrounds, especially those
with training in the mental health field.
II.
b. If, for whatever reason, the mother does not joyfully respond to her baby
on a consistent basis, then the child fails to develop a secure attachment
and only develops a small capacity for joy, or in terms of this analogy a
small joy bucket.
JOY
JOY
To m R . Hawkins, P h.D.
To m R . Hawkins, P h.D.
JOY
Combination of emotions
such as
Hopeless Despair
1997-2000 Restoration in Christ Ministries
To m R . Hawkins, P h.D.
JOY
Baby finds
brown
substance in
diaper
Mom finds Baby
Oh Yuk
Disgust
Baby
mirrors
JOY
Mom
returns
Disgust
To m R . Hawkins, P h.D.
Baby
returns
mirrors
Mom
Mom
Mirrors
Disgust
1997-2000 Restoration in Christ Ministries
Baby
Disgust
To m R . Hawkins, P h.D.
3. By 18 months, if the baby has been able to experience finding its way back
to joy from all the negative emotional states, then the brain actually
completes a neurological circuit that Dr. Wilder calls a ring of joy.
a. When this is successful:
1) The child can handle any emotion and still find its way back to joy.
Research indicates that with healthy experience and training in time a
child can learn to find their way back to joy in about 90 seconds.
Obviously most babies and most adults have not successfully learned
to do this with all the emotions.
2) The child experiences a unified identity. It does not forget who it is
when it is experiencing a negative emotional state.
b. When this is not successful:
1) The child (and eventually the adult) in a disconnected negative
emotional state will not have access to all the brain circuits available to
it when it is in a joyful state. This means it will take longer to get back
to joy.
2) The child (and eventually the adult) will thus not feel or act like
itself when experiencing those negative emotions from which it was
unable to learn to return to joy.
3) The persons capacity to handle negative emotional states will be
impaired.
It is possible that such desynchronization may be a precursor to full blown
dissociative disorders.1
C. Building Emotional Capacity Later in Life
When emotional capacity is not adequately developed at this optimal stage of life,
there is evidence that it can sometimes be built at a later time.
1. Teenage years may be one time when a person can build additional capacity.
2. When a female becomes a mother, she seems to have a second opportunity
to create the necessary brain circuitry as she attempts to lead her baby in
and out of negative emotional states.
3. While it is not as optimally achieved, this ability to return to joy from
negative emotional states can seemingly be developed when a deliberate
effort is made to do so by synchronizing with another adult (with a
trained brain) in a close relationship. Marriage is the best example, but a
healthy support relationship and sometimes a healthy therapeutic
relationship may better serve to model the principle and allow for the
experience necessary to develop this capacity.
Malcom West, Ph.D., Kenneth Adam, M.D., Sheila Spreng, M.Sc., and Sarah Rose, Ph.D.,
Attachment Disorganization and Dissociative Symptoms in Clinically Treated Adolescents in Canadian
Journal of Psychiatry (2001) 46: 627-31.
Fear
Desire
1997-2000 Restoration in Christ Ministries
1997-2000 Restoration in Christ Ministries
To m R . Hawkins, P h.D.
To m R . Hawkins, P h.D.
To m R . Hawkins, P h.D .
b. Desynchronization
I have made abundant observations supporting the thesis that something like
dissociation (which I now recognize is better called desynchronization) is
found amongst what we have come to call the Primary Parts. These
parts of the person (when out) have an EEG pattern centered in the
prefrontal cortex in the front of the brain. This is where personal
preferences are expressed and the sense of identity, or being like
oneself, is found. While this EEG pattern has not yet been documented
for all the Primary Parts, I suspect follow-up studies will document this
thesis.
What is Desynchronized?
Primary
Identities
Good/bad
split
Primary Parts
Birth
Identity
Original
Self/O.S.
To m R . Hawkins, P h.D.
I. We are now using the term Original Self (O.S.) to refer to what
was formerly called Core.
II. Definition of the Original Self (O.S.)
The O.S. (formerly called Core or Original Person) is the heart or essence of
the selfwho came into being at conception and who has the capacity to connect
most strongly with God and others.
Matthew 22:37
Love the Lord your God with
all your heart,
and with all your soul
and with all your mind (NIV).
Romans 10:9-10
That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead you will be saved. For it is with the heart that you believe and
are justified, and it is with the mouth that you confess and are saved. (NIV)
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My goal in presenting this material is not to suggest survivors reality but to help them
discover their own reality by giving some possible arrangements and then helping
them discover what is true for them. Unfortunately, the literature on DID has given
them a model that focused on the alter-identities, and until now there has been no
generally accepted terminology to describe what appeared to be a kind of
dissociative experience at the Primary level. Only time will tell if this vocabulary
and perspective will become generally accepted.
A. The Three Primary Identities
1. The DENIAL IDENTITY (I.D.)
The DENIAL Identity believes that knowing certain information about ones
history is incompatible with survival and/or function.
Dont assume, however, that the Denial Identity always denies everything.
Sometimes if the survivor has been in therapy for a considerable time, the
Denial Identity, when recognized, will have already accepted the reality of
the DID. Nevertheless, the reality of the trauma or specific aspects of it may
still be rejected. Often the Denial Identity is aware in a general way of
whats happening in therapy and can sometimes make spontaneous changes
without your direct involvement.
Because pain usually drives a person into therapy, the denial dynamic is often
overlooked. However, in my experience failure to properly address Denials
issues early on will not only increase the internal conflict but also put
significant strain on the therapeutic relationship.
In extreme cases the perceived pressure on Denial to accept the truth may
cause the survivor to leave therapy. This could lead to serious legal
consequences because from Denials perspective all the internal stuff and
the trauma history may feel made up. He/she (or others inside, if she accepts
their existence) will seem to just have a vivid imagination.
The need to synchronize with the DENIAL Identity
It cannot be overemphasized how crucial it is to avoid the usual,
instinctive approach of trying to convince Denial of the reality of the
pain issues. Rather, the therapist needs to focus on connecting, or
synchronizing, with this part of the person. In fact, Denial is the identity
with whom it is most important for the therapist to synchronize and build
trust, as she/he is usually the Primary Part most closely connected to the
O.S.
This synchronization is important in order to help her learn how to find her
way back to joy from the negative emotional states. This will help build
her capacity to handle these states without losing her true (joyful)
identity. Obviously, no therapist has the time to do this sufficiently for all
his/her clients. My experience is that a team/support group/community is
most beneficial for helping a survivor build capacity.
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Pain I.D.
Reality I.D.
Depressed I.D.
Cult-loyal I.D.
Apparently Normal
Person or ANP
Function I.D.
Its not real I.D.
Distancing I.D.
Disconnect I.D.
Non-abused I.D.
Protector I.D.
Confusion I.D.
Bridge I.D.
Buffer I.D.
Flip Side I.D.
Neutral I.D.
Tom
Tom R.
R. H
Hawkins
awkins ,, PP h.D
h.D..
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Primary Parts
Alters
Primary Identities
Denial
good/bad or
light/dark
split
OCHI*
Alter
Systems
O.S.
Confusion
Pain
Original
Self
Cult-loyal
part
Primary Identities
Shared Consciousness
Confusion
Denial
Pain
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PRIMARY PARTS
ALTERS
(Alter-Identities)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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