Treating Child Alters like real Children....

Awesome post! I need to take some time to digest all that! Lots of insight! Thank You.

I have a pair, Alter 1 and Alter 2. They fit the model of a dissociative break between the Emotional Personality and the Intellectual Personality (aka Apparently Normal Personality). Weeble, do your pairs fit the model too?

Hey Una,
i havent read the book the review is talking about, but yeah, my T calls 'me' the ANP all the time and told me heaps of times that everyone else is the E.P's. They dont really like the term because they think it infers that they're not 'real people' when they are...lol. But yeah, from what i know, we fit the tertairy level of dissociation pretty well... there's me, and then there's the other 21 emotional parts. I am the core/host/ ANP and like the review said, i have limited or no knowledge of any trauma and i am also the main person who does the general day to say living stuff, like going to work and all that mundane stuff hehe. Although, i hadn't really thought about it much, but i guess my nurturer/ISH is also a kind of ANP... Though, shes very definitely an alter too.i'm confusing myself here can ya tell? hahahaha And yeah, i also have the 'subsets of EP's" too. Like, i have some alters/fragments who are parts of other bigger older alters and who only hold 1 or 2 specific emotions, where as the bigger alters all have a range of emotions and purposes.

My alters are paired with relation to who they are bonded with inside, like some are always together and are BFF's and others are always together because they shared similar experiences or have similar interests. Sometimes they group together, like the teenage girls, they're all besties and do just about everything together because they understand eachother the best, not because they were all abused... Then i also have twins who fit the mould of the 'good V's Evil' debate... 1 lives to punish me and will SH severely if given the chance, while his brother is another internal self helper for the 2nd group of alters an he is also their leader etc... Hes very nice and helpful. After reading all of this information i also now question if he is perhaps another ANP... I guess i need to do more research here huh?! lol

SOrry if this is uber confusing,lol i confused myself a few times

will definitely do more research and see what i can make of my system... This is fun huh!?

weeble wrote:I am the core/host/ ANP

The word core refers to several concepts that are mutually incompatible. To my therapist, the core is the soul, the immutable unwoundable true self (but I suspect that what he perceives as my core is just one of my personalities). Other concepts include: the core is the original personality, or what little remains of it; the core is the dominant inside personality; the core is the dominant front personality. I am an ANP and the dominant front personality. I see myself as only one personality among others. As I've said before, I feel that my Alter 1 is the largest and most powerful personality in my system.

hmmm interesting, Una,
My T says the core/ANP is the person who was born to the body and who's body it is. (Me) A Host on the other hand is what you describe as:

the dominant front personality

. This is just my understanding though, i mean, its all just names and labels really. Each to his or her own i say. What works really well for me might not work at all for you. And yeah i agree the concepts of what constitutes a core do seem mutually incompatible....

All i know is that my T is forever calling me the ANP. The core, the one who was born to the body and who created the alters. Meh, suits me just fine i spose (because i agree) its just the EP's that hate being called 'emotional parts' shes started calling them 'parts' now instead hehehe. and i must admit, its eased alot of tention directed towards the T. lol

weeble wrote:My T says the core/ANP is the person who was born to the body and who's body it is.

That is very interesting. It isn't the norm, so either your therapist has an unusual concept of what is a core and/or ANP, or your therapist believes that you specifically are both the core and the primary (only?) ANP in your system.

yeah i'm 99% sure i'm the only ANP in the system... everyone else are alters created by me for specific purposes. Its pretty much always been 'me' in the 'drivers seat' my entire life, with the alters coming and going at specific times. So i'm the host as well... All the alters have their own roles etc, but its my body and i'm the 'owner' so to speak...

very interesting... might have to ask her about that when i see her next! lol

ok so i found a more in depth review of the book through amazon and i could actually read a few pages of the types of structural dissocaition... i can say that i fit into the mould og both secondary and some parts of tertiary. I could say which one if i had all the info, but every 2nd page of the book is missing ...

After reading it i understand it all much better and i'm now questioning if my strongest and most helpful alter as well as a few others are all infact ANP's as well. They've always been different to the other alters but i just always thought it was because they're 'alters' and the others are 'fragments'... now i'm not so sure... Like the book says though, these parts are very much more defined in terms of : age, names, genders, preferences, likes etc... Where as everyone else in the system is no where near as developed as these few...

Thanks for the references Una, i've got alot of learning to do... while its all very interesting though, i'm not sure it changes anything really... we are still here and we are still functioning as H's back ups... Doesnt matter what catergories we fit into, we are still what we are!

Una+ wrote:

weeble wrote:My T says the core/ANP is the person who was born to the body and who's body it is.

That is very interesting. It isn't the norm, so either your therapist has an unusual concept of what is a core and/or ANP, or your therapist believes that you specifically are both the core and the primary (only?) ANP in your system.

That's exactly how I've always thought of the "core personality". The personality that was first in this body, owning this body, and creating the first and/or other alters. Is that concept really that unusual?

katriina, no that concept is not unusual for DID'ians... that is the standard meaning.

In terms of the theory of structural dissociation i think things are somewhat different though.

Katariina wrote:That's exactly how I've always thought of the "core personality". The personality that was first in this body, owning this body, and creating the first and/or other alters. Is that concept really that unusual?

That is the usual "core" in context of DID. What is unusual here is the equating of the core to the ANP who is out front when the person enters therapy. Often, that ANP is one of several ANPs in the system and none of them are the core.