Keith R. Wilson's Blog, page 7

Engaging With Your Subpersonalities

Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us, Part 6 When I began doing psychotherapy, oh, so many eons ago, the first techniques I tried that helped me engage with subpersonalities was Gestalt Therapy, the creation of Fritz Perls. You don’t hear much about Gestalt these days, since Pearls died, because the star power of its main proponentContinue reading "Engaging With Your Subpersonalities"

Going Deeper with Jung

Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us, Part 5 I had a sense of my own subpersonalities since I first realized my imaginary friends were imaginary, but it wasn’t till I started to read Jung, long before I thought of being a therapist, that the nature of these non-being beings became clear. Jung introduced me to theContinue reading "Going Deeper with Jung"

Freud and the Fight of the Subpersonalities

Part IV of Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us Freud’s unconscious is a site of dramatic struggle between subpersonalities. The Id, the Super-Ego, and the Ego have been described as a gorilla and a schoolmarm fighting in a dark cellar, refereed by a nervous bank clerk. Deals are struck between the three, resulting in character andContinue reading "Freud and the Fight of the Subpersonalities"

Making Sense of the Voices in Your Head

Part III of Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us Let’s begin to take a look at the many kinds of psychotherapies that address subpersonalities. My guide on the subject has been John Rowan in Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us(1990). But here, I must leave him for a bit to talk about one therapy that has comeContinue reading "Making Sense of the Voices in Your Head"

Where to Find Your Subpersonalities

Part II of Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us Where do we get the idea that there are subpersonalities inside us? We’ve always seemed to have it. Primitive cultures have been fascinated with altered states of consciousness and spirit possession. They are the stock in trade for shamans. Ancient people seem to have conceived of subpersonalitiesContinue reading "Where to Find Your Subpersonalities"

What Do I Do with the People Inside My Head?

Part I of Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us It’s not uncommon to feel that there is more than just you inside your head. There seems to be a board of directors, at best, or a squabbling family, a mutinous crew, or a polarized congress up there, at worse. You may feel that someone sort ofContinue reading "What Do I Do with the People Inside My Head?"

Even If You’re Not Ready to Quit, You Can Get Ready to Quit

Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, Part 5 Get some paper and a pen. Put it by the substance you are thinking of quitting. Even if you are not ready to quit yet, do this one, little thing. Before you use the substance, mark on your paper the time and the date.Continue reading "Even If You’re Not Ready to Quit, You Can Get Ready to Quit"

Help is Closer Than You Think

Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, part 4 It is a whole lot easier to get substances that will addict you than it is to get into treatment for addiction. In many localities, there are drug dealers at every corner, but to get to a clinic, you have to take two buses.Continue reading "Help is Closer Than You Think"

Drugs Turn You Into an Addict, Then You Turn Everything Into a Drug

Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, part 3 If you are addicted, even if you stop using the substance that changed you, you will look for other things (other substances, sex, shopping, relationships, rage, work, gambling, exercising, making deals, etc) to gratify you in the same way. This is called switching addictions.Continue reading "Drugs Turn You Into an Addict, Then You Turn Everything Into a Drug"

Addiction is Not Satisfied With Just Screwing You Up

Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, part 2 Once addiction has got a good hold on you, it doesn’t stop there; it looks for others it can infect with madness. In you, it has established a home base from which it can make forays into others, as if its whole purpose isContinue reading "Addiction is Not Satisfied With Just Screwing You Up"