Models for successful parts therapy.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Suzan Iscil on July 13, 2010 at 4:47pm

Hi Walt,

When you ask about a client's mind and how it works, we all have conversations with ourselves that are indicative of the parts. Part of me wants to eat the cake and part of me knows that I should stay away from sweets. Parts therapy allows these parts to speak out loud and provide information stored in the subconscious mind that the conscious mind would not be aware of. Parts could be said to be a form of Gestalt roleplay and it often provides information as an age regression would - the parts reveal the original reason for their actions.

I'm not sure I fully understand your question. I have so much faith in the model because I have had great results with it both as a Parts Therapy Facilitator and as a client.

Parts therapy is an incredible tool that works well when we use it properly. It has always worked beautifully for me although I had one client who did not respond at all - the parts would not speak. Perhaps if i had used ideomotor, I could have gotten the session off the ground, but that didn't cross my mind at the time, I just changed methods and continued with the session.

Please be well prepared for the detours and pitfalls that Roy outlines in his book. Re and re-read those sections. I had parts therapy done on me as a client and I was left in a very bad state because the facilitator did not know what to do when many different parts began to appear.

I would recommend that you study parts therapy with Roy or with one of his certified trainers. I would be happy to talk to you on the phone if you send me an e-mail. I have a few years' experience with parts therapy and am certified by Roy as a trainer of Parts therapy.

Permalink Reply by Michael Miller on July 13, 2010 at 6:50pm

Hi Walt,

I don't understand the question either.

Parts therapy wouldn't be used in all situations. Roy has a list of questions with which you would ask the client and get ideomotor feedback (Psychodynamics). Only if they answered yes to the question: Are you feeling an inner conflict, or two conflicting desires? would you use parts therapy.

So, the client will tell you if they have conflicting parts. That's when you say, "let's talk to the parts."

My advice to you is to make sure your client is DEEP, DEEP before you ask the questions because the questions will bring them up and if they are what HMI would refer to as emotional suggestible, they will activate their conscious mind and your results will be sketchy and skewed. You may need to dumb the questions down a little.

See, this is the reason to go to Roy for training; to hear how he asks these questions. He has a melodic voice and uses it as an instrument. The way he asks the question lulls you into a trance.

So to answer what I think your question is, there is no particular belief system you have to subscribe to in order to use parts therapy. The client will answer yes to the psychodynamic question and then you would talk to the parts that are in conflict.

Hope that helps!

Permalink Reply by AJ on July 14, 2010 at 5:37am

Great points Suzan and Michael. Parts Therapy is readily understood once the student receives the training. It is challenging to explain in simple terms how it works. The method is well conveyed in Roy's book. Yet the nuances are learned experientially.

Permalink Reply by Walt Potter on July 14, 2010 at 10:07am

Suzan and Michael,
Thanks for your comments. You're helping me understand the models that your are working with. What I'm looking for from you is what do you think is going on in your clients minds during the parts process.

Both of you seem to feel that the parts exist within the client's mind. Suzan goes further to state that the parts have information that is hidden from the conscious mind.

"...allows these parts to speak out loud and provide information stored in the subconscious mind that the conscious mind would not be aware of."

You also seem to be saying that it is your success with the process that supports it's continued use.

Walt

Permalink Reply by AJ on July 14, 2010 at 10:57am

Walt, the techniques called parts therapy and ego state therapy are useful for identifying internal conflicts. Whether one considers that the issues stem from repressed aspects of oneself or apparent archetypes in the subconscious is one typical debate. You can read Ego Sate Therapy by Gordon Emmerson for an alternate model and an enhanced perspective.

Permalink Reply by Suzan Iscil on July 14, 2010 at 1:02pm

Hi Again,

When I am a client, the 2 parts behave like real, individual people. Quiet Suzan has a quiet voice and tells how she protects Suzan by helping her eat, stay in the kitchen and basically avoid conflict. Quiet Suzan is very serious about the job she is doing and feels just like a real, true individual. Successful Suzan, is loud, bossy, controlling and ready to achieve anything right now. Her voice is sure, strong, confident and unrelenting.

The two parts are completely different and although they both want to support Suzan, they don't really have any interest in supporting each other; they are sure that what they are doing is the "right" thing.

It's amazing how voices, verbiage, vocabulary and overall personalities are completely different from different parts of the same client.

As a client, I feel like I am a bystander hearing (I'm not visual) 2 people talking about how they support me and how important their jobs are.

My clients report seeing the 2 parts and have lots of good visual information to share.

Just a note: I had a client who had a quiet part who spoke in barely a whisper. Near the end of the session, a booming voice said, "You know that ____ is afraid!" I asked who was speaking (thinking it was the stronger part) and the response was, "This is quiet." The information was so important that she gained a voice just long enough to pass it along.

Walt Potter said:

Suzan and Michael,
Thanks for your comments. You're helping me understand the models that your are working with. What I'm looking for from you is what do you think is going on in your clients minds during the parts process.

Both of you seem to feel that the parts exist within the client's mind. Suzan goes further to state that the parts have information that is hidden from the conscious mind.

"...allows these parts to speak out loud and provide information stored in the subconscious mind that the conscious mind would not be aware of."

You also seem to be saying that it is your success with the process that supports it's continued use.

Walt

Permalink Reply by Roy Hunter on July 17, 2010 at 9:26am

Hi Walt,

I wanted to comment on your statement that "parts exist within the client's mind."

While Charles Tebbetts pioneered ego parts therapy, John & Helen Watkins pioneered ego state therapy...both techniques based on the work of Paul Federn. Note that Tebbetts shortened it to parts therapy, although he occasionally called the parts "ego parts" in the classroom. Today Gordon Emmerson is the world authority on Ego State Therapy, as well as author of a book with the same title (Crown House Publishing, 2003).

According to Emmerson, we ALL have anywhere from five to fifteen ego states that influence us in any given calendar week. The reason he knows this is because he uses a technique that he calls "ego state mapping" in order to discover how many active ego states (or ego parts) we have close to the surface. There are also "submerged" states that rarely emerge even during trance. Like me, Emmerson believes that a DEEP state of hypnosis is best before calling out these aspects of the subconscious.

Roy Hunter

Walt Potter said:

Suzan and Michael,
Thanks for your comments. ... Both of you seem to feel that the parts exist within the client's mind. ... Walt

Permalink Reply by Aline Hoffman on July 17, 2010 at 1:24pm

Hi Walt,

I am well acquainted with these folks who have responded to you - I've taken two courses with Roy Hunter and I have attended classes with the other three.

I "ditto" everything that has been said thus far.

I'd like to add a word of caution - I would hesitate to utilize Parts Therapy just by reading the book. It's a little like having a doctor reading the 'how to...' book while removing someone's tonsils.

Permalink Reply by Hugh Cole on July 17, 2010 at 2:05pm

Walt...... I look at Parts the way I look at a lot of other things in Hypnosis. Parts are Tools, constructs if you will, that allow less than concious learnings to be contained in a shell or a wrapper and subsequentlly labeled and vectorized. When they are properly labeled and vectorized they are more easily dealt with. Transformational vectors (i.e. in the form of a "reframeing" operator) can be applied to the entire container transforming all the less than desirable learnings in the course of that process.
To answer the rest of the question.... If I were to make a musical note with that crazy flute you told me about. the note exists as vibrations in the air, ...If I record the note using a microphone and store it on my mp3 player, ... it exists as a bunch of 1's and 0's in MP3 space and as some electrical charges in flash memory space. Playing it through my $29.95 earbuds turns it back into air vibrations that tell my ear it exists with "enough precision" to call it reality.

bit pedantic but it works for me ... your milage may vary.

Hugh Cole
Making them dizzy one post at a time.

Permalink Reply by Suzan Iscil on July 17, 2010 at 3:54pm

Hi Aline,

Great point. When parts goes smoothly, it's easy and quick, but when it doesn't, you really have to be prepared. I could be wrong, but I generally think the more challenging sessions bring the best results - maybe it's just that I know I did some good work when I get through the challenging session :)

Some parts call each other really rough names and really don't want anything at all to do with each other. When we get these parts to negotiate and get them to make all the suggestions and agreements without us leading the parts, it's really a big accomplishment. In a session like that, there are always points where you wonder if the parts will ever come around.

Take Care everyone!

Aline Hoffman said:

Hi Walt,
I am well acquainted with these folks who have responded to you - I've taken two courses with Roy Hunter and I have attended classes with the other three. I "ditto" everything that has been said thus far.

I'd like to add a word of caution - I would hesitate to utilize Parts Therapy just by reading the book. It's a little like having a doctor reading the 'how to...' book while removing someone's tonsils.

Permalink Reply by Roy Hunter on July 20, 2010 at 1:38pm

Hi Walt,

There is some excellent discussion here...

The best model is to use the metaphor that you are like a MEDIATOR helping two people resolve a conflict. Be objective and not emotionally attached to any outcome other than one that all the clients parts can accept. You arrive there by asking questions, and treating each part as if it were a person.

My book (which you have) includes a step-by-step process. If you need to, feel free to photocopy the outline and/or any other pages that will help you.

If the parts are unable to come to terms of agreement, call out a third part that can offer words of wisdom. IF the client believes in God (or a Higher Power), you can call out that part if the inner mind to assist if the other parts are either unable or unwilling to come to terms of agreement.

While actual training is helpful, I've had a number of professionals in my workshops in recent years who learned by experience simply using HYPNOSIS FOR INNER CONFLICT RESOLUTION as a guide...but they sharpened up their skills with hands-on training. Note the Suzan and Aline are now certified parts therapy trainers.

Roy Hunter

Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on July 18, 2011 at 9:14pm

I agree with Hugh-

I view the parts in parts therapy as symbolic constructs that allow people work out their inner-conflicts in the privacy of their minds -- I do not believe that we actually have "inner-parts" any more that I believe that we have an inner-child. The key to any effective hypnotic outcome is that it must be reasonable for the client to believe and since they experience inner-conflict and it feels like different parts are having a tug of war - the model makes sense to lots of clients.

In my opinion- Parts and Parts-like therapies are excellent modalities and like the rest of the hypnotic tools we use - the healing is persuasive and symbolic.

 

@ Walt -

I believe that any well trained and skilled hypnotist can read Roy's book and put what they read into effective action - The reason to study with some one like Roy, who is a 1st rate educator is to watch and learn how they craft their  sessions and present their models with real people...

 

Michael  

Hugh Cole said:

Walt...... I look at Parts the way I look at a lot of other things in Hypnosis. Parts are Tools, constructs if you will, that allow less than concious learnings to be contained in a shell or a wrapper and subsequentlly labeled and vectorized. When they are properly labeled and vectorized they are more easily dealt with. Transformational vectors (i.e. in the form of a "reframeing" operator) can be applied to the entire container transforming all the less than desirable learnings in the course of that process.
To answer the rest of the question.... If I were to make a musical note with that crazy flute you told me about. the note exists as vibrations in the air, ...If I record the note using a microphone and store it on my mp3 player, ... it exists as a bunch of 1's and 0's in MP3 space and as some electrical charges in flash memory space. Playing it through my $29.95 earbuds turns it back into air vibrations that tell my ear it exists with "enough precision" to call it reality.

bit pedantic but it works for me ... your milage may vary.

Hugh Cole
Making them dizzy one post at a time.

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