###### 🔑 Parts are literally real Parts are not metaphors. Instead they are real sub-minds, _each with autonomy_ and with power to influence and sometimes [[💡 Blending|take over]] the person’s perspective, emotional state, or actions.[^1] There is a real aliveness to them. If it can't be felt right away, it's because we haven't made enough contact to experience them this way. >Early on, I was thinking of this as a metaphor[...]because I was still coming from a much more scientific place. [...]I didn't really think of them as complete inner people the way I do now. And I went to hear a woman named Sandra Watanabe talk, because she had developed something she called the inner cast of characters[...] And at the end, I came up to her and said, you don't think these are real, do you? These are metaphors, right? And she said, oh no, they're real. And I walked away thinking to myself, boy, is she naïve to really believe that? But I stayed with it, and over years, it just became undeniable that these were much more than metaphors and that they had relationships with each other and with you and that people who were called [[💡 Dissociative Identity Disorder|multiple personality disorder]] weren't so different. Their [[Alters|alters]] were basically the same as what I was finding in people with [[💡 Parts|Parts]] except that their system got blown apart much more because they had such horrific [[💡 Trauma|trauma]] when they were young. And so at some point, I kind of crossed over to the other side and started to take this as a real phenomena, that we're actually entering a real other world that exists independent of this outside world inside of people. And it's similar to the world that the [[Shamanism|shamans]] enter in their way. >— [[👤 Richard Schwartz]][^1] >I had a client once who was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder or now called dissociative identity disorder[...] >[...]she had asthma, and so I gave her asthma medication including something called theophylline[...] >[...]Now, one of the personas that she had was a little seven-year-old boy, and I get this phone call just from this little voice one day. And this person is telling me the symptoms that they're having, and they're all the symptoms of excessive theophylline intake. When she was in her six-year-old persona, she had the physiology of a six-year-old, and it was a six-year-old that was reacting to an adult dose that was way too much for that child. >I couldn't believe my ears. But it was clear. And I've seen this described by other physicians as well since, so it's not just an isolated phenomenon. So these dynamics to me are not just metaphoric. They're real. It's a question of what we call them and how we relate to them[...] >[...]I completely recognize and don't question the existence of the phenomenon. It's a question of what we call it, how we work with that, and how we relate to it. It's (parts) not how I think of myself. It's not how I relate to myself. But I do think we're talking about the same thing. >— [[👤 Gabor Maté]][^1] [^1]: [[📖 🟠 Many Minds, One Self - Evidence for a Radical Shift in Paradigm]] [^2]: [[📖 ✅ Embracing All of You - Compassionate Inquiry Meets Internal Family Systems]] Session One: Introduction: Getting the Most Out of This Series