I don’t know if you’ve ever ready Frogs Into Princes by Bandler and Grinder but they describe a process for therapy in which the subject communicates directly with her/his unconscious parts, addressing them as the ‘one in charge of X’, etc. Giving them names like this is an interesting twist. Again, thanks for your answers.

As to the subpersonalities, I think of it more like the way writers see the many diverse characters that populate their fiction, plays, screenplays, etc:

1. they are all parts of me, even if the way I talk about them makes them look different to others

2. I can definitely access them, talk to them, etc, but it’s more of a creative musing–a problem-solving device–than some kind of a psychotic break

Of course, I *think* I’m not nuts; I have a shrink appt. tomorrow, so maybe I’ll confirm it (or not!) then.

Jean - I think that was just sleepyblogging. When I look at the sentence, it’s spectacularly unclear. Thanks for pointing it out; I’ll make the fix, and if it still doesn’t make sense, let me know.

NFH - I know, right?!? I don’t know much about myth, but I’ll bet most of us have a lot of similarities in our subpersonalities. Probably profoundly challenged people (I’m thinking of Sybil) have more, or some different ones, but for most of us, we’re just internalizing and processing the phases of life we go through.

The best part of these posts of yours is trying on your names for these sub-parts and seeing if they fit around here. Several have, although they’ve insisted on name changes (that would be the 2-year old screaming “MINE!!!”) but the general shapes are eerily familiar.

Rock on.

“The Edge took the Financier, Monkey Brain et al on a fine, three-mile walk to make both a personal and a business deposit—and that a few of the checks fell just inside the 90-day safe range. Granted, there weren’t any colossal-sized checks in there, but all told, there was enough to cover the rent and treats for the whole gang.”

Could you explain that a bit more? Thanks.

All right, seriously, if I may ply you with some questions: do you find it useful, outside of the context of therapy (i.e. as you go about your day) to continue to think of these unconscious parts as people? And as such, do you ever address them directly?