Introject Alters

If you have dissociative identity disorder (DID), you understand well that the alters formed in your mind have different areas of expertise. One may pay the bills, and another may be the part of you that is social with others.

 

However, have you ever heard of the introject?

 

This article will examine some of the different types of alters you may have and answer the question, what is an introject?

 

What are Alters?

 

 

People who have formed dissociative identity disorder live with a fragmented personality that was never associated not one whole person. The person with DID experiences themselves as having different identities that are known as alters or parts.

 

Alters can take over the person’s body and cause chaos in the person’s life by leading different lives with strangely different belief systems and acting on those beliefs. As can be imagined, when the host returns, they are mystified and a mystery to themselves, left to clean up after the alter whom they may not know exists.

 

Alters typically form in early childhood before age nine due to extreme and repeated childhood abuse and neglect from which the child cannot escape. These children are left in a conundrum; they love their abusers but are terrified of them.

 

Alters can have a variety of characteristics and might have different ages, genders, and sexual preferences and are mixed in how they see and use the body. Different names are typical in a DID system. However, some alters might have no name or are preverbal.

 

Types of Alters in a DID System

 

 

 

A DID system has two primary forms of alters: apparently normal parts and emotional parts.

 

Apparently normal parts (APN) are rational, grounded, and oriented to present parts of a DID system. This alter handles daily life and has the job of social interaction, attachment, work, play, learning, and physical care.

 

Emotional parts (EP) are parts of the person living with DID that hold the traumatic materials they experienced, such as memories of the abuse, learned responses, and internalized beliefs about themselves, others, and the world.

 

It is important to note that not every personality type fits neatly into either category. Although there are as many alter types as there are people who are multiples, below we shall examine some of the most common kinds of alters a person may experience in their dissociative system.

 

Waking Self. This form of alter is the person who fronts most of the time and is responsible for daily living such as buying groceries etc.

 

Original (Core) alter. This alter is typically hidden from the rest of the DID system and may consider themselves dead. This alter is sequestered deep inside the multiple’s mind and holds the memory of the original abuse and neglect. Core alters survived their abuse by forming other alters to take over when they cannot adapt to what is happening to them.

 

Infant alters. Infant alters are preverbal and might remain the same age or grow older depending on the healing of the multiple. These infants trauma memories consist of emotions and rudimentary body sensations.

 

Child alters (Littles). This is the most common type of alter, and several exist within a DID system. Littles hold memories of child abuse that occurred around the age the child alter feels they are. Child alters might hold feelings of pain, while others are fun-loving and still love their abusers. Sometimes the child alter represents what the person thought was perfect when they were a child. They may believe that they are from the perfect family and that everything they experienced was normal, minimizing the suffering they endured.

 

Caretaker alters. This alter is a form of protector and helps manage the other alters and sometimes those outside their system (their children, boss, etc.). Often caretaker alters are soothing motherly others in the system but do not do excellent self-care and become exhausted. Caretaker alters have a limited role without the ability to play, socialize, or explore.

 

Gatekeeper alters. Gatekeepers have the job of holding back other alters from switching to the front and memories of the trauma from surfacing when they take control. The gatekeeper aids in stabilizing the system because they slow down or inhibit switching from one alter to another. Gatekeepers know most of the other alters in a DID system.

 

What is an Introject Alter?

 

 

All children absorb from their caregivers who supported them, messages they internalize. The same can be said for introject alters. Introjects are uncommon in people with dissociative identity disorder and sometimes are based on characters from a media program or a fantasy character they believe will rescue them.

 

As a child, it was critical to remain aware of your surroundings and other people and, in some respects, act like them to survive. The behaviors of your caregivers in your life were internalized in many ways, including the formation of alters.

 

Introjection has a dark side where you may have taken on the realities of your abusers who provided little to no comfort or moral compass to your newly forming system. Introject alters mirror the trauma and abuse as they base their existence on someone you knew who abused you.

 

Introject alters believe they are another person, such as your abuser, and have the characteristics of that person mimicking the abusers to protect you from encountering another person who might harm you.

 

An excellent example of an introject alter’s function is to mimic the verbal abuse you received as a child by telling you subconsciously, or even aloud, that nobody likes you, thus negatively affecting your ability to make friends.

 

For example, an adult verbally abused as a child may have an introject which states “nobody likes you” or “it’s a dog eat dog world” – both of these would negatively affect a person’s likelihood of making friends.

 

It is critical to note that not all multiples have introject alters.

 

Introject Alters and Self-Harming Behaviors

 

Because of their negative outlook of you and the world, introject alters often inflict self-harm on the body. To reiterate, this alter is attempting to mimic the behavior of your childhood abuser.

 

There are many reasons an introject alter would perform self-harm; a few are listed below.

 

  • To punish the host, the other alters, or themselves.
  • To release tension associated with strong and overwhelming thoughts.
  • To express strong emotions they are feeling and cannot convey.
  • To distract themselves, focus their attention, or regain control over their minds when they experience overwhelming feelings or memories.

 

You might have a situation come up that is highly stressful, or you have failed, and an introject alter will use self-harm to regain control or to punish. If your abusers of the past physically assaulted you, as in rape or beatings, your introvert alter, who was formed in response to this harsh treatment, may exhibit the same behaviors turning to violence to feel better.

 

Dealing with an Introject Alter

 

 

People who do not have DID and do not have alters will incorporate some aspects of their caregiver’s behaviors and beliefs into their personality. Luckily, those of us who have DID can change our introjects through psychotherapy to become less active and more cooperative within our systems.

 

The values, behaviors, and attitudes of your abusers were not digested or analyzed for their worth. Instead, they were simply adopted into your personality as concepts that should be believed and followed. Your introject might be conniving, manipulative, controlling, and rude.

 

For instance, your introject alter might verbally attack your therapist. They do so because they feel threatened when in reality, the therapist is trying to use the strengths of the introject to make them a stronger person, reduce the effects trauma has had on them, and reduce self-harming episodes.

 

Using psychotherapy, you can overcome the negative internalized messages you harbor about yourself by uncovering and resolving the deep-seated unconscious material that has been buried since you were a little child.

 

One form of psychotherapy that can help immensely is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which helps replace negative beliefs with more realistic and accurate thought patterns.

 

Having a negative introject often contributes to the formation of other mental health challenges, such as generalized anxiety and major depressive disorder. Therapy can address these co-occurring conditions, help the multiple resolve the effects of the introject, and develop strategies to avoid that alter from feeling the need to control or abuse the system again.

 

Ending Our Time Together

 

To be honest, I needed to do quite a bit of research to understand an introject alter since I do not believe one exists in my system. While I have had suicidal episodes, I do not believe one single alter instigated my behavior, but I had become too exhausted and needed rest.

 

Introject alters can be either positive or negative. They can either help or harm your healing journey. This type of alter is considered in the research I read to be rare, but the truth may be quite different because only a tiny portion of the people who have DID come forward for treatment.

 

If you have strong urges to self-harm, you may be experiencing the effects of an introject alter. If so, it is time to see a mental health professional for help.

 

Whatever you do, remember that despite what that alter may be telling you, you are unique, the only you in the entire universe. So, please, take good care of yourself and do not hesitate to ask for help.

 

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life but define yourself.” – Harvey Fierstein

 

References

 

Defense mechanism of the week: Introjection. (2012, January 19). Jennifer De Francisco. Retrieved from http://www.jenniferdefrancisco.com/defense-mechanisms/defense-mechanism-of-the-week-introjection

 

Definition: Introjection. (n.d.). Purdue University. Retrieved from http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/psychoanalysis/definitions/introjection.html

 

Introjection. GoodTherapy.com. Retrieved from: https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/introjection#:~:text=Therapy%20for%20Negative%20Introjection,has%20been%20buried%20since%20childhood

 

Projection and introjection. (n.d.). ChangingMinds.org. Retrieved from http://changingminds.org/disciplines/psychoanalysis/concepts/projection_introjection.htm

 

Six reasons why people self-injure. MentalHealth.net. Retrieved from: https://www.mentalhelp.net/suicide/6-reasons-why-people-self-injure/

 

Treatment for Dissociative Identity Disorder Introjects. Fightingforthefuture.com. Retrieved from: https://fightingforafuture.com/2019/10/18/treatment-for-dissociative-identity-disorder-introjects/

 

 

 

 

 

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