What is the ego? It is our awareness of the “me” inside. It is the “me” that is sometimes focused and working, sometimes playful and laughing, sometimes in pain, and sometimes illogical in feeling and reaction. We each experience our ego from our own special states, states that have been formed through our experiences.
Think about how you feel, right now, and point a finger to yourself. You are thinking about and pointing to your ego, your selfness, your “me state”. You have more than a single “me state” or “ego state”. You are made up of an ego family of states. At times you may feel like a different person in attitude, logic, and emotion. You are actually a single person who is made up of a number of different states; each has its own feeling of power, weakness, emotion, logic, or other personal traits. On another day or at another time, when you point to yourself, you will probably be pointing to a different ego state. The other state may be angry, logical, lighthearted, or fearful. It may be talkative or pensive. When we say, “Part of me wants to”, we are talking about an ego state. When we say, “I feel at peace with myself on this issue”, we are talking about our ego states agreeing, not having an internal struggle. Our various states help to make our lives rich, productive, and enjoyable.
Because we have many states from which we can choose at a given time, it is possible to learn to change from a state that feels out of control to a state that has a feeling of competence. Because we have states that carry pain, it is possible to find and help the specific states that need resolution. Working with ego states can foster an improved psychological and physical experience of life. Understanding these ego states, learning to recognize them, and to use them in therapy is the purpose of this book. Learning to work directly with the state that needs help provides therapists the shortest distance between the two points, the goal and the solution.
The goals of the therapy are:
Learning about ego states and how to use them is beneficial in two ways; it increases an understanding of personality, and provides an avenue for affecting rapid and lasting change.
Ego state personality theory allows the therapist and the client to have a clearer view of how the personality is composed, and where most psychological problems originate. It demystifies the “vast unknown subconscious”, revealing it to be accessible ego states. It illuminates the development of our ego state structure and the ability that ego states have to be malleable, to become empowered, and to release fear.
Where do psychological problems come from? Why do clients react the way they do? Both clients and therapists often guess at these answers. Ego State Therapy provides a process that can connect the problematic symptom to the causal stimulus, without the therapist or client having to guess or interpret. It facilitates empowerment, just where it is needed, so unwanted symptoms no longer manifest from unresolved states. The understanding of their ego states that clients gain allows a richer experience of living, with an ability to be assertive, fragile, angry, logical, and caring at preferred times. Internal turmoil, where two parts of the person cannot agree, can be changed to a cooperative and respectful acceptance of the various ego states and their roles. It is often the case that physical health improves following the resolution of trauma and the improved internal communication between states that Ego State Therapy produces. Improved psychological and physical health, and an improved self-understanding and richness of experience are benefits of ego state theory and therapy.
Chapter 1 of this book defines ego states and ego state theory. It explains ego states and how the theory relates to other therapeutic orientations. A short history of Ego State Therapy is provided. Various ways to access ego states, both hypnotically and non-hypnotically, are presented in Chapter 2. Methods for using Ego State Therapy are covered in Chapter 3, and some specific applications of the therapy are presented in Chapter 4. Typical Ego State Therapy sessions are outlined in Chapter 5, and theoretical implications of ego state theory are discussed in Chapter 6.