How to Integrate Angry Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) Alter Parts

People with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) often have one or more angry alter part. Because children who were severely abused are not permitted to express their rage, children with DID often split off the anger and rage into separate alter parts. People with DID often fear the hostility of these alter parts, but there is really nothing to fear. Each alter part is a part of yourself. Healing each angry alter part's rage will go a long way toward healing yourself. You will also likely experience a reduction in anxiety and depression as you integrate your angry alter parts. Here is how to integrate an angry Dissociative Identity Disorder alter part.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

1. Tell your angry alter part that you love him. No matter how much rage you feel from your angry alter part, always respond with love. Be sure to thank your angry alter part for the role he played in helping you survive the abuse.
2. Explain that the anger is misdirected. As a child, you were not permitted to express your anger, so you split off the rage from your spirit. Rage must go somewhere, so you turned the rage on yourself. Explain to your alter part that the anger she is feeling should actually be directed toward your abuser.
3. Visualize expressing the anger. Close your eyes and run the faces of your abusers through your head. Your angry alter part will likely react very strongly toward one or more of those faces. Encourage your angry alter part to attack your abuser in your visualization and permit your alter part to get as graphic as he needs to get. While you might be disturbed by the violence in your head, you will also notice your body relaxing as your pent up anger finally has somewhere to go.
4. Accept that this anger is yours. Because you split off the anger into an alter part, the anger might feel separate from you. You are the child who was abused and you are the one who feels angry. Claim this anger as yours.
5. Invite your angry alter part to integrate into your core. Your core is the part of your spirit that stayed intact after the abuse. Tell your alter part that the core will absorb the rage and that the alter part will be able to stay "out" always as part of the core. You might need to extend this invitation multiple times before you are ready to integrate this part.
6. Physically express your anger. Do something physical to express your anger that will not harm yourself or anyone else. Some methods you can try include punching pillows, throwing things at the wall that will not damage it, beating the ground with a baseball bat, popping balloons with your abusers' names written on them and taking a kickboxing class.

Tips & Warnings

• Finding a qualified therapist with experience in counseling people who have suffered from similar abuses is an important part of healing from child abuse. Your therapist can provide you with additional tools to help you integrate your angry Dissociative Identity Disorder alter parts.
• The reason you fragmented your spirit in the first place is because you suffered nearly unbearable abuse. Healing from the abuse is extremely painful. Do not attempt to integrate your DID parts until you find a qualified therapist with experience in counseling people who have been severely abused.