Pusher, Pleaser) and preempting oppression (see Critic). Commonly known as superegos, parent ego states, major subpersonalities, ormanagers. SeeRole-dependent parts.
Dis-identify: Identifying subpersonalities with names, images, character types, or dramatic exaggerations to make them more recognizable. This reinstates them as inner objects (resulting from introjection) that can be faced, questioned, ‘‘seen through,’’ and redirected.
Dissociate: Cutting ties with the Self and other inner voices by an ego state that formssolidified boundaries, resulting in a sense ofnot-me-ness. Disruptions in consciousness, memory, identity, or perceptions of the environment.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID): The existence in a single individual of two or more distinct identities or personalities that alternate in controlling behavior. Believed to be caused by early, extreme trauma. Formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder.
Distracters: Fixed personality parts that encapsulate traits or biological tendencies, which tend to cause problems in social and work settings and help avoid anxiety. Controlling, clinging, blaming, arrogance, isolation, and addictions are typical distracting tactics. Commonly known as character and temperament. Formed fromOther-powered parts(see entry).
Dual focus of attention: Maintaining awareness of a disturbing past event while staying in the safety of the present.
Ego: See Appendix A,Ego, Adult ego, Aware ego, Ego state, Core ego, Superego.
Empowerment: Actions that strengthen the Self, rather than trying to control others.
Emotional entities: Instinctual personality parts that encapsulate sensations and energy in motion or emotion. Includes fight/flight, attraction/repulsion, and sexual instincts. Commonly known as the id, child ego state, vulnerable selves, or exiles. SeeCounterdependent parts.
Evolution: Process of development from simple to complex forms, or a gradual process of change resulting from the need toadaptto environmental changes versusa desireto improve.
Holistic worldview: Identifies the underlying process that connects interdependent models.
I-I:Expansive Self that is the Witness of the ordinary ‘‘I’’ (Wilber).
I-It Stand: A one-sided, self-conscious way of facing nature, persons, art forms, or God with preconceived notions for the purpose of imposing one’s will (Buber).
Independent Self: Rational Self that solidifies the myriad roles that have been internalized.
Late adolescents or young adults can take a scientific, rational, worldcentric viewpoint. Erikson’s psychosocial crisis ofidentity versus role confusion.
Integrated Self: Joins polarities (body/mind, activity/passivity) without diminishing opposition.
Connection replaces deciding ego. Process-oriented viewpoint values all parts. Corresponds with Erikson’s psychosocial crisis ofintegrity versus despair.
Integration: The process of the Self making contact with various personality parts, especially ones that have been feared, hated, or denied to increase awareness, versatility, and self-trust rather thanto make compromises (Rowan, 1993, p. 188). Harmonious working together of subpersonalities (Assagioli), which results from parts having a one-on-one relationship with the central Self (Cohen- Posey).
Interdependent Self: Intuitive Self becomes less judgmental than the independent Self. It is softer, sensitive, and open to diversity in this adult stage of development that can take a pluralistic viewpoint. Corresponds with Erikson’s psychosocial crisis ofintimacy versus isolation.
Introjection: Internalization of parental and cultural messages with related feelings that keep young ones connected to significant others when separated from them. From the Latin,iectio, which meansto throw in. First used in 1912 by a colleague of Freud’s as a synonym for ‘‘incorporation.’’
Involute: Process of rolling away outer edges to reveal an inner core Self. Opposite of evolve.
I-Thou stand: A two-sided, multiconscious stance toward nature, persons, art forms, or God with complete openness, spontaneity, and acceptance without an agenda, purpose, or need to agree for the purpose of dialogue (Buber).
Glossary
Lower unconscious: Container of fundamental drives, urges, intense emotions, sources of phobias, obsessions, and delusions (Assagioli).
Mammalian brain: The reptilian brain plus the limbic system, which contains the hippocampus, thalamus, and amygdala. Considered responsible for emotions related to survival—
appetite, sex, competition, and avoiding pain and repeating pleasure. Capable of learning.
Mandala: Sanskrit word meaning container of essence or magic circle (mandameans essence;
la means container). Circular designs that organize perception, thought, and physical responses in beneficial ways.
Magical worldview: First-person viewpoint in which the ego is all-powerful.
Middle unconscious: Inner region of experience, imaginative activities, and mental processes that can easily be brought into awareness or consciousness (Assagioli).
Mindfulness: Developing awareness by ‘‘paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, nonjudgmentally’’ (Kabat-Zinn).
Modernity: Historic epoch between the 1600s and the 1950s to the 1970s in which art, social values, and science became differentiated and evolved in their own right. Ultimately science became dominant (Wilber). SeePremodernityandPostmodernity.
Mysticism: The art and science of establishing a conscious relationship with the mystery of life: (a)Eastern, metaphysical—the I-I (expansive Self that witnesses the ordinary I) moves from realms of physicalperceptions and sensations, to emotional tensions, to fleeting thoughts, and falls into an opening where it becomes what it observes—all are in it and it is in all (Wilber); (b)Earthy, social—melting boundaries between the (I-Thou) Self and others by cherishing differences and embracing more of the world (persons, nature, art, and all that is eternal) and creating a cosmos of pure spirit in the midst (Buber).
Mythic worldview: Second-person viewpoint. Omnipotence of the ego is transferred to the gods.
Neocortex: The main brain of the primates who are the latest mammals to appear in the last two million years. It sits on top and to the front of the brain. All animals have a neocortex, but only in primates is it highly developed. It is responsible for higher cognitive functions such as language, reasoning, planning, and solving complex problems.
Other-powered parts: Tendencies to be dependent, demanding, oppositional, and withdrawn.
Formed by copying and coping with valued persons and culture. Seeing through the eyes of others gives a second-person, mythic viewpoint. Corresponds to Erikson’s psychosocial crisis of industry versus inferiority. SeeDistracters.
Persona: The masks or personalities that help people adapt to various social settings. How others see and know us.
Personal unconscious: Area of the mind that includes anything that is not presently conscious but can be (Jung).
Personality: Enduring patterns of perception, behavior, and thought (Standard). Fixed traits, inner voices, and emotional tensions that respond to and cope with everyday details (Cohen-Posey).
Personality Parts: See Appendix A—Subpersonality . . . inner voices.
Pleaser: A director subpersonality concerned with affiliating and belonging that can become consumed with putting others’ needs first and winning approval.
Pluralistic worldview: Interdependent parts working in harmony; acknowledgement and appreciation of diversity.
Postmodernity: Current epoch (beginning in the 1950s or 1970s) that integrates art, science, and social values. Subjective experience and pluralistic views may be valued over objective science and worldcentric views. SeeModernityandPremodernity.
Preconscious: Thoughts that are not in immediate awareness but that can be recalled with effort.
Glossary
Premodernity: Historic epoch prior to 1600 that was dominated by religion, which oppressed the individual and science but valued body, mind, and spirit. SeeModernityandPostmodernity.
Protector: A director subpersonality concerned with preventing unnecessary risks that can become consumed with avoiding mistakes, flaws, or catastrophes of any kind.
Psychology: The study and science of mental (but not spiritual) processes and behavior.
Psychotherapy: Treatment of mental disorders by various means involving communication between a trained person and the patient.
Pusher: A director subpersonality concerned with task completion to succeed in life that can become consumed with compulsive achievement and advancement.
Role-dependent parts: Internalized rules and roles from valued persons and culture. Acts in acquired traits and innate impulses. Internal roles gives a third-person, sociocentric viewpoint.
Corresponds with Erikson’s psychosocial crisis ofidentity versus role confusion. BecomeDirectors.
Schema and Self-schemata: See Appendix A.
Self: See Appendix A—Self,Higher Self, Real Self, Aware ego, Core/true Self.
Sensory Integration Disorder (SID): A neurological disorder that results from the brain’s inability to integrate certain information received from the body’s five basic sensory systems resulting in over- or undersensitivity, unusually high or low activity levels, clumsiness and carelessness, difficulty making transitions, and difficulty with self-soothing.
Shadow: Aspects of the personality (positive and negative) that have been relegated to the unconscious because conscious life will not permit their expression. They appear in dreams as a person of the same sex (Jung).
Sociocentric worldview: Third-person view places power in social units versus deified others (Wilber).
Spirit: A source that validates, defines, and directs one’s life.
Subconscious: A term, obsolete in psychiatry, that now includes the unconscious and preconscious.
Superconscious: Region from which we receive higher intuitions and inspirations—the source of states of contemplation, illumination, and ecstasy (Assagioli).
Symbiotic Self: Stage of self-development that enjoys a symbiotic (mutually interdependent) bond with caretakers in which boundaries between the wishes and needs of each party are unclear.
Correlates with Erikson’s psychosocial crisis oftrust versus mistrust.
Symbol: The best possible expression for something that is unknown. Symbols are the language of the unconscious (Jung).
Transcendent Self: Universal Self moves from realms ofphysicalperceptions and sensations, to emotional tensions, to fleeting thoughts into an opening where it becomes what it observes—all are in it and it is in all (Wilber). Boundaries between Self and others (I-Thou) are melted by cherishing differences—creating a cosmos of pure spirit in the midst. Has a cosmic viewpoint that realizes the interrelatedness of all things. Corresponds to Erikson’s psychosocial crisis ofgenerativity versus stagnation.
Transpersonal: Experiences involving an expansion or extension of consciousness beyond the usual boundaries and limitations of time or space.
Unconscious: The place where unknown wishes and needs are kept and play a significant role in conscious behavior.
Will: Dynamic inner power capable of directing, focusing, challenging, concentrating, involving, and controlling the mind and body.
Worldcentric view: Transfers power from the group to the rule of scientific, universal beliefs (Wilber).
Yoga: Yoking the powers of the mind by special disciplines of concentration developed in India thousands of years ago. Traditional yoga is a method of joining the individual self with the Divine, Universal Spirit or Cosmos. Yogin practice yoga.
Glossary