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75 The Blue and the Orange: Reconsidering Depression and Mania Through the Lens of Parts

Episode 75 Published 4 years, 9 months ago
Description
  1. And depression manifests itself in different ways depending on roles or functions that different parts
     
    1. Three major roles
       
      1. Exiles -- 
        1. most sensitive -- these exiles have been exploited, rejected, abandoned in external relationships
        2. They have suffered relational traumas or attachment injuries
        3. They hold the painful experiences that have been isolated from conscious awareness to protect the person from being overwhelmed with the intensity.
        4. They desperately want to be seen and known, to be safe and secure, to be comforted and soothed, to be cared for and loved
        5. They want rescue, redemption, healing
        6. And in the intensity of their needs and emotions, they threaten to take over and destabilize the person's whole being, the person's whole system -- they want to take over the raft to be seen and heard, to be known, to be understood.  But they can flood us with the intensity of their experience
        7. And that threatens to harm external relationships
        8. Burdens they carry:  Shame, dependency, worthlessness, Fear/Terror, Grief/Loss, Loneliness, Neediness, Pain, lack of meaning or purpose, a sense of being unloved and unlovable, inadequate, abandoned, 
          1. Depression.  Exiles are parts that step in to carry the burden of depression so that depression doesn't overwhelm our system and incapacitate us.  
          2. Protector parts exile the part burdened with depression -- toxic
          3. But these exiles want to be heard, seen, known, understood.  
          4. So they attempt to jailbreak, they want to get on the raft, they want to stop being submerged in the unconscious, under the water, they want to get on the raft, and the only way they know how to be accepted on the raft is to become king of the raft and overpower all the other parts.  Then, they hope to be seen and known and heard and accepted and loved 
          5. But because they blended, because they dominated, because they took over, there's no possibility to be in relationship inside with the self.  They are now able to scream their pain and distress, but it doesn't get them what they want.  
          6. When depressed exiles take over, they wind up shutting the system down
             
            1. Depressed mood  

            1. Loss of interest/pleasure
          8.  
            1. Weight loss or gain  

            1. Insomnia or hypersomnia 

            1. Psychomotor agitation or retardation  

            1. Fatigue  

            1. Feeling worthless or excessive/inappropriate guilt N
          13.  
            1. Decreased concentration 

            1. Thoughts of death/suicide:  

          16. So exiles can bring the depression to the fore.  But that is not the only way we become depressed.  

      1. Managers
         
        1. These are the proactive protector parts.  They work strategically, with forethought and planning to keep in control of situations and relationships to minimize the likelihood of you being hurt.  They work really hard to keep you safe.
      2.  
        1. controlling, striving, planning, caretaking, judging, 

        1. Can be pessimistic, self-critical, very demanding.
      4.  
        1. Managers can use symptoms of depression to try to keep us safe
           
          1. Depressed mood  -- pessimism keep us from trying new thing and risking failure
        2.  
          1. Loss of interest/pleasure  -- keep us from enjoying a romantic relationship that might challenge us
          2. Weight loss or gain  -- keeping us obese, in the hope that we don't attract others' attention so that we won't be raped again.  
          3. Insomnia or hypersomnia -- protecting us from nightmares that exiles share when we sleep.  
          4. Psychomotor agitation or retardation   -- letting others know not to expect too much from us
          5. Fatigue  -- keeping us from
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