trigger warning is for the link at the bottom of my post .. explanation of the link is located in the paragraph just above the link.

here in my location and those I work for and my own personal beliefs about ego states vs alternate personalities is that they are two different things.

ego states are learned/copies similar to introjects ( is when we take on the attitudes, behaviors of others usually in a negative way)

in terms of ego states the mind has three of them. the parent ego state, the adult ego state and the child ego state.

the parent ego state is learned and copied ways of thinking, ways of behaving that copies or imitates our parents. we are in this state of mind when we do things that are parenting ourselves. examples I wake up in the morning. I think "I need to go take a shower before I do anything because I need to be clean before I go to work, I cant go to work feeling, and smelling like I just got out of bed" looking deeper underneath that thought by questioning why I realize the thought and behavior of needing and taking a shower this morning was because thats how my mother raised me, we got up and washed before breakfast so that we were clean and ready to go to school.

adult parenting type personalities take complete control and isnt usually a copy of our parents behaviors, its usually the alter has come up with their own plan for the survival and preservation of the host because the host is in some sort of distress and danger. When ever I was in a confrontation with anyone in authority I would switch into an adult parenting alter who would figure out what buttons to push in the offending adult and basically tell them where to go and what to do with what ever. My parents were old school that rarely if ever swore and they certainly didnt argue with people in authority. my parenting type alter took that on as a part of her own behaviors for the survival and preservation of me and all with in me. this alternate personality also read books aloud to the rest of us, my parents never learned how to read.

the adult ego state is consciously thinking, behaving and reacting to what is going on now, in the present moment, in the here and now, but doing so in a responsible logical adult fashion. right now its 5am I heard a noise outside. I got up, looked out the peep hole and saw someone starting their car in the parking lot, I think to myself ok just so and so probably taking their son around to deliver the morning papers. I made coffee and came on line to check messages and chat a bit with a friend on a messenger service.

I (the host) am the consciously aware self that deals with making sure I am grounded in the present moment dealing with all the things that go on in the here and now.

with alternate personalities most times it is because the host has dissociated of anxiety and inability to deal with the here and now, so the alter takes control doing what needs to be done.

the child ego state is thinking feeling and behaving like we did when we were children. When i was a child I learned if I kept at my parents they would give me my way on some things. so now sometimes when I really want to do something and my partner doesnt want to do that with me I will whine like I did when I was a child and start the "oh come on, it'll be fun, please, Just for a little bit, then Ill do whatever you want..." sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt but the fact remains its a thought process and behavior that I carried over into my adulthood. At first I wasnt aware that I was doing this. it was like a bad habit that I had to break and I still fight against that childhood reaction and behavior.

With child alternate personalities the behaviors, feelings and thinking like a child isnt a learned behavior of an adult acting like a child. the adult is literally that child they used to be right down to picking their nose, sucking their thumbs..... Alternate personalities literally take on lives of their own.

Some people places and mental health agencies may believe differently than we do here. ego states is a term that over the past few years has come to mean different things to different people and mental health agencies.

a great write up about what I and the mental health community here in NY believe is in the following link. before anyone clicks on it though know it has some intimate moments pictures for a banner because its on a relationships website called "relationships explained." dealing with parent adult child ego states is like dealing with relationships both the person acting out in child ego state can be trying for their partners.

that said heres the link....

http://www.relationships-explained.c...tate-model.htm