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sister said:
Sunny, I'm not sure what you mean by ego states, but I think it's the same thing we are talking about.

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Hi sister. Ego states are pretty cool. Ego states are organized around different ages or themes. They don't have to be children. I picture my "self" as a room full of all my different ego states. The more prominent (or less integrated) ones stand at the front of the room and are distinct with details to their features, and light upon them. The more integrated ones are further back and in shadow. They are more integrated into my dominant or controlling ego state, who I consider to be "me." I have a fairly prominent ego state who is a little girl of age 4-6. Ego states are often organized around themes. One theme can be age. This particular little girl ego state of mine suffered abuse/trauma at that age and that is her theme. I did not even know this ego state existed because due to the trauma ,I had really dissociated her. When I recovered my repressed memories of those experiences, I became aware of this ego state. She came to me first in dreams and then later she came with me to therapy. But I have many other ego states too, but not all are prominent. Another prominent ego state I have is a young adult me, again organized around a run of traumatic experiences. I also have another one that is an older girl than 4-6, maybe age 10-11 or so. I have not worked with these ego states in therapy yet, but they are both important ones.

So I haven't really worked with an inner child, as that sounds like a concrete way of visualizing/imagining one's childish aspect. And it sounds like each person only has one inner child. Ego states seem more specific to me; they have "themes" rather than just age, and there are multiple ego states. It was a very powerful moment for me to visualize all my ego states in the imaginary room and see the less integrated ones at the front. I really want to do more ego state work when I return to therapy after dealing with my marriage issues.