I discovered another "part" yesterday. please keep in mind I am not talking about alters. the two are completely different...

for alters with DID dissociation symptoms are required, for parts a person does not have to be dissociated.

for alters a person's flight or fight response to a trigger caused a person to switch over to behaving, thinking and responding from the unconsciously / dissociatively stored personality traits called alters (for more on this you can read my integration thread here Integration For "parts" a person is fully aware and consciously switching into different roles in their life.

examples of Alters..... Rainy was my alter that handled storms and depressed emotions beginning in very early childhood when I was under 5 years old, and abused in the worst ways possible in a mine shaft. in order to switch into being Rainy I had to be having my dissociation symptoms (numb, spaced out, and more...) because of being triggered by a storm, my brains natural flight or fight response with out my knowledge would route my responses to my unconscious personality Rainy. then Rainy would do her job, purpose, reason for being created, go home change into dry clothing, get something hot to eat and drink to warm the body up, when safely home out of the storm, my brains normal flight or fight response would switch back over to the consciously stored in my brain normal every day personality.

Example of Parts..... Mother. I became a mother when my wife, a close friend and I used IVF for me to become pregnant and my biological children were born.

All my alternate personalities are integrated now so that my consciously stored personality and my unconsciously stored personalities are one whole personality again.

Parts are completely normal and a person can have as many as their life needs. yesterday I discovered a "Part" of myself. I was at the Y teaching my youngest how to swim. I have mobility problems due to my MS (Multiple Sclerosis ) I was sitting on the Y's special lift with my child. my wife lowered us into the water and we remained sitting on the lift as the child got used to the water temp. As the child relaxed I relaxed. the child knows how to hold her breath this is a child who will throw a temper and hold breath to scare the you know what out of the parents. and also holds breath in water in bathtub. but at that moment I didn't think about that as the child slides off my lap and into the water. Child starts sinking like children do when learning how to swim. I and my first aid training kick into action I throw myself off the lift go under water (8 ft pool) aim for the floor, cant find the child, but there was another child playing and I "rescued" that child too that didn't need rescuing. I come back up and theres my child happily splashing on the near by stairs. Last night when my wife and I were discussing it we discovered that I do "come to the rescue" when I see anyone in trouble, be it my wife, children, someone on the playground, at work, in a store, I "come to the rescue" this situation where I "come to the rescue" is not limited to children, so its not the mother feelings in me, its a normal part of who and what I am, Im someone that likes to help others.

this "rescuing" part of me yesterday was good but not so good too. good because if I hadn't acted and my child really was in trouble it could have ended differently. not so good because my "recuing" someone elses child had interfered with what that parent was teaching their child, and scared the parent, someone they didn't know grabbing their child.

its time for me to work on this normal part of me that likes to "come to the rescue" I have not decided whether I am going to use CBT / DBT (recognizing my behaviors and making changes) or give IFS (parts therapy) another try. but I do know that I cant be unintentionally "rescuing" people strangers or not. in this day and time we live in that could be dangerous behavior.

Bear with me as I do some researching and may end up posting about various "parts work" techniques to discover which way is right for me, and maybe what gets posted will help others here too.