Keith R Wilson

Wanting is Better Than Having

It’s hard to admit such a thing, but I’ve always been disappointed in Christmas. Even as a kid. Oh, seeing my family is good. Opening the presents is fun. I would be remiss if I said I don’t appreciate the gifts. Giving my own makes me feel virtuous all over. But, when all is saidContinue reading “Wanting is Better Than Having”

Addiction Takes Hostages

Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, Part 5 The further people go into addiction, the more their lives center around it. They discard all forms of recreation in favor of activities that include the addiction. All of their friends become using friends. Non-using friends drift away and the addict is drawn toContinue reading “Addiction Takes Hostages”

Longing for Community

I was on Interstate 86, heading east, returning from a road trip that took me across most of the country, when I entered Allegany County, in western New York. It was a place I knew well, but not as well as I might. I lived in Allegany County for two short years before I movedContinue reading “Longing for Community”

Can You Unify the People in Your Head?

Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us, Part 7 If you have dozens of people talking in your head at once, you’d want them to work together. Therefore, every form of psychotherapy seeks to integrate them. However, integration means something different when you’re at different stages. First, it means you want the subpersonalities to stay away becauseContinue reading “Can You Unify the People in Your Head?”

Engaging With Your Subpersonalities

Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us, Part 6 When I began doing psychotherapy, oh, so many eons ago, the first techniques I tried that helped me engage with subpersonalities was Gestalt Therapy, the creation of Fritz Perls. You don’t hear much about Gestalt these days, since Pearls died, because the star power of its main proponentContinue reading “Engaging With Your Subpersonalities“

Going Deeper with Jung

Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us, Part 5 I had a sense of my own subpersonalities since I first realized my imaginary friends were imaginary, but it wasn’t till I started to read Jung, long before I thought of being a therapist, that the nature of these non-being beings became clear. Jung introduced me to theContinue reading “Going Deeper with Jung”

Freud and the Fight of the Subpersonalities

Part IV of Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us Freud’s unconscious is a site of dramatic struggle between subpersonalities. The Id, the Super-Ego, and the Ego have been described as a gorilla and a schoolmarm fighting in a dark cellar, refereed by a nervous bank clerk. Deals are struck between the three, resulting in character andContinue reading “Freud and the Fight of the Subpersonalities“

Making Sense of the Voices in Your Head

Part III of Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us Let’s begin to take a look at the many kinds of psychotherapies that address subpersonalities. My guide on the subject has been John Rowan in Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us(1990). But here, I must leave him for a bit to talk about one therapy that has comeContinue reading “Making Sense of the Voices in Your Head”

Where to Find Your Subpersonalities

Part II of Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us Where do we get the idea that there are subpersonalities inside us? We’ve always seemed to have it. Primitive cultures have been fascinated with altered states of consciousness and spirit possession. They are the stock in trade for shamans. Ancient people seem to have conceived of subpersonalitiesContinue reading “Where to Find Your Subpersonalities“