The
voice would not go away. Demanding, cruel – the woman listened … Awful things
were being said to her, mean, hurtful things, designed to wound, to impart the
knowledge that one was imperfect, imbecilic, and worthless. (When Rabbit Howls see BOOKS, ARTICLES)
Some of them
may be seen as introjects of
the abuser, repeating the same damaging words that the abuser used to control
the child.
Often these
personalities want to harm the person, or at least threaten to. Sometimes the
person may so identify with this personality that he feels as if he is the
abuser and has power over the victim.
This kind of
personality may believe she can harm the body without harming her own self.
Sometimes this
personality started out as a protector or helper then turned into a persecutor.
Typically the
persecutor personalities tend to be condescending towards the host and/or other
personalities as well as towards the therapist, trying to undermine treatment.
But they can be won over and eventually be very helpful with the healing
process.
Ultimately,
this personality’s purpose is to numb the pain, numb the feelings of guilt or
grief. So, in therapy, she must be heard and the feelings must be felt in order
to heal.
Often this
type of personality blames themselves for the pain. They may think that if they
had been stronger they wouldn’t have been hurt. They tend to blame themselves
for being too weak to protect themselves, even though they were only a child at
the time.
This
personality may present as tough and uncaring but usually this a front for
someone who is actually unhappy, lonely and feels rejected. He may feel that
the other personalities don’t appreciate how hard it is holding all the anger
for the system. Other personalities may tend to blame him for things going
wrong.
Bottom line,
this personality has a lot more to her than meets the eye and requires a lot of
compassion and understanding. It’s important to remember that the true
objective of this personality is to protect the person, even if it seems the opposite
is true.
