“Part of me wants to quit, and part of me really doesn’t.” Almost everyone talks like this. We feel divided: one side wants the cake and the other wants to be healthy; one wants to speak up and the other wants to hide. Parts therapy takes that everyday way of speaking and turns it into a method.
Where it came from
The hypnotic version was developed by the American hypnotherapist Charles Tebbetts, and later taught and extended by his student Roy Hunter. It is closely related to ego state therapy, created by the psychologist John Watkins and his wife Helen Watkins, which drew on psychoanalytic ideas and on older theories of dissociation.
Similar ideas appear elsewhere under other names, including voice dialogue and Internal Family Systems.
The core idea
The personality is treated as having different “parts,” each with its own job. A habit that you want to lose is seen as the work of a part that believes it is helping you.
- The part that smokes may be trying to give you a break.
- The part that procrastinates may be protecting you from failure.
- The part that overeats may be offering comfort.
Seen like this, the problem is not weakness. It is a conflict between a part that wants change and a part with a good reason to resist. Fighting the resistant part tends to fail. Negotiating with it may not.
How a session works
Hunter describes a structured sequence. In outline:
- Induction into hypnosis.
- Call out the part responsible for the unwanted behaviour, and thank it for coming forward.
- Ask its purpose. What is it trying to do for you?
- Call out the opposing part, the one that wants change, and hear its view.
- Mediate. The therapist acts as a neutral go-between, like a negotiator.
- Find new ways. Ask the first part to find other ways of meeting its purpose that do not cause the problem.
- Agree terms that both parts accept.
- Integrate, with suggestions that the parts now work together.
The client speaks for each part in turn. The therapist’s role is to ask and to mediate, not to supply the answers.
Why it can help
- It replaces self-criticism with curiosity. “Why am I so useless?” becomes “What is this part trying to do for me?”
- It respects ambivalence instead of trying to override it.
- It finds the function of a habit, which makes a substitute possible.
- The solutions come from the client, so they tend to fit.
What the evidence says
Honestly, not much. Parts therapy in the Tebbetts and Hunter tradition has not been tested in controlled trials. Ego state therapy has a small research literature, including a study reporting fewer menstrual migraines after four sessions, but nothing approaching the evidence for CBT.
The approach rests on clinical experience and on the fact that many clients find it makes sense.
What to be careful about
Parts are a metaphor. They are a way of talking about mixed motives, not separate people living inside you. A good therapist keeps that clear.
Do not go looking for more. Encouraging someone to discover, name and elaborate many distinct inner personalities carries risks, especially for people with a history of trauma or dissociation. Suggestion can make “parts” seem more separate and more real than they are.
It is not for dissociative disorders outside specialist care. If you have been diagnosed with a dissociative condition or complex trauma, this kind of work belongs with a qualified clinician.
Avoid memory hunting. If a “part” is asked when it was “created,” the session has become regression, with the false-memory risks that brings.
Try the idea without hypnosis
Next time you feel torn, write two short paragraphs:
- “The part of me that wants to change says…”
- “The part of me that doesn’t says…”
Then ask the second part: “What are you trying to do for me, and how else could I get that?”
It is a surprisingly effective way of getting unstuck.
The bottom line
Parts therapy is a humane and intuitive way of working with inner conflict. Treat the parts as a useful figure of speech, and it can help you stop fighting yourself.
Next in the series: How to Become a Hypnotherapist in the UK
This article is for general information and is not medical advice.