Less than distinct states

Less than distinct states, or "discontinuities in sense of self and agency" are parts of the personality in the following mental disorders: PTSD, DID, OSDD (DDNOS) and sometimes BPD. They are also called emotional parts of the personality (EP).

A brief history and where we are today
A "less than distinct state" was first reported by Charles Samuel Charles Myers who used the term "emotional part." Janet is given credit for the intellectual thought that went far beyond the recognition of the two parts of a traumatized personality called the apparently normal part (ANP) and the emotional part (EP). Around the same time Pierre Marie Félix Janet, (born May 30, 1859, Paris, France and died February 24, 1947, Paris) understood through observation that the "mentally state" would sometimes exhibit a state of distinction and other times a state that is traumatized. The state that is traumatized is what is referred to as a "less than distinct state," and "emotional part of the personality," (EP) or as the DSM-5 puts it, "discontinuities in sense of self and agency." Janet in length developed a theory that the world should have paid attention to, but sadly, for the most part he was ignored. A couple of the world's top researchers today have exhumed the teaching of Janet and have added modern neurology, physiologic and intellectual reasoning. These two men, along with Kathy Steele, introduced a modern day theory, and in 2006 wrote the Haunted Self which described in detail what a "less than distinct state is" and used the terminology "emotional part," a term provided by Charles Samuel Myers: "emotional part" (EP). More recently other researchers, who may not use the term "emotional part" (EP), do understand and support the proposal. Many concepts presented in the Haunted Self have been advanced by the original authors, and other researchers have added to the theory of Structural Dissociation of the Personality. In addition, neurologists, biologists and other scientists have been doing their own research and have come to the same conclusions that Myers and Janet did in their lifetime.



The most up to date definition, which is by Lanis, Paulsen and Corrigan in simple terms says that distinct and less than distinct states are unique unto themselves with very little overlapping in the way they function, and with minor exceptions are still seen how van der Hart et al. described them in 2006 when introducing the theory of structural dissociation.

Separate self-states can be complex emotional states based in truncated defense responses and have relatively independent interpretive loops through the brainstem, the body, the spinothalamic tracts, and the cortex. At the other extreme are separate body states that have circuits through the brainstem and body with little involvement even of thalamic structures. They resemble what van der Hart et al. refer to as EP's. Other self-states are stored in cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical loops that have little affective or defensive loading. These different states resemble what van der Hart et al. (2006) describe as ANP's. These self-states are more likely separated at a subcortical level-thalamocortical loops through the basal ganglia. - U. Lanius, S. Paulsen, F. Corrigan

A less than distinct state holds unprocessed trauma events
A less than distinct state is one that has been separated from the parts of the personalty system that it depends on to be complete. The other side of the equation, the distinct state, goes about daily life, as well as it can, without being influenced by the individuals unprocessed unprocessed trauma events. A distinct state is "stricken with" (using Janet's terms) an inability to know who they are. In the Haunted Self, the less than distinct states are referred to as the emotional parts of the personality (EP), and the authors of that landmark book go into great detail to explain how and why these parts exist, and then proceed to report how the parts can integrate and ultimately unify. Trauma processing is a huge part of what these states must endure on the path to healing and obtaining what the individual should have had if they were trauma free, and that is an integrated personality.

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