That's a great idea I've never heard of before that clearly. It makes me think of something my X husband told me once. (even he has given me some useful information!! lol!!) He is a machinist, someone who manufactures parts of machinery. One day, we were on the topic of what happens to a machine shop when their particular product is no longer needed. He said then, that the shop is "retooled"...meaning that the employees stay on, but the manufacturing tools are adjusted to whatever the owner decides to manufacture next. The employees' function changes, but they are still employees.

In the context of MPD, I think it compares to the core alter being the "owner" who is retooling the shop. In relation to that, the core alter is following the process of recovery, or "retooling" in order to adjust to the need for functioning in life. (For the machine shop owner, it would be adjusting to the need for a product).)

In our case, the "employees" would be our alters. Just as when the need for the employees' product changes, the need for our alters' function changes. Although our alters don't know that until we can meet them and tell them about it. Just as we are in denial to protect ourselves from the inside, so are our alters in denial to protect themsleves from the outside. Thus, the "wall of denial". Denial in this sense is not a bad thing when it's been needed. But eventually, the wall needs to come down so we can function and grow in an ever-changing and complicating world. It would be helpful, perhaps, to think of our core selves as the owner, and also develop communication skills that make our "shop" a good place to work. Have you ever seen the show, Undercover Boss? I think thats a good goal for us to reach for. (I love that show!)

Once our alters are told in a respectful way why their purpose needs to change, they can be given a different job to do and still be themselves. Just like a machine shop employee would still manufacture something, just a different product.

I hope that makes sense!!

Here's a link to the show, if you haven't seen it and want to see what it's about....

http://www.cbs.com/shows/undercover_boss/

I like the idea of changing purpose a lot more than being done away with in integration. I know they keep saying we don't go away, but I can't believe that. I like this idea much better. L

This is exactly what I did when I first became aware of Hope. I honestly think that she is the one who holds the key to me starting to recover.

Hope your Hope sounds a lot like my core personality Elizabeth. My core is like you said the one who is ready to heal and able to love and accept all of my other personalities and totally a positive thinker. Did Hope emerge as you began to heal?This is what happened to me.I read the book Resurrection after rape and followed the steps within it to recover.Upon telling my first memory of abuse to my husband in complete detail(like it says to do in Resurrection after rape).My core emerged and began helping to heal all of my other alters. Is your experience similar?

I have one alt that everyone inside always called Mother. She speaks with my mother's voice and is very critical of everyone. She went along being Mother all this time until last month when it was decided that we should tell my mother about DID (because my mystery appointments every week were worrying her so much that she went to the hospital with chest pains... no manipulation there, lol!).

Once we decided to tell her and started working on our speech, Mother spoke up and said, "Call me Janice." It was so out of the blue that I was surprised, but she explained that it wouldn't go well if I slipped and said Mother while describing alts to my mother. It was good thinking, and so even though we still think of her as Mother, we're trying to remember to call her Janice when we talk about her.

I like the idea of helping an alter who doesn't want to choose a name choose a positive one. Most of mine chose their own names, but the most recent one to be discovered said she didn't deserve a name because she wasn't important. She seems to be the one that just accepts whatever pain is given to the body without fighting or asking for help. So I called her Acceptance. I figure it is both a descriptor of her past/present role, but maybe as we heal, she'll feel worthy to choose a name that's more positive.

I like the retooling story as an analogy for growth and healing, Star. I don't see my alts as employees, though... They're all equal partners in this story of my life. They do grow and change as they are recognized and appreciated, though, I've noticed, so it's like they each retool their own machine as they see that their past job isn't as necessary, but that they can be of bigger help if they do something a little different.

~ Wistala

@Wheezie: Yes, that's exactly what happened. And ever since I "discovered" her, she's been the primary. It's also a bit of a nice change, since most of my other female alters were very negative, since that's what they had to be to cope with my family.

this is an interesting topic and I'd like to share one of my past experiences. I had an alter named dog. Later we helped Dog take on another name, when she was able to speak. She chose REnd because she wasn't quite good enough to be a Friend. We worked on her broken concept of friendship, relationships forever, but her name stuck.

I think changing names is empowering, and a great tool. For SRA about such as mine, there were alters named 6 and others that changed their names to something beautiful and meaningful to them.