Overview of Parts Integration

The Parts Integration pattern is also known as:

Visual Squash

This technique is used to resolve internal conflict.  The most obvious indicator that it’s needed is when you catch yourself saying, ‘Part of me wants to do that, but another part doesn’t’.  Or ‘one the one hand, I’d like to, but on the other hand...’ Sometimes this will be accompanied by gestures of weighing up the options in each hand.

Another indicator of internal conflict can be incongruity.  If you hear yourself saying something and you feel that it’s not really true for you or you’re half-hearted about it, that suggests some internal conflict.

Parts Integration is built on the theory that significant emotional experiences in the past can give rise to the separation of a ‘part’ of the unconscious mind.  The part will have been created to serve a particular purpose and may have beliefs and values that are different from the main body of the unconscious mind.

Internal conflict comes when the needs of one part are either in conflict with another part that has a different purpose or is in conflict with the main body of the unconscious.

The Parts Integration pattern resolves the conflict by identifying the purpose behind the current behaviour or desire of the two parts and chunking up to find common ground.  When the two parts are both aligned behind a common purpose, the conflict evaporates.