"Self-States: What They Are, What They Aren't"

Watch the entire keynote address by Richard Chefetz 

What are "self-states" and how are they related to modes? The latest and perhaps most useful iteration of a long line of references to compartmentalized and otherwise isolated aspects of the human mind, "self-states" are implicated when people think, speak, or act in ways that are at odds with how they usually are. For instance: 

“I don’t know what got into me to say that! I’m so sorry. I couldn’t help it. I’m so ashamed.”

This is a common exclamation we hear coming from our own mouths and those of our patients when self-states are activated. Self-states are especially relevant when working with eating disorders, sexual acting-out, all manner of addictive behaviors, post-traumatic disorders, complex PTSD, and the dissociative disorders. 

Borrowing from Self Psychology, Object Relations, Relational Psychoanalysis, Attachment Theory, Affect Theory, and Traumatology, Richard Chefetz presents an integrated model for understanding self-state organization and activity on a subjective level that has immediate applicability to everyday clinical work, and can be used to expand our work with modes. 

Click to watch: RICHARD CHEFETZ

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