Suggesting internal family systems-informed eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing as a treatment for personality structural dissociation

Abstract Personality structural dissociation (PSD) describes how traumatisation can structurally alter innate psychobiological system organisation and give rise to dissociative parts of one’s personality. Acute, complex and severe trauma-related psychopathologies are described and, the presentations are heterogeneous. Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) targets traumatic memories through alternating bilateral stimulation and integrates them within adaptive memory networks. Internal family systems (IFS) is a systemic ego-state modality that can promote positive cognitive interweaves and facilitate trauma processing through attunement, visualisation and self-compassion. Integration of IFS with EMDR (IFS-EMDR) may be more suitable for resourced and titrated trauma-processing with complex and severe PSD. This paper seeks to explore the manifestation of innate psychic multiplicity within trauma-related psychopathologies as described by PSD. The effectiveness of IFS-EMDR is also proposed as a potential treatment approach. We outline a theoretical framework for the co-existence of dissociative and IFS parts and describe how prominent symptomatology can be addressed through a phase-oriented protocol, comprising stabilisation, trauma processing and reintegration. Insights offered in this paper can help psychotherapists support individuals living with PSD to navigate paced trauma-processing and subsequent personality integration.