INTROJECTS

It has been my consistent experience with the most deeply wounded of my clients that there are entities in the Internal World that are not a part of that person’s own nature. They are like parasites -- enlivened by the individual’s energy, yet distinct and autonomous. These are what I refer to as introjects

Usually, introjects are energized by the resistance given them by the Ego. This process is comparable to the way split off parts become stronger the more they are fought. For instance, perhaps the abusing father is on the mind of the individual. The individual may find himself saying internally to his father, “I hate you. I want no part of you. Go to hell.” That stance will energize the presence of the father, which will usually fight back with a corresponding energy.

An introject begins out of the same process that gives rise to a child’s identification with his family and social context. Every child forms some kind of bond with the primary caregivers. It is natural for the child to build an internal image of these people and their messages. If the behavior and messages of the original caregivers are consistent with the child’s True Self, the benign caregivers tend to fade away as sources of internal authority, and their place is taken by the flow of the child’s own internal energies. This happens only if the external presence is in harmony with the natural internal processes of the child.

If the external caregivers are not benign, the child will still create an image and a system of messages in response to the presence of those people. After a while the child will be continually experiencing a living internal representation of these external others. As the child becomes conscious of the flow of his own true energies, he will find that these representations do not fit, or function in harmony with, his True Self. These representations then continue as distinct entities in their own right.

The introjects will actively subvert the flow of the child’s energy, maintaining internally the same subversive attack that is expressed externally by the caregivers. After a period of time -- even a matter of months is sometimes sufficient -- if the external people who are the model for the internal image are no longer present, the internal presence remains. It continues actively pursuing its original intentions of conforming the child to its authority.

If the messages are not very destructive, they may not have much life. They will be like old tapes -- mindless assumptions that keep repeating in the child’s head. Frequently, in cases of severe abuse, these entities develop a kind of intentionality or consciousness. They do not simply repeat old messages. They purposefully continue the old controlling, abusive patterns in ways that are appropriate to both the present context and past history. In other words, they will both reenact old abuse and respond destructively to contemporary realities. In dreams, and even in waking imagery, they may attack. Old ridicule, beatings, and molestations may be repeated. Whatever happened then can happen now, and it does not necessarily happen only to the Hurt Child, but to the Ego as well. A person seeking to make fundamental changes will be hindered by these entities if the direction of change is contrary to what they perceive to be in their own interest. Such entities are full blown introjects.

Well-developed introjects are much more than just old tapes. They are intelligent entities on the attack. It is not that the attackers are returning -- they never left. The abusers do not leave until the person has found genuine healing and is able to let them go. Until that point is reached, the introjects are going to be present in the psyche. Ego intentions have nothing to do with it. The Ego can either agree with them or fight them, but they will be present.

A person’s relationship to an introject is fundamentally childlike. Even if the Ego is adult, the introject was usually embedded by the time the person was between two and four years old. Introjects are overpowering authorities. Dealing with them will inevitably trigger a childlike response. To use an External World example, an individual may be a successful fiftytwo year old but if, during a visit with his now aging mother, she expresses disappointment in him, he may still crumble. Likewise, introjects may also exert this kind of power over an individual.

This is about as close as humans get to actually being possessed. It is not demonic; it is human possession. But it is exceedingly powerful if the abusers have been powerful in a person’s early life.

The way to distinguish an introject from a part of the individual is to look at how it presents in the Internal World. If it is an introject, it will have the look or feel of the abuser. If it is a facet of the individual, it will look like the person, or at least be different from what the person had to contend with as a child. Another way to distinguish between the two is to ask the part who it is or where it came from. Of course, if a client tells me, “My father is here trying to rape me again,” I assume that we are dealing with an introject.

The introjects that I have been describing up to this point are ego-dystonic. They are present, but the Ego hates them and would stop them if it could. However, not all introjects are in opposition to the Ego. Some people build large systems of introjects, because they do not believe that they have any authority of their own. These are ego-syntonic (i.e., ego-compatible) introjects.

If the Ego believes that it is incompetent or inadequate, it will look outside itself to find someone, or some group of persons, to provide what it perceives as lacking in itself. It will then absorb them and use them as the principal internal resources for gathering the strength or insight it needs to make important life decisions.

Ego-syntonic introjects are not quite as dangerous to the psyche as the punitive introjects are; nevertheless, they are poisonous. The Ego gives up looking for its own authority in favor of external, which have now become internal, authorities. This precludes the possibility of ever moving beyond the limits of external experience. Such an Ego is blocked from aligning itself with the Center. Also, introjects are fundamentally static realities. They may respond to a person’s contemporary experience, but it will be through a reapplication of old themes, teachings, and behaviors. They lack the flow and flexibility that an individual’s Center has. Also, because no external authority can ever approach the vitality and rightness of a person’s Center, such an introject will always draw a person away from his genuine potential. This is my major argument against the guru system.

In many instances, a guru will set herself up as the spiritual authority. The seeker is expected to submit unquestioningly, so that the identification with the guru becomes complete (i.e., the guru becomes an introject). The person then has the guru internally available on an ongoing basis as a source of guidance in every life situation.

That introjects exist is an undeniable fact. That they must be eliminated is also absolutely true. There can be no peace or wholeness when the Internal World is cluttered with relatively autonomous external influences that are not thoroughly consistent with the individual’s own True Self. However, removing them is extremely difficult. Attacking them head on may simply energize them, because it underscores their importance. Similarly, polarizing against introjects strengthens them to the extent they are resisted.

My usual response to introjects is to encourage the Ego to be aware of where these messages and behaviors are rooted. I help the client understand that what he keeps hearing in his head is coming from mother, father, and/or other significant people in his life. If he names it for what it is, he will be able to evaluate its validity in a more balanced fashion.

Secondly, I encourage the client to begin to build a bond of trust with his Inner Wisdom and Great Mother, which are his own fundamental energies that nurture and teach him. By doing so, he is starting to build a new ground of authority and action. The weight of psychological influence is pulled away from the introjects, not by aggressively resisting them, but by simply stepping away from them. There is now a life-giving point of reference to which the person can turn for support and guidance that will undercut the power of the introjects. By turning to archetypal healing energies, a new, flexible, flowing ground is found that erodes the authority of the introjects.

Also, as the wounds of the past are healed, the behaviors, feelings, and lifestyle choices that were grounded in the abuse begin to fade. When automatic ways of responding to life end, another level of the introjects’ power is diminished. They can no longer make a person feel or behave the way he has before, because the energy of the unresolved history is not there pushing him in that direction. Without unresolved history driving an individual into self-destructive behavior, the introjects’ invitation to limit or harm himself will seem strange and inappropriate. When history is not healed, such an invitation will feel overwhelming and irresistible.

As healing flows, appropriate, self-protective anger will also emerge. This anger gives a person a sense of stature and righteous indignation. It enables the Ego to quite vigorously say “no” to the introjects.

This is not so much a matter of fighting them, as simply slamming the door on them, without any need to explain, defend, or attack. It takes anger to do this, the anger that has gradually been owned in response to working through the abuse.

Even at that point, when anger has been owned and the door has been closed, the introjects are still present in the psyche. They will take advantage of any regression or trauma that weakens the Ego, in an attempt to reestablish their authority. Ultimately, introjects must be eliminated.

The final step in overcoming introjects occurs when the Ego becomes strong enough to genuinely forgive them of all the abuse. The key to forgiving is to perceive the abusers with straightforward clarity, as the wounded children they inevitably are. When the Ego can love these wounded children, despite all the harm done, the introjects will vanish.

There is another way to destroy an introject. It is an emergency tactic, and very risky, because it lays the therapist’s authority as a healer on the line. If an introject is extremely aggressive and exceedingly abusive, attacking the client in a way that is profoundly debilitating, it has to be dealt with immediately. In one instance, an introject was repeatedly raping the client internally, which rendered her completely dysfunctional. To simply stop it for the time being was not helpful, because it could resume the attack at any time. Even the thought of its possible attack was debilitating to the client.

If the therapist decides that the introject must be stopped, but fails to do so, the introject wins. However much the client may want to believe in the possibility of healing, it begins to appear that maybe the negative side has the greater power. Perhaps the destroyers are finally going to win. This level of intervention is not something to be done lightly, but sometimes it must be done anyway.

In this instance, removing the introject is done through direct attack. All the anger energy that the client has available is gathered, and then client and therapist fight back, through ritual and psychodrama, until they have won, however long it takes. (One such experience took more than forty—eight hours.) This undertaking should be done intuitively, out of the client’s Inner Wisdom if that is available; out of the therapist’s Inner Wisdom if the client’s Wisdom is not available. The encounter must be extremely aggressive and persistent, and should only be done when there is no other option.

For all practical purposes, this amounts to an exorcism.