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

Rothwell-Blake, Gabby A.A.; Stavropoulos, Dimitri; Kotera, Yasuhiro

doi:10.1007/s44202-025-00339-2

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

Rothwell-Blake, Gabby A.A.; Stavropoulos, Dimitri; Kotera, Yasuhiro

Authors

Gabby A.A. Rothwell-Blake

Dimitri Stavropoulos

Dr Yasuhiro Kotera Yasuhiro.Kotera@nottingham.ac.uk
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

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.

Citation

Rothwell-Blake, G. A., Stavropoulos, D., & Kotera, Y. (2025). Suggesting internal family systems-informed eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing as a treatment for personality structural dissociation. Discover Psychology, 5(1), Article 17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44202-025-00339-2

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Mar 19, 2025
Online Publication Date	Mar 29, 2025
Publication Date	Mar 29, 2025
Deposit Date	Apr 6, 2025
Publicly Available Date	Apr 8, 2025
Journal	Discover Psychology
Electronic ISSN	2731-4537
Publisher	Springer
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	5
Issue	1
Article Number	17
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1007/s44202-025-00339-2
Public URL	https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/47402329
Publisher URL	https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44202-025-00339-2#
Additional Information	Accepted: 19 March 2025; First Online: 29 March 2025

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