NOTE: This is an excerpt from the full 90-minute DVD.
What is the nature of the Self? In this intriguing program, Dr. Hal Stone proposes that we are not unitary beings, but that we consist of many autonomous sub-personalities and energy complexes. These express themselves as voices in our minds. Some of these voices are “primary personalities” which we normally consider ourselves. Other voices are “disowned” parts of ourselves which we typically project on to other people. Total self- understanding, says Dr. Stone, must include a detached awareness of both the primary and disowned parts of ourselves.
In Part II of the DVD he describes how he discovered the “Voice Dialogue” method of contacting his own sub-personalities. The process, as it has evolved, includes elements of gestalt therapy, psychosynthesis, psychodrama, transactional analysis and Jungian analysis. Dr. Stone describes various sub-personalities such as the “protector-controller,” the “pusher” and the “critic.” The Voice Dialogue technique is demonstrated with Jeffrey Mishlove and Dr. Stone each taking a turn as therapeutic subject.
Hal Stone, Ph.D., is author of Embracing Heaven and Earth and co-author, with his wife Dr. Sidra Winkelman, of Embracing Our Selves and Embracing Each Other. He and Dr. Winkelman are developers of the “Voice Dialogue” psychotherapeutic process.
Published on August 24, 2010
