Map and Reality - Deeper Understanding of Ego States

Ego State - Reality and Map of Reality

Experience and Feeling ( Reality) - Ego State (Map)

(Take time out to read and understand this)

Fact is that there is nothing like ego state in reality.

We are all affected by challenging situations. We find it difficult to make peace with them. They result in experiences and accompanying emotional overcharge.

It takes time for them to die off.

They affect our state of mind for the time prevailing.

They then taper off because we tire spending time in the futility of dealing with them.

They get recorded in memory and generate our beliefs, opinion, orientations and attitudes. These are about ourselves (I<>I), others (I<>Others) and (I<>Situations, Problems, Life, and capacity) to enjoy our capacities, capabilities, and strengths,  in short our resident self concept.

These are about persons, people, communities, situations, events, occurrences etc

Little do we realise that the same person generates a different challenge with change in place, time, role, situation, challenge faced etc. So also in matters of events, situations and happenings.

Little do we realise that the same situation evokes a new response. This is different from one we would or could predict.

We perceive differently, think differently, reason differently, assess differently, evaluate differently most of the times. Our perception, evaluation and assessment is largely structured by our attitudinal orientation. It includes our capacity to effect our self worth, self value, self dignity, self respect, and self esteem regard to the situation or problem prevailing.

These structure our thinking and feeling to the person, situation, problem, difficulty, condition, challenge, conflict faced. This constitutes an ego state. An Ego State is an activated memory of an experience that evokes a set of assessment constituents and a response to deal with it. It could be other person sourced or self sourced. If self-sourced it is historical or contemporary. If Historical it is Child. If Contemporary it is Adult. If other-person-sourced it is called Parent. The Adult is a memory of later life. The Child is a memory of early life. Both view reality to the best of their ability. One (the Child) uses outdated archaic frames, capacities, capabilities and manipulational means while the other (the Adult) uses age appropriate updated realistic responses - sanely, safely, effectively and appropriately bolstering self capacity.

So with this we can say that ego states are activated sets of response systems to persons, people, situations, problems, difficulties, conditions prevailing, challenges and conflicts which make effort to find the best solution. If the system is other-person-based  it is Parent. If self based it is Child or Adult. If of early period it is Child. If of later period it is Adult. 

Projections are methods to represent curved surface of the earth on plane paper in the form of a map. There are many types of projections. Almost 20-25 types. They serve different purposes: Equal area, Equal shape, Equal distances, Latitude specific, Longitude specific. So also with models of ego states. They serve different purposes and in order to serve those purposes we use Structural Models and Functional Model of Personality, Structural Pathology, Functional Pathology, Symbiosis, Transactional Models to represent what happens at un-seen levels.

The blogger, Ajit Karve can be reached at:

+91 9822024037 on WhatsApp - Please identify yourself. or by email at taforyouandme@gmail.com

Ajit Karve works out of Pune

He is a Psychotherapy Practitioner

a BTA in TA from ICTA Kochi