The Puzzle Pieces -- How do the pieces of your life fit together?

The graphics chosen for this site have been painstakingly and meticulously detailed. It has been particularly important to us to visually connect with the life of traumatized folks as accurately as possibly without triggering upsetting material. The graphics used have layers of meaning and show depth of understanding of the effects of trauma and abuse.

The puzzle metaphor is very much like the therapeutic process. Initially there are so many pieces, all going every which way, nothing makes sense anywhere, and nobody knows what the final picture will look like.

Finding the first match between pieces is both an exciting and frustrating process. What goes with what? Who belongs with whom? What do you do with all the pieces that are flipped over? What about the pieces whose beautiful colors are not so obvious at first? With so many pieces to choose from, where on earth do you start? There is SO much trial and error in the connecting of different pieces of the puzzle. It’s all so very overwhelming. Did you drop or lose any of the pieces?

Gradually you make a few connections between the various pieces. Slowly but surely, as you work on the puzzle, the picture starts to take shape. One piece fits with another. Two pieces fit together over there. Four pieces form a small grouping over the other way. Be cautious about making hasty judgments. Big chunks of the puzzle can easily be put mistakenly on the wrong side of the picture. Only as big groupings fit together does it start to make sense.

Therapy is a process much like the assembling of a puzzle, especially for a traumatized person. The complexity is enormous. The pieces seem unending. It seems like the pieces of your life will never make sense, or that the working on it will never be a completed task. Yet, with consistency and determination, it does come all together. Eventually everything makes sense and fits into a whole. The truth in the picture can be seen, and the healing tasks can be accomplished.

For dissociative folks, the metaphor of the puzzle pieces has another level by representing the different parts of their internal systems – their internal alters, their internal dissociated parts. Some parts may be brighter, colorful, and more obvious than others. Some will be dark and hidden. Some may be connected closely with this group of parts but totally separate from that group of parts. Some of the internal parts are teeny tiny fragments while some parts loom so big that they can’t be seen in their entirety.

However, even though dissociative folks have so many parts and pieces in their puzzle, every single one of those pieces will play an extremely important role in the completion of the whole person. Absolutely all of the parts are needed to make the picture complete. None are thrown away or knocked off the table.

The internal system work in therapy is similar to the working of a puzzle. Each puzzle piece must find who it is connected to in order to complete the work of art that its wholeness provides. Each piece must make peace with its surroundings in order to fit cohesively together. Each piece has its unique place in the puzzle, and a reason for it being there. Each piece is individual and adds to the beauty of the whole. Eventually, each piece learns to truly connect with the other pieces, forming bonds and relationships with those closest to it.

All the pieces will make sense as the picture of the life story comes together. Each piece is there for a reason, adding its own truth to the life-picture. On its own, the relevance and importance of each piece may not be obvious, but once put all together, their value for the survival of the puzzle is obvious.

This visualization of the puzzle coming together also represents the integrative and blending process. The coming together as a whole picture instead of being separate parts with only a tiny part of the picture is like the internal system coming together in co-consciousness, the lowering of amnesiac barriers, and the sharing of information.