Trauma-Informed Relational Approach for Dissociative Parts (TADP)

This volume offers a theoretically rigorous and clinically grounded framework for understanding dissociative parts as structured adaptations to early relational trauma. Integrating the Theory of Structural Dissociation with Giovanni Liotti’s multimotivational model, Dolores Mosquera conceptualizes dissociative parts and their dynamics as developmental outcomes of chronically co-activated and entangled interpersonal motivational systems.

Drawing on ethological and developmental perspectives, the book demonstrates how motivational systems such as attachment, caregiving, rank, cooperation, sexuality, and defense can become simultaneously engaged in trauma contexts. These entanglements generate internal conflicts that cannot be integrated within a unified personality structure. Dissociative parts are thus understood as organized configurations shaped by these dynamics, each fulfilling a specific survival function.

A central contribution of this work lies in its multi-level clinical reading of dissociative parts—motivational, intrapsychic, and relational. Mosquera emphasizes diagnostic precision, clearly distinguishing dissociative parts from ego states, modes, and metaphorical “parts,” and cautions against pan-dissociative and overly literal applications of parts-based language. The approach foregrounds relational safety, pacing, and therapist stance as essential conditions for effective work with complex dissociation.

Rather than offering a protocol, this book develops a way of seeing. It equips clinicians with a coherent conceptual map for understanding dissociative phenomena and for engaging internal multiplicity with precision, respect, and clinical responsibility.