#part functions

Loss of needs, wishes, and fantasies. In their numb and detached condition, survivors as ANP often have dissociated not only painful emotions, but also painful needs, such as for attachment, or wishes, such as the yearning for good parents. Many traumatized individuals experience tremendous ambivalence regarding attachment and dependency. These needs are often kept by childlike EPs, enabling survivors as ANP to believe that they have no desire to be dependent (Steele, Van der Hart, & Nijenhuis, 2001).

Loss of mental skills. Cognitive impairments in traumatized children (Moradi et al., 1999) and traumatized adults (Jenkins, Langlais, Delis, & Cohen, 2000; Vasterling, Brailey, Constans, & Sutker, 1998) have been reported, and include problems with memory, concentration, attention, planning, and judgment. Frank cognitive impairments can occur in up to a third of chronically traumatized individuals (e.g., Golier et al., 2002). Whereas these losses may sometimes relate to impaired brain functioning in trauma-related disorders, they generally are independent of intellectual functioning (Buckley, Blanchard, & Neill, 2000; Vasterling et al., 2002).

The marked fluctuations in knowledge and skills displayed by many traumatized children (Putnam, 1997) and adults (Boon & Draijer, 1993; Steinberg et al., 1994), and their difficulty in learning from experience (Putnam, Helmers, & Trickett, 1993), often relate to alternations among dissociative parts. For example, many ANPs but not EPs have a degree of depersonalization. This symptom is associated with attentional problems (Guralnik, Schmeidler, & Simeon, 2000).

Loss of critical function. Critical thinking requires recognition of details and nuances, and this ability is often impaired in trauma survivors. They tend to have more global responses and thoughts than nonabused individuals (e.g., Wenninger & Ehlers, 1998). These inclinations may be found in one or more dissociative parts of the personality. Some dissociative parts have difficulty thinking rationally, logically, and clearly. Others may have excellent critical faculties in relation to certain issues such as work, but cannot apply the same logic and rationality in their approach to other parts of their personality, or to a particular behavior such as self-injury. Critical faculties can be available to certain parts of the personality, such as a wise, objective part (Krakauer, 2001), but far less so to other parts.