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Ego State Therapy: The Different Selves You Shift Between

Why you are calm at work and lost at a family dinner, and what a parts model can and cannot do about it

What is ego state therapy and what is it used for?

Ego state therapy is a parts-based method set out by John G. Watkins and Helen H. Watkins. It treats personality as a "family" of ego states — organized patterns of feeling, thinking and behaving that come forward in different situations — and works by contacting the state that holds a problem and resolving conflicts between states, a process Helen Watkins called internal diplomacy. In the sources, the deeper work is done by a trained clinician under hypnosis. On your own, the useful parts are understanding the model and noticing which state is running you in which situation.

John and Helen Watkins set out ego state theory and therapy in Ego States: Theory and Therapy (1997). The confident self that runs a meeting, the tongue-tied self that appears in front of a parent, the playful self with old friends: each is a state with its own mood, logic and skills, and most of the time we move between them without noticing. Gordon Emmerson, who later wrote a practitioner handbook on the method, puts it simply: when we say "part of me wants to", we are talking about an ego state. In Emmerson's examples, a cue can make one state executive, and two states that are not communicating are another pattern he names. It matters to be plain about what this page offers. Ego state therapy is a clinical method: a trained therapist contacts the states, usually under hypnosis, and helps the ones that carry pain resolve it. That part is understanding-only here; it belongs in a session with a clinician trained in the approach. The practices below are the modest, self-applied pieces adapted from the sources — mapping your states, hearing "part of me" as two states, noticing what cues an old state, a written or two-chair exchange between states, and finding a role for each — and each says when to stop and get support instead.

Practices

How these practices connect

Every practice here rests on one claim from the Watkins model: what feels like a single self is a family of ego states, and at a given time one of them can be in charge. Mapping your states and hearing "part of me" as two states make the family visible; noticing what cues an older-feeling state shows when one takes over without fitting the moment; a chair or a letter for each state lets two of them hear each other; negotiating a role for each turns a fight into a division of labour. The clinical method goes further — the sources describe a trained therapist contacting deeper states under hypnosis and helping the ones carrying pain resolve it — and that is the part kept for a session, not for solo practice.

How is ego state therapy different from Internal Family Systems if both work with parts?

Both treat the mind as made of parts. Ego state therapy, from John and Helen Watkins, describes a family of ego states within one person; Helen Watkins writes that covert states are hypnotically activated so a therapist can contact them, and resolves conflicts between them in what she calls internal diplomacy. Internal Family Systems, from Richard Schwartz, centres on a Self that can lead the parts. For a person working alone, the shared ground is noticing and naming parts; the deeper work the ego state sources describe is done with a therapist.

What is the difference between ego state therapy and transactional analysis ego states?

Transactional analysis, from Eric Berne, uses three ego states, Parent, Adult and Child, and also looks at how those states line up in a conversation. Ego state therapy, from John and Helen Watkins, uses the term for a family of states within one person, and there can be many of them, such as a confident work self and a frightened younger state. The therapy works inside the person, contacting a particular state and resolving its conflicts with others, which Helen Watkins calls internal diplomacy. The two share a name, but they are separate methods.

How does ego state therapy compare with Voice Dialogue and two-chair work?

All three let a part of you speak in its own voice. Voice Dialogue, developed by Hal and Sidra Stone, is built on a Psychology of Selves in which a person is made up of several sub-selves. Two-chair work in emotion-focused therapy, tested in a small pilot on self-criticism, has two parts of you speak to each other. Ego state therapy uses the empty chair too, but Emmerson presents it as one of the non-hypnotic ways in, which reach only the surface states a person can already feel. The deeper states, in this method, are reached under hypnosis with a therapist, which is the main thing that sets it apart.

Is ego state therapy evidence based, and what do the studies actually show?

The strongest evidence this page cites is two placebo-controlled trials published in 2013 of a single, five-to-six-hour, hypnosis-based session of "abreactive" ego state therapy, in which a person repeatedly relives a distressing experience with therapists present. One included 36 patients: both groups improved right after treatment, and only the treated group kept a significant improvement at follow-ups of 4 weeks and 16 to 18 weeks. The other included 30 subjects and reported the treated group improving at 1-month and 3-month follow-ups, against an Ochberg Counting Method placebo. Both were in clinical samples, both share an author (Barabasz; John Watkins co-authored the first), and both test the clinician-led procedure, not anything self-applied. Hageman and Frederick (2013) write that until recently phenomenological studies were the basis for the standards of care and training. So the therapy has early controlled support for one clinical use; the self-applied pieces have none.

Which parts of ego state therapy can I do on my own, and which need a clinician?

The understanding is yours to use: the idea that you move between states, that "part of me" can point to two states disagreeing, and that a reaction far bigger than the moment can come from a state cued by something familiar. Low-key practices also fit solo use — mapping your states across settings, a two-chair exchange or letters between two states you can already feel, and working out a role for each. What belongs with a trained clinician is the core of the method: hypnotic access to deeper states, bridging a feeling back to where it began, and resolving painful material. If any solo practice leaves you flooded or losing track of where you are, stop and take it to a therapist.

How do you choose between these?

If you mostly feel like a different person in different places, start by mapping your states. If you keep saying "part of me wants this and part of me does not", hear the two sides as two states and write what each wants. If one particular situation sets off a reaction that feels much younger than you, track the cue and stop there, taking anything deeper to a clinician. If two states are stuck arguing, give them a chair each or let them write to each other. Once both sides have been heard, negotiate a role for each so neither has to be silenced.

What these approaches do not settle

Ego state therapy is primarily a clinician-led method, and most of the sources cited on this page are hypnosis journals. As of 2026-10-14, the controlled evidence this page found is the two trials it cites: placebo-controlled, single-session, hypnosis-based, in clinical samples. I did not run an exhaustive search for other controlled studies. The self-applied practices on this page have not been studied. The chair-work research cited for one practice tests a different therapy. Helen Watkins's abstract says covert ego states do not normally become overt except in one condition it names, and are hypnotically activated, so solo practice reaches the surface states you can already feel. Anything that brings up overwhelming feelings belongs with a trained therapist.

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Frequently asked questions

What is ego state therapy and what is it used for?

Ego state therapy is a parts-based method set out by John G. Watkins and Helen H. Watkins. It treats personality as a "family" of ego states — organized patterns of feeling, thinking and behaving that come forward in different situations — and works by contacting the state that holds a problem and resolving conflicts between states, a process Helen Watkins called internal diplomacy. In the sources, the deeper work is done by a trained clinician under hypnosis. On your own, the useful parts are understanding the model and noticing which state is running you in which situation.

How do you map the states you shift between in an ordinary week?

In the Watkins model, ordinary personality is a family of ego states, and at a given time one of them can become executive, meaning in charge. Emmerson's handbook gives a whole section to gaining personal awareness of your states, including ego state mapping, and names learning your states as one of the three goals of the therapy, so they can be used well: open to feeling at one time, assertive at another. A state you have never noticed as a state feels simply like "me"; seeing several side by side makes it possible to notice which one is in charge and whether it suits the moment.

How do you hear "part of me" as two states that disagree?

Emmerson points out that everyday speech already uses the model: "part of me wants to" refers to an ego state, and "I hate myself when I am like that" marks two states that are not communicating. His example is a man who feels "this is the woman for me" watching his partner with a child, then, after she criticises his job later the same day, wonders what he ever saw in her — two states disagreeing, not one confused self. Treating the contradiction as two states with two concerns, rather than one self that cannot make up its mind, turns inner turmoil into something you can listen to.

How do you notice what cues a younger, older-feeling state?

Emmerson describes a repeated reaction that does not fit the situation — his example is a well-prepared speaker who still shakes in front of groups — as an ego state that becomes executive when a particular situational cue appears and re-experiences the feelings of an earlier experience. In a later article he calls a state overwhelmed by fear or rejection "vaded". In the therapy, a clinician uses hypnotic bridging techniques, such as Watkins's affect bridge, to follow the feeling back and resolve it. The self-applied part is only the first step: recognising the cue and the state it brings forward, so you can see a pattern instead of blaming yourself for overreacting.

How do you give two disagreeing states a chair each?

Emmerson presents the empty chair as one of the easiest non-hypnotic ways to reach ego states, and notes that Gestalt therapists use a two-chair version so that two states can communicate. He also notes that non-hypnotic access reaches only the surface states, the ones you can already feel. That limit is what this practice keeps: the chair mechanics are the same as in two-chair-dialogue, and this page adds only the ego-state framing and the rule about which states to use it with.

How do you write letters between two of your states?

Torem describes therapeutic writing as a form of ego-state therapy: letters to oneself used as internal communication between ego states that were not fully aware of each other or were locked in destructive power struggles. He argues that expressing thoughts, feelings and urges in writing moves them from primary-process activity toward more mature, secondary-process functioning, and that the method uses the person's own internal resources.

How do you negotiate a role for each state instead of silencing one?

Helen Watkins describes ego state therapy as applying the techniques of group and family therapy to the states within one person, a kind of "internal diplomacy". Emmerson's handbook includes negotiating among ego states and encouraging states into alternate roles, and sets as a goal being able to be open at one time and assertive at another. The practice draws on that diplomacy, aiming to resolve conflict between states rather than silence one of them.

How is ego state therapy different from Internal Family Systems if both work with parts?

Both treat the mind as made of parts. Ego state therapy, from John and Helen Watkins, describes a family of ego states within one person; Helen Watkins writes that covert states are hypnotically activated so a therapist can contact them, and resolves conflicts between them in what she calls internal diplomacy. Internal Family Systems, from Richard Schwartz, centres on a Self that can lead the parts. For a person working alone, the shared ground is noticing and naming parts; the deeper work the ego state sources describe is done with a therapist.

What is the difference between ego state therapy and transactional analysis ego states?

Transactional analysis, from Eric Berne, uses three ego states, Parent, Adult and Child, and also looks at how those states line up in a conversation. Ego state therapy, from John and Helen Watkins, uses the term for a family of states within one person, and there can be many of them, such as a confident work self and a frightened younger state. The therapy works inside the person, contacting a particular state and resolving its conflicts with others, which Helen Watkins calls internal diplomacy. The two share a name, but they are separate methods.

How does ego state therapy compare with Voice Dialogue and two-chair work?

All three let a part of you speak in its own voice. Voice Dialogue, developed by Hal and Sidra Stone, is built on a Psychology of Selves in which a person is made up of several sub-selves. Two-chair work in emotion-focused therapy, tested in a small pilot on self-criticism, has two parts of you speak to each other. Ego state therapy uses the empty chair too, but Emmerson presents it as one of the non-hypnotic ways in, which reach only the surface states a person can already feel. The deeper states, in this method, are reached under hypnosis with a therapist, which is the main thing that sets it apart.

Is ego state therapy evidence based, and what do the studies actually show?

The strongest evidence this page cites is two placebo-controlled trials published in 2013 of a single, five-to-six-hour, hypnosis-based session of "abreactive" ego state therapy, in which a person repeatedly relives a distressing experience with therapists present. One included 36 patients: both groups improved right after treatment, and only the treated group kept a significant improvement at follow-ups of 4 weeks and 16 to 18 weeks. The other included 30 subjects and reported the treated group improving at 1-month and 3-month follow-ups, against an Ochberg Counting Method placebo. Both were in clinical samples, both share an author (Barabasz; John Watkins co-authored the first), and both test the clinician-led procedure, not anything self-applied. Hageman and Frederick (2013) write that until recently phenomenological studies were the basis for the standards of care and training. So the therapy has early controlled support for one clinical use; the self-applied pieces have none.

Which parts of ego state therapy can I do on my own, and which need a clinician?

The understanding is yours to use: the idea that you move between states, that "part of me" can point to two states disagreeing, and that a reaction far bigger than the moment can come from a state cued by something familiar. Low-key practices also fit solo use — mapping your states across settings, a two-chair exchange or letters between two states you can already feel, and working out a role for each. What belongs with a trained clinician is the core of the method: hypnotic access to deeper states, bridging a feeling back to where it began, and resolving painful material. If any solo practice leaves you flooded or losing track of where you are, stop and take it to a therapist.

Research

Related concepts