The Theory of Structural Dissociation suggests that individuals with trauma and complex trauma-related disorders may be characterised by a division of their personality into different prototypical parts, each with its own psychobiological underpinnings (Dissociation). As one or more Apparently Normal Parts (ANPs), dedicated to daily functioning. Two or more Emotional Parts (EPs) are fixated in traumatic experience/ time. As EPs, individuals predominantly engage in behaviours dedicated to defence/ past trauma (it happened, it is still happening). ANP and EP are insufficiently integrated but interact and share a number of characters of the personality. ANP is dedicated to functioning in daily life in the wake of trauma, and EP is dedicated to responding to actual or perceived threat while being fixated in past traumatic experiences and time.
