Part of me wants to, but another part won’t let me.” Most of us have said it and this week on Life Unfilered Maria McHale talked to psychotherapist Emma Campbell to ask what that phrase is really telling us. It turns out that we’re not one fixed self, but a whole cast of parts, each one formed at some point in our lives and each convinced it’s looking out for us.

Emma doesn’t entertain the idea that any part of us is simply bad. The anxious one, the people-pleaser, the inner critic, the part that goes quiet when things get hard, these are usually the parts working hardest to protect us.

She and Maria get into where these parts come from, why we sometimes react in a way that feels far younger than our age and how to move from “what’s wrong with me?” to “what is this part of me trying to protect?”

Emma Campbell is a counsellor and psychotherapist at Summit Counselling and Psychotherapy in Swords, working with adolescents and adults. She draws on Person Centred Therapy, EMDR-informed practice, CBT and parts work. You can find out more at www.summitcounselling.org.