Mentor’s Corner: EFT, Dissociation, and the Mind’s “Protective Bubbles”

Mentor’s Note: This post is part of an ongoing series for practitioners in the EFT Universe certification program. It speaks to a recurring question that comes up when mentees begin working with clients who dissociate or have a DID diagnosis. If you’re exploring EFT for yourself, you’re welcome to read along — you’ll get a window into how practitioners are trained to think about parts, protection, and safety. For more on the Roots and Branches metaphor for depth work, you may want to read this earlier post: From Relief to Root: When and How to Go Deeper in EFT.

A Common Question: “Am I In Over My Head With This Client?”

A frequent concern from mentees sounds like this:

“I have a client who dissociates and may have DID. I can see them ‘switch’ sometimes. Their system feels complex, and I’m afraid I’ll make things worse. Am I even qualified to work with them using EFT?”

Sometimes it sounds more like:

“We were tapping on a recent event, and suddenly their voice and posture changed. They seemed younger. I froze. I didn’t know how to keep going safely.”

If you’ve ever felt this, you’re not alone. This is a developmental milestone in your growth as a practitioner: the moment you move from “tapping on symptoms” to thinking in terms of parts, protection, and system safety.

Here’s the first reassurance: You do not have to “treat DID” to be helpful. Your role is to apply EFT safely, gently, and within scope — and to understand dissociation as a protective strategy, not a failure.

The Map: “Protective Bubbles” and Structural Dissociation

In a previous Mentor’s Corner, we explored the Tree and Roots metaphor: branches as recent events, trunks as core beliefs, and roots as early experiences where those beliefs were planted (From Relief to Root: When and How to Go Deeper in EFT). In complex trauma and dissociation, there is another layer: how the self itself is organized over time.

One accessible way to picture this for clients (and for yourself) is as “protective bubbles” inside the same mind:

• One bubble holds day-to-day functioning — work, parenting, managing appointments.
• Another bubble holds overwhelming memories and body sensations that were too much for the child to process.
• Additional bubbles may hold specific roles: a protector, a critic, a small child, a numbing state.

Clinically, this aligns with the Theory of Structural Dissociation, which describes:

• An Apparently Normal Part (ANP): Manages daily life, often avoids trauma content.
• Emotional Part(s) (EP): Hold unprocessed traumatic memories, emotions, and body states.

The key idea for you as an EFT practitioner:

These “bubbles” are not defects.

They are the mind’s best attempt to survive overwhelming trauma, especially when it occurs before the self has fully integrated in childhood.

You are not trying to collapse the bubbles. You are learning to work respectfully with whoever shows up — whichever part is present — and to prioritize safety over depth.

Case Illustration: A Mentee’s Client, “Michael”

Here is an example from one of my mentees, shared with permission for teaching purposes. The client is called “Michael.”

The Presenting Issue

Michael is a 42-year-old man in a committed relationship. He works in construction and presents as competent and reliable. He has a history of childhood physical and emotional abuse and has been given a DID diagnosis by his primary therapist.

He came to my mentee describing a “blow-up” with his partner over a schedule change. On the surface, it sounded minor. In his body, it was not.

“When she told me we had to change our plans, I just lost it,” he said. “I remember my chest getting hot, my jaw clenching, and then it’s like something else took over. Later, I couldn’t remember everything I said.”

The mentee’s supervision question was simple and honest:

“I could see him shift — his voice got younger, his posture changed. I didn’t know what to do next. How do I stay safe and helpful in that moment?”

Step One: Stay With the Branch (Recent Event)

Just as in the Forest/Trees and Roots/Branches models, we begin with the branch in front of us: the recent argument. We are not trying to resolve “his DID.” We are working with a specific, recent, emotionally charged event that his system brought into the room.

The mentee used a simple setup with Michael:

“Even though I completely lost control in that argument, and part of me is afraid I’ll always hurt the people I love, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

From there, they used Tell the Story:

• Michael started at a neutral beginning (“We were in the kitchen; she walked in”).
• As he narrated, the practitioner listened for emotional crescendos — shifts in voice, body tension, sudden tears.
• At each crescendo, they paused, took a SUDs rating, tapped until it was 3 or less, then returned to a neutral starting place before continuing.

This rhythm — neutral → crescendo → SUDs → tap → back to neutral — is the same safe structure you use in other trauma work. Dissociation does not change the protocol; it raises the importance of pacing and attunement.

An Open Door Moment: “I Feel Six”

On a second pass through the story, something important happened. Michael said:

“I know it’s just a schedule change, but every time someone tells me I don’t get a say, I feel small. Like I’m six again and my dad is coming up the stairs.”

This is what I call an Open Door memory. In the “From Relief to Root” post, we named this as one of the signals that deeper roots may be available: the client’s own system spontaneously introduces an earlier time.

The mentee did not dive headfirst into the worst memory. Instead, they offered a gentle invitation, in line with the Roots and Branches guidance:

“If this six-year-old feeling had a movie title, what would you call it?”

Michael chose: “The Night Dad Came Upstairs.”

Now they had a Movie Title. The practitioner had Michael tap simply on the title first:

“Even though I have this ‘Night Dad Came Upstairs’ memory, and it still feels scary in my body, I accept myself and how I feel.”

If at that point Michael’s SUDs had stayed very high or he had become avoidant, they could have stayed with the Movie Title alone for that session. That would still be success; it thins the forest and prepares his system for deeper work later.

Silent Movie and Chasing the Pain: Working With the Body

In this case, Michael was able to go a little further.

The mentee shifted into Silent Movie:

• Michael replayed the memory in his mind with no sound, as if watching it on a screen.
• He agreed to pause whenever he hit an emotional or sensory spike.
• At each pause, they:
• Took a SUDs rating.
• Used Chasing the Pain, asking where in his body he felt it — “tight chest,” “fists in my hands,” “knot in my stomach.”
• Tapped each time until the SUDs dropped to 3 or less, then returned to a neutral starting point before continuing.

Again, the structure didn’t change. What changed was the intensity and the need to move slowly.

When a Part Steps Forward

At one crescendo, the mentee noticed a clear shift:

• Michael’s voice became higher and younger.
• His eyes went distant, then fixed on the floor.
• His language changed: “I can’t let him come in. I can’t let him see I was crying.”

To the mentee, it felt like “a different person” had appeared. In supervision, we named this as likely an Emotional Part (EP) stepping forward — one of the “protective bubbles” that holds the six-year-old’s experience.

Here is what the mentee did well:

• They did not label or interpret this to Michael. There was no need to say “An alter is here.”
• They slowed everything down.
• They kept tapping going (Talk and Tap, or simply continuous tapping).
• They used a calm, steady voice: “Stay with me. You’re doing really well. Let’s just notice your breathing as we tap.”

When Michael became a bit foggy and partially unresponsive, the mentee:

• Shifted to more grounding language: “Feel your feet on the floor. Notice the chair under you.”
• Waited until he could track again, then used the 9-Gamut sequence (eye movements, humming, counting) as a bridge to help his system re-integrate.

The 9-Gamut Turning Point

During the 9-Gamut, something small but important happened. As Michael rolled his eyes counterclockwise, his jaw softened and his expression shifted. He let out a long exhale. After they completed the sequence, the mentee asked for a SUDs rating.

Michael paused, then said, “Two. Maybe even a one. I feel exhausted, but I’m here again. It’s like that little kid believes we’re actually safe right now.”

You can think of this as the system briefly connecting different “bubbles” enough to process some of the stuck material — without forcing full fusion or erasing parts.

Practical Guidance: How to Work With Dissociation Safely

For practitioners in training, here are some anchors from this case:

Stay within your scope.

• You are not diagnosing or “fixing DID” unless you are clinically trained to do so.
• You are using EFT to regulate distress, process specific events, and support nervous system safety.

Watch for readiness signals (and respect unreadiness).

• Open Door memories (“this feels older,” “I feel six”) are invitations, not commands.
• Looping or high SUDs that won’t budge may mean you need to step back to more resourcing, not push deeper.

Always invite, never push.

• You can ask, “Does this feeling remind you of an earlier time?” and accept “no” as a complete answer.
• You can even tap on the reluctance itself: “Even though I’m not sure about going back there, I accept how I feel.”

Key Takeaways

• Dissociation and DID are protective responses, not proof that someone is “broken.”
• Your job as an EFT practitioner is not to repair structural dissociation, but to:
• Support safety.
• Work gently with specific events.
• Respect the client’s pacing and their internal parts.
• The Forest/Trees and Roots/Branches maps still apply:
• Start with branches (recent triggers).
• Let the system show you roots (early trauma) when and if it is ready.
• The presence of “bubbles” (parts) calls for more attunement, not a different heart.
• Slow down, ground often, and celebrate every bit of relief as a complete success for that day.

Closing Reflection

For mentees: If you’ve ever frozen when a client dissociates or wondered, “Am I in over my head?”, that question itself is progress. It means your intuition is waking up to the complexity of trauma and the importance of safety.

For all readers: Dissociation is not the mind breaking; it is the mind adapting. EFT gives us structured, compassionate ways to meet that adaptation — not by tearing down the protective bubbles, but by respecting them, working gently with what’s ready, and trusting that each branch cleared brings the whole system a little closer to root-level healing.

What helps you know when it’s time to gently explore deeper layers, and when it’s time to stay with the branch in front of you?