Counterparts (Counter Parts) may be the explanation for why we don't have too much change in innerworld organization. If there is any upset or frustration, Counterparts will get extremely angry (along with protectors and gatekeepers) and force back the trauma, almost creating a protective shell around us. They act as the "earth" or "rock" to shelter us through the storm.
And why some counterparts are known as abusive, as a way to "entrap" and chain down us. A coping mechanism for our constant instability and chaos.
And counterparts are a coping mechanism against very emotionally unavailable external people (neglect), and therefore create a certain amount of obsessive and twisted love within us. If we are loved, at any cost, we are okay.
So, unlike some other polyfragmented systems I've met, my pf system has created a type of part that helps us weather many storms, so that groups of alters stay in their clusters and subgroups and don't shuffle around. Even the most powerful gatekeeper in our system has a counterpart.
So we stay unchanged, only gaining more parts for each cluster and subgroup, little to no change since the beginning.
