Hello! Thank you for taking the time to answer, if you do. If you do not, that’s okay!!
We recently had a host change after only a few months of having the previous one and there’s been a lot of distress about it for a few reasons, the main one being that the new host is a persecutor. The host change was completely on accident (new host fell in love and fronts a lot to spend time with the person), but we doubt it could easily be changed back. They tend to feel extreme guilt over their existence as a whole and the negative feelings tend to exacerbate their bad coping mechanisms in a very cruel cycle. Any advice as to what we can do, here?
[PT: Welcome! Please, take a seat.]
First of all (this is not meant to sound passive aggressive, but comforting): being a persecutor does not make you a bad or evil person, and it does not make you irredeemable. Persecutory parts are a defense mechanism—if an animal is mistreated, it lashing out is a completely normal reaction. The same goes for people. Whether or not one identifies with humanity, we all have a human brain, and humans are still animals.
Secondly: I think that it may be good to seek out ways for this part to divert harmful coping mechanisms. This can be (and often is) very difficult, but it can also do wonders. Some of the ways our persecutor parts have done this are:
Being destructive toward "garbage" items like cardboard, plastic containers, etc.
Co-regulating with another person or a pet who is in a calm state
Punching pillows or other soft items
Crafts, especially ones that either require a traditionally destructive process (using scissors, etc) or that have a repetitive motion
Extended list of things that we've used:
[PT: The owner of this blog is anti-endo, anti-radqueer, and anti-proship. If you are a supporter of these, kindly do not interact!]