need emotional support plushies because of the emotional toll that comes with their disability.

are housebound and can't go on fun outings with their plushies like everyone else.

use plushies as pain relief or distraction.

have plushies because they're the only consistent friendships that they have.

can't or don't want to buy super expensive plushies because being disabled is so expensive.

struggle to keep their plushies clean or in good shape because of their disability.

are adults.

have a real service or emotional support animal.

Not knowing who's fronting, not knowing how many alters you have, not knowing when you switch, not knowing alters' names or why they formed, alters not having names, having no internal world or a very vague one, having no internal communication, struggling with external communication, experiencing alters as different overlapping states of self instead of separate people, hell even just experiencing amnesia.

These are all extremely common symptoms of DID/OSDD, especially when you're untreated or early in treatment. And yet they're all common reasons for why people feel like they don't belong in this community, because the reality of this disorder somehow doesn't conform to the online expectation.

"oh right, i'm going to work"

"oh right, i'm employed. i'm working right now. these are my colleagues, this is my pc. i should be working. how do i do it again?"

"this is... my company. i'm on a break, this kitchen is familiar"

"? wow, i'm speaking to someone. what were we talking about? what am i saying? why am i saying this? i'm so nervous, i can't speak properly. oh well, just continue, it will pass soon"

for me, i see my DID as a trauma response rather than an identity. my parts arent separate beings/consciousnesses but we r parts as the person we were supposed to be

My relation to oneness and personhood itself is pretty skewed because of how I grew up.

So, if you're reading this and don't have a CDD (or especially not plural either) it might be difficult to see the difference, idk. But it's there to me.

I might elaborate more on this some time, but "many trees make up a forest" could be a way to describe it. I'm the forest, not the trees.

CDDs are literally designed to hide things. your brain is ever changing. there are things hidden for a reason.

you are not incorrect in your hypothesis because the disorder is doing its job.

Did-research.org is typically the source of these kinds of myths. Did-research is run by another tumblr blogger with a similar educational background to myself.

The site is quite old and the wording is very clunky and unclear in a lot of places. This is also where the myth about osdd 1a alters comes from (if you have full alters, it's 1b, even if they're you at different ages).

So, to clarify for others, osdd 1b (Obligatory "doesn't actually exist") has EMOTIONAL AMNESIA ONLY.

Emotional amnesia is a fancy way to say "dissociation." A disconnect between memory and emotion.

DID can have SO MANY different types of amnesia.

Amnesia only for childhood trauma with full system communication? DID.

Amnesia between some alters and not others? DID.

Blackout amnesia? DID.

Like, reading a published paper is very different to a research website.

Whether it's peer-reviewed and recent makes a big difference;

And then there's so much variance between the authors. Some completely disagree.

hi tumblr

2000s themed kidcore pixels / favicons by me

things I do as a suspected system of 2 years!! part 1

I don't really care about "who I am"

the lack of a stable identity — which many confuse for "an abundance of identities" — is only a symptom of system-inducing CDDs. And besides, it is very common for normal people to have ups and downs with their identities, it is not a system-exclusive experience.

Trying to figure out who's in front for us has actually caused us more problems than when we didn't care, if we don't know who is in front we dont rush for a name or to see if we are a pre-existing alter, we (very rarely actually) just open SP and set "blurry" to front

of course there are some alters who have developed as alters immensely and have shown that they do return to front, with identities so heavy they can't mistake themselves for somepart else. But until we get therapy, we aren't pushing it.

Does aanybody have aby information, knowledge, or opinions on alters that

how do I put this..

seem to be introjects of alters from their own system???

the topic has been on our mind for a whole year someone please bestow your wisdom upon us 🥹

To start with - introject is a very broad term. It can refer to an alter as a noun: "an introject", but it is also just a process all people do to some extent.

Introjection is taking in traits subconsciously.

For example, to my understanding:

If a kid really loved dragons, they admire traits of [certain kinds of] dragons. They're strong, they're brave, and maybe they're friendly or very aggressive.

Those traits can be introjected.

If they have a CDD, that might manifest in lots of ways. A fully human alter could still carry introjected traits from dragons.

It doesn't necessarily need to be a dragon from media they've consumed, not even a story they heard.

There's a symbolic understanding of "dragons" which resonates with them.

So, when we're discussing having introjected one of your own alters -

For someone living with alters daily, they can feel more real than a storybook / movie / idea etc.,

So all that's left to explain this, is for them to have traits that resonate with you.

Often, in DID / OSDD, alters have deeply meaningful aspects to their existence. But that will show up differently for everyone. Sometimes it can be very heavy.

It's important to note: introjection can be a coping mechanism / defense,

it can also be emotionally distressing when we introject harmful or triggering traits / imagery.

But it's a step forward to recognise it either way!

Shoutout to those who love being multiple and who love their systemmates. Shoutout to those who love systemhood and their parts. Shoutout to plurals who love the people in their heads. Shoutout to those who don't use these labels, but love themselves.

Shoutout to those who credit them being a system with them still being alive. Shoutout to those who know that their system is what allowed them to survive, and who refuse to be ashamed of that.

We should love who we are, disorder and all. We should not be made to feel like we must be miserable, just to exist. Just to thrive.