I have Dissociative Identity Disorder (often called Multiple Personality Disorder by those who have not heard DID as the term before), and Sanders Sides makes me VERY uncomfortable, even if it is not meant to portray DID in and of itself. It appears to me as though it will contribute to the common belief that DID is one person playing at multiplicity, since it is made clear that these are all facets of Thomas and not independent individuals (Virgil as Thomas's anxiety, Roman as Thomas's creativity, etc. and not as their own people). The fact that this series is so popular among so many people that do not know much about DID makes me feel as though my disorder will be considered a spice for entertainment in the future, as it has been for a very long time. Even if Thomas himself is part of a DID system, I still think that the series could be written more tactfully, as the "Sides" are portrayed more as personified emotions than as real people themselves, and every member of a system no matter how fragmentary should be treated as a real person, because they are.
I do sometimes worry that somebody will compare me and my system to the Sanders Sides characters. I think that the only reason for which it hasn't already happened is the fact that I tend to avoid Sanders Sides fans by default.
If any people from other systems would like to add their thoughts on this, please feel free. I'll admit I don't know much about Sanders Sides and I'm fairly new to the DID community as a whole, so I may be getting a few things wrong.
