#ddnos

syscourse almost always comes down to a comparison between trans people and plurality, but i think a better comparison is systems to therians and zooanthropy.

im not addressing spiritual systems in this post, however tulpamancy specifically has been massively bastardised and whitewashed and i implore you to remember that it is a closed practice.

therianthropes are folks who identify as animals other than human, for the sake of this conversation, we're gonna use that most simple definition. theres not really any evidence to confirm they're "correct" in feeling this way, but they do, and theres no harm in that. some folks have argued that therians are demedicalising zooanthropy. the key difference between therians and zooanthropes is the experience, therians (generally) are not claiming to experience the symptoms of zooanthropy. zooanthropy isn't just identifying as an animal. it is very specifically the belief that the individual can transform into an animal. the individual may, while lucid, claim to have undergone this transformation and remember being in a transformed state. this is not what therians claim to experience. the "criterea" to be a therian is literally just to identify as an animal, be that for a psychological reason such as trauma, or a neurodivergency, or a spiritual belief, or something else. some therians claim to have mental shifts, where they feel mentally more like their animal type. some claim to have phantom shifts, where they can feel animal limbs that aren't there. these things are not symptoms of zooanthropy but can be found in those with it. if you want my opinion, those things are signs of mental illness, but that doesn't mean they're bad; no harm comes from feeling like you have a tail when you physically dont. (im not here to make the argument that delusional and psychotic therians aren't allowed in the community, dont put words in my mouth)

therianthropy does not demedicalise zooanthropy because therians do not claim to have the same experience as zooanthropes, even though there are similarities between them. endogenic systems, however, are claiming to experience the exact same thing as CDD (complex dissociative disorder) systems but without meeting the diagnostic criterea. CDDs form from trauma, your brain struggles to process something traumatic, and so disconnects you from the experience, creating dissociation. in childhood, if an individual experiences chronic traumatisation, the dissociation can impact their ability to develop into a singular identity. this dissociation creates a barrier between an "apparently normal part", who isnt connected to the trauma, aka a host, and "emotional parts" who are connected to it in one way or another and usually want to protect the host, aka the alters. alters can also serve the function of self care to help the host navigate life with such extreme dissociation. they can also inact dangerous behaviour that their trauma conpells them to do, etc etc. endogenic systems claim to experience hosts, alters, and switches between them based on triggers just the same as CDD systems do. human brains can learn dissociation at any time, and the appearance of ANPs ans EPs is not exclusive to system disorders, but an already developed brain will not separate its parts into different identities entierly when it has already formed one singular identity. there is no reason for a brain to dissociate without trauma. otherwise, there is nothing to dissociate (or "disconnect") from. for example, an adult may experience dissociation after a traumatic accident, the experience may be too much for them to remember (literally and/or emotionally) in order to get on with daily life, and it may be too much to talk about even with others they trust. in this situation, their brain may dissociate them from it, making them not feel present whenever the accident is mentioned or affecting them. that way, they dont have to feel the heavy emotions related to it. this is why dissociation occurs. without trauma, there is no reason for it. to claim to be an endogenic system is basically claiming to switch without dissociating, and without dissociation, there is no separation between parts.

this is why endogenic systems do not make sense, this is why they are not the same as trans people, this why they are not the same as therians. endogenic systems claim to experience exactly what CDD systems do. i am not accusing endos of lying, i believe what they're experiencing is true, but the terminology is just incorrect for it. being a "non disordered system" is exactly the same as being a "non disordered zooanthrope." it's an oxymoron. if you saw someone identifying as a zooanthrope but described their experience in a therian like way, would you not want to educate them? to point out that there is a different word for what they're experiencing and that zooanthrope is very specifically a mental illness? zooanthropes and therians are both valid, and (in my opinion) so are the experiences of CDDs systems and "endogenic systems." i dont think you're lying, i just think you should have your own community with your own terminology. therians have started using "phantom shift" instead of "phantom limb" to describe feeling their animal limbs so as not to take away from amputees, CDD systems are asking the exact same thing from you.