#headspaces

Do members of your system appear to be nonhuman in your systems innerworld? I've been questioning being alterhuman myself, and in our innerworld I've got aspects of myself that are nonhuman, feline and canine in nature.

I was wondering if that's a form of being alterhuman? I'm also a fictive, if that helps. In our innerworld I've got feline and canine appearances, but I didn't have them in my canon/timeline, and they only appeared after I "spawned" into the system.

If you've got anymore resources on alterhumanity, I would also appreciate that, as I'm trying to learn more about the community.

Thanks. -bluexfires

Hey!

The bottom line is... If you experience it, it can happen--because yeah, it happened to you! But to elaborate...

Our system members can appear to be nonhuman in headspace. Most of us are, due to us being introjects of nonhuman characters or things. When we experience mental shifts to our kintypes, often we end up changing our headspace form to match. For example, someone may be Sonic the Hedgehog in headspace because they're a fictive, but when they have a mental shift, they change forms to thier dragon kintype.

Now, with your experience, yeah I'd say that can count as alterhuman. But I'd like to let you know that "alterhuman" and "nonhuman" mean different things.

Alterhuman: An identity that doesn't fit within the societal norms of humanity.

This can include nonhumans, but it can also include people who are otherhearted (those with a strong connection to a nonhuman entity but are not nonhuman themselves), have hearthomes (those with a strong connection to a place/world they've usually never been to), systems, fictionfolk who identify as human fictional characters, etc.

It's a bit confusing, but here's a link to the coining post that explains a little more in-depth.

Nonhuman: A person/entity who is not human in some way.

This can be a type of alterhumanity, and you can be both human and nonhuman at once, but this at a baseline means some part of your identity is not human at all in some way.

With that nuance explained... Would you be alterhuman for having gained nonhuman features since joining your system? You could absolutely call it that! You'd also be able to consider yourself alterhuman on the basis of being a system or a fictive alone if you'd like to use that label--the community is yours if you choose. Could you be nonhuman because of those features? Well, that's a little trickier, but really that decision on if you "count" enough is up to you--and remember, you can absolutely be both. Or even label it as human+.

I recommed Alterhumanity For Beginners as a resource if you'd like to learn more. Beyond Humanity may also be of use to you.

In complex dissociative disorders, headspaces/innerworlds are often defense mechanics a young child comes up with to feel safe. But, for you, it might just be somewhere to hang out with your headmates! Both are normal experiences, and should be appreciated!

Shoutout to:

Funny headspace moments, like inside jokes and such

Violence of some sort, whether "cartoonish" violence or real violence (we have experience with this, shoot us an ask if you're in a similar situation or need advice)

Sad moments, like headmates going dormant

Happy moments, such as getting to hug your loved ones

Anything else I missed!

Headspaces can be full of whimsy, joy, grief, and every emotion in between. Take some time today to appreciate yours, too, if you have one!

Stay safe!

-🦇/🦀

Hiya! We think that headspaces can work a bit differently for different systems, but visualization and imagination are usually big parts of the headspace-creation process! They might sometimes need to require some conscious maintenance in order to preserve their vibes. Occasionally areas of our own headspace can get a bit fuzzy or change in unwanted ways if we don’t spend time consciously working on them and adjusting them to reflect how we want them to appear! >w<

That being said, maybe y’all can try setting aside some time like once a week or something to work on changing the vibes of your headspace? By doing things like imagining what you want for your headspace or even actively doing construction work internally!

If you’re looking for inspiration, Pinterest and Unsplash are both great places to search for images that fit a certain aesthetic, scenery, or vibe! And we also set up the blog @headspace-visuals recently where we will do our best to help folks find some images to help inspire their headspace building process :33

If you haven’t before, it could be useful to check out some guides on building headspaces! In our headspace post we include links where folks can learn more about headspaces with tips for building their own >w<

Headspaces can be really really vast, and I do think some systems have headspaces which are not so easily adjusted or changed. We aren’t sure how y’all’s headspace works, but if you find you can’t really consciously change much about your headspace, maybe y’all could try leaving to find a different area to settle? And keep in your mind an idea of what you’d like to find ideally so that you’re more likely to stumble across it? Idk, this is just a thought!

It's not a plural-only thing, but people assume it is

You think syscourse hurts the entire plural community more than it helps anyone.

You think traumagenics and endogenics both deserve their own separate spaces/terms in addition to spaces/terms for all plural kinds.

You think that while there are certain requirements for DID/OSDD/UDD, the concept of plurality as a whole is nuanced.

Systems who created a headspace are valid!

Systems who have alters who cannot enter the headspace are valid!

Systems who have a flat backdrop as a headspace or a very small headspace are valid!

Systems with a huge and dynamic headspace are valid!

Systems who have a changing headspace are valid!