#postsofpurple

oh god alright i did a bit of research before i answered this bc we absolutely do not want to pump misinformation out there. we aren't experts by any means. we just a. have osdd and b. give a shit

another disclaimer, this isn't about syscourse. do not bring it here. don't. all of us have different opinions on it. anp, ep, and mp are all scientific terms, and therefore the info i'll be sticking here is purely the current data provided by the theory of structural dissociation. nothing more. you can reblog but please do not ask us personally about syscourse

anyway

anp is short for apparently normal part and it's generally used as a term to describe a part that was formed to handle the menial tasks of day to day living. they're typically not trauma holders and tend to be experts at avoiding any and every reminder of trauma, as anp's aren't really equipped to deal with them while continuing daily chores

ep is short for emotional part and it's a part formed to handle and hold the memories of trauma experienced far, faar away from the anp so that daily living is affected the least amount possible. ep's are typically unaware of the present or that any time has passed since the traumatic moment, and are stuck in a perpetual state of reliving their experiences

mp is short for mixed part and it's a rarer term but describes a part which shows signs of being both an ep and anp. this can happen in polyfragmented systems where individual alters can themselves have ep's and anp's

these parts can present themselves very, very differently depending on the type of dissociation we're talking about though

primary structural dissociation: described as one anp and one ep - found in post-traumatic stress disorder. the anp contains most of the memories, day to day function, and personality held prior to the experienced trauma, and the ep does not have a different sense of self, the ability to recognize that the trauma is no longer happening, or any amnesiac barriers between it and the anp

secondary structural dissociation: described as one anp and multiple ep's. found in cptsd, bpd, and most cases of osdd-1. cptsd experiences anp's and ep's in much the same way that ptsd does, but has more ep's. bpd has more differentiated ep's and a less defined anp, which may cause identity confusion and feelings of emptiness in the anp, but no amnesiac barriers or differentiated sense of self between parts. osdd-1 systems will experience either amnesiac barriers between the anp and ep's, but without a sense of fully differentiated identities, or differentiated identities without full amnesiac barriers between them, however in both cases ep's tend to be more fully developed than can be found in cptsd or bpd and are not necessarily frozen in the time of the traumatic incident

tertiary structural dissociation: described as multiple anp's and ep's. found in DID and some cases of OSDD-1. anp's are not considered to hold most of the personality of the system and ep's are more developed, often growing with experiences and not as stuck in the period of time of the trauma

quatrenary structural dissociation: not... super a thing but nevertheless used by some theorists to describe the existence of mp's in polyfragmented systems, wherein not only may a system have multiple anp's and ep's, but alters themselves may have their own anp's and ep's and therefore display signs of being both an anp and ep as a result

so first things first anon, yeah it's normal

i just really needed to get that out of the way. you're valid. there's no need for self doubt. i mean i know it's gonna happen anyway lol but please don't be too hard on yourself.

second things second though, there's kind of no "normal" with did or osdd or honestly ANY dissociative or trauma related disorder for anyone - system or singlet. everyone reacts very differently to trauma and experiences and coping mechanisms vary wildly right alongside them

there are systems who rarely switch or systems who can only really cofront with the host, just like there are systems with no hosts

there are systems for whom switching often is a good sign, it means that the day is going okay and no one is frontstuck and getting overwhelmed dealing with dailies. there are also systems who usually only switch when something has gone terribly wrong, and who view a day with a lot of switches as a Very Bad One

there are entirely nonhuman systems with hugely diverse appearances and preferences and personalities and roles, all of whom play some role or have some stake in an incredibly detailed inner world and who very much all feel like they are different people

and there are systems who are all different versions of the host with no inner world. who may feel like one person but divided into separate experiences

i can literally not stress enough that every system i just described is still a system. none of that is a sign of faking

did and osdd are insanely personal by nature and their symptoms overlap with so many other disorders that they're really hard to set any guidelines for other than basic grounding techniques and tools to cope with trauma, flashbacks, flooding, panic attacks, ect

just because we personally switch fairly often (on a good day lol) doesn't mean that that's the standard for anyone else. and vice versa

yep!

alters can have completely different identities from each other. this includes both sexuality and gender. in fact! a lot of hosts, both before and after they discover they're part of a system, tend to feel fairly genderfluid due to passive influence and being cocon with other alters. (this btw is not to say they aren't genderfluid, but that hosts who aren't genderfluid can also feel this way due to alters of different genders communicating with them.)

QUICK DISCLAIMER

this is literally only an addition bc it popped into my head and this hellsite can accidentally promote some less than great ideas, especially to people who are struggling with identity anyway

if you're an alter, and you're declaring yourself to the world or to your system or whatever, and you find that maybe some of the stuff you said was incorrect... whatever it was, that's fine. if you misinterpreted that's fine, and if you were correct but things changed, that's also fine. these terms aren't boxes to put yourself into like so many conservatives claim, they're descriptors to better explain your experiences as a unique human being

Hi praag wasek. You need to take a shower.

Hi praag wahl kip fah hinmaar. You need to feed yourself.

Kir hi fen bo arhk biis hin bodensenah. Please go pay your mortgage/rent.

Hi lifiin Tumblr ahrk wasekiin. Hi rinik riig. Get off Tumblr and shower; you smell terrible.

Vet: I'm faking OSDD and over-exaggerating any symptoms that line up with scientific study