I wanted to go over this screenshot from justanothersyscourse's post, but I did find the post on reddit here.
It says "Am I plural? Common signs to look out for." Let me explain and go through each bullet point and give my own thoughts and feelings on it and relay actual experiences or symptoms of dissociative disorders.
1. Becoming aware of someone else's presence in your head and knowing their name without having to think about it.
Hmmm. This is quite a thing. It doesn't leave much up to interpretation, but it's very vague despite that. The wording here is that "you feel aware of someone else's presence", but I don't think that's too common with the experiences that I have heard.
I have heard, "this is me, but it conflicts with this other part of me". Or "I've made several ocs that are based off me, but they all have different appearances". Or "I have different personas, but they all feel different".
But I haven't really heard "I feel someone else's presence in my head". That seems pretty rare or towards those who have possession switching. Aka, it feels like someone else "takes over" when you switch, where you may go into a dissociative fugue and "wake up" somewhere else. But that's pretty rare in terms of systems I've talked to.
Also, the latter half that says "knowing their name without having to think about it". This is also rare, this may be common in systems who have a lot more dissociation and dissociative amnesia, which alters have their chosen selves and can communicate them without even thinking.
For a lot of systems, however, they may not have this huge amount of separation and may not have a name, may choose their own name, they may be given a name by other alters. I would not say it's common for alters to immediately know their name. They may not even realize that they are a different alter, they may see themselves as a part the body they inhabit. So I would say this is a pretty uncommon sign too.
To reword this, I would probably make it, "1. If you experience conflicting thoughts or some amount disconnect within yourself. Especially if when you start to concentrate on it, those conflicting thoughts have names, appearances, or different identities."
It's become quite clear to me, this far, the common signs list is this dramatized version of what systems are. I feel it's way less relatable than actual medical article symptoms. But it can feel incredibly dramatic for those who have this disorder, so I'm not discounting it yet.
2. Being afraid that you're faking it.
Uhm, yeah. Imposter syndrome and denial and dissociation is a big part of having a dissociative disorder.
Feeling disconnected from parts of you and the world around you, feeling that there's someone else controlling your body, doing things to you, that you may be making everything up, etc etc. Are all extremely common symptoms of dissociation, and chronic dissociation at that. What I listed is literally DPDR, depersonalization/derealization. It's common in complex dissociative disorders, BPD or on its own. It often happens due to stress in some way. Like sleep deprivation, or some sort of trigger.
If you experience all kinds of symptoms and you're panicking and dissociating, then yeah, it sounds like you have something.
The symptoms aren't just going away because you learned more.
Imposter syndrome is incredibly common among those with dissociative disorders. If you are distressed by imposter syndrome, please try to ground yourself first before learning more. It can be that you are learning things too quickly and need time to process that information. Don't stress yourself out just because you're unsure. Take time away from learning about systems and go back into it later. Baby steps, everyone comes to terms with things differently.
And I wouldn't say this is an inherent sign or symptom, but it's surely something that's quite common. How I'd rephrase this is, "2. If you find yourself being in denial after learning of new symptoms. Imposter syndrome is common for a lot of us, take time to process new information."
3. Discovering plurality/finding out a loved one is a system and immediately feeling drawn to plurality.
I don't think this is a symptom of having a dissociative disorder.
But if you relate to symptoms after a loved one or something on the internet talked out it, that's surely a reason to consider it.
If you don't relate to symptoms, however, then you just may be interested in learning about it and that's okay. But that doesn't make you a system.
But if you do keep going back to it, time after time, and find yourself lingering on little things. I would recommend reexamining why you feel connected to those symptoms. Perhaps you have BPD, instead. Perhaps you have another dissociative disorder. Perhaps you relate to having C-PTSD. It's okay to learn, but do seek out professional help if you have the resources to do so.
To rephrase this, I would say "3. Finding yourself drawn to discussions of systems and relating to any symptoms you find."
4. Having in interest in things related to plurality (Like the idea of hive minds in fiction)
I know this is supposed to be breaking down why this may or may not be a sign of systemhood, but jesus christ. Hive minds scare the literal shit out of me and it makes me violently uncomfortable. I would have to say it's also basically the opposite of systemhood, as I have always had conflicting thoughts, instead of unifying thoughts in multiple people. But I do know that other people may relate, so I'll let that slide. Still freaks me the fuck out though. If you've never played INSIDE, don't. It scares me.
But I could say that yeah, if you relate to characters having unique and differing aesthetics, or conflicting parts, that's definitely something.
Like I think of Shiro in Deadman Wonderland, Chii in Chobits, etc. Or just characters who have two different parts of themselves or conflicting sides or whatever. It can be a sign but it's not anything in particular. It's basically like #3. I wouldn't change much about this, but I would not call it plurality.
5. Referring to yourself as "we" or "us" and feeling that it's natural to do so.
I've definitely never had this experience, it's not universal. Its like bullet point 1. I would say this is a niche experience of having a system, and maybe it can be more common. But I didn't really start referring to other people until Tsuki, my protector did it.
It really depends on the system, but I would not say this is a common experience until after you have discovered your system.
To rephrase this, I'd say "5. If you feel the need to refer to yourself as multiple people/parts of you." Because I feel like that's more common than using we/us pronouns off the bat.
6. Being aware of thoughts in your head that do not come from you.
This is also very niche. I don't think this is common at all. Not everyone hears differing trains of thought. If you have brain fog, like me, or struggle to identify your thoughts, it can be difficult to know what's going on. Especially if you have intrusive thoughts or ADHD. A busy mind is not common in every system, but it happens within mine.
I feel like this is too retrospective to be a good "sign" from newly discovered or trying to figure it out systems. It feels like what you'd find after the fact. This is not helpful at all and I would leave it off the signs list entirely.
7. Hearing voices in your head.
This is also for a smaller number of systems. Most systems do not hear differing voices or trains of thought. A lot of people see it as one continuous train of thought with conflicting bits and opinions and reactions thrown in there.
I feel like this is also a dramatized sort of symptom and is indicative of other things. Yes, it can happen to a lot of systems, but I feel like it's kind of a myth/stereotype. So I would not say this is helpful or an all too common thing. I feel like systems who hear other alters as "voices", would notice a lot more symptoms quicker than that.
I would consider whether or not this is a good sign to put on a list, and maybe combine it with something else.
So, it feels like this person doesn't know too much beyond their own experiences, which while to be expected, is not helpful for new systems learning about dissociative disorders.
I would explain or go into detail about it more. I would let people understand why I added this or why I feel it's important to bring up. And sure, it's not super concise, but it's more helpful and more easy to understand this way.
This common signs list is not common at all, and I would recommend going on a medical article than searching for experiences on reddit. Sure, community answers are good, but so is a youtube video explaining by a popular and educational system. So is actually researching symptoms.
Would I say that you should trust this? Not really. Do your own research, first hand experiences and explanations for why you may have said experiences are way more helpful. I bet you that you don't have as overt symptoms as this redditor, I'm sure.
