Drift System

Imagine an old school slow build up horror where the cast is restrained to a small area, and spend a good chunk of the movie just under stress and trying to figure out what’s real and what’s not. So far not very original I know.

But I want the main character to have DID. And not in the “their alter is the big bad all along!” shit you see all the time. I mean as in despite having at least four or five characters interacting with each other, there are only ever two ACTUAL PHYSICAL characters. the alters would interact via headspace and leaving each other communal notes, struggling with the fact that there is possibly a killer/monster among them but only certain alters know certain things, and either can’t front long enough to pass on that info or they manage to but they unknowingly pass it on in a way that can be influenced by the second physical character- the big bad.

Example: Alter 1 knows the identity of the killer. When they front they both try to escape and manoeuvre the host away from the danger and leave messages- like notes or on a kitchen whiteboard. Because they’re leaving these notes out where other physical people can interact with them, the big bad simply erases the whiteboard or throws away the notes, and by the time someone else fronts the evidence is gone.

And because alters often (?) have certain roles (like the little, or the protector) certain alters struggle with certain things. Like the little trusting the killer because they say they’re friends, and they claim they’re helping the little. Or the protector being the one trying to get the fuck outta there.

I imagine it as being like… only one character can ever be in the cameras view at a single time, only ever one on screen because they’re all head mates and they can’t all front at once. However that doesn’t mean that the killer can’t be on screen and joins others on camera and that’s like… a hint on who the killer is. Or in the case of writing it (which is what I’m currently doing) when in the perspective of certain characters others can’t be interacted with, at the very least physically.

So… yeah- like a classic slow burn slasher of “who would win, the entire cast of friends piloting one meat suit or one stabby boy”.

How does one know how old they are? other than physical age, what determines the age of, say, behaviors? is it the maturity attached to them?

I can differientiate between child and adult parts, and I can sort of estimate the general age of one of our younger parts- but other than that, everyone else i am aware of presents this feeling of 'vagely adult', or rather holds what seems to be adult level intelligence/coping.

it just feels like a bunch of people in one big room with mismatched limbs

like we’re just a bunch of detachable dolls with parts of each other and nobody is quite right or quite whole

When I don't input those fields, and only search around based on any couple of checked specializations, it'll still pop up with no results. And that's within a 50 mile radius. I live up in the far Western half of the states. I don't know what else to do. We have a psychiatrist right now, but she's trained in ADHD, not this. I can't risk being too honest with her, get labeled as plain crazy, and no longer be able to reach our regular medication. (F. pt2)

Last week we had to fire our therapist, because of her confidentiality breaches. Because she kept accusing everyone around us, and around her, that "they had NPD". She would use that constantly, and couldn't provide useful advice outside of saying "don't worry that's how NPD people are". She went on a whole rant in the middle of one of our therapy sessions that our endocrinologist has narcolepsy, and shouldn't be allowed to practice surgery. He doesn't even perform surgeries. (F. pt3)

Everywhere I look, people like me are told to seek medical help. I've been trying. It's not getting us anywhere. I'm sick of only finding medical professionals who quite literally can't handle the scope of our case, who aren't up to date on how to help with this. I'm sick of paying insurance co-pays for more than a year, but never being started on EMDR. That's what I originally went into her practice for, with my last therapist. I feel so yanked around. (F. pt4)

Please. Help me understand what I'm doing wrong? Why can't we find anyone? I don't even care if we're diagnosed or not anymore. I just want substantial, coherent, real treatment. Am I screwing up somehow? Or is it this difficult for everyone else? Is there some secret I'm missing? I'm not stupid, I've done so much online searching, but all of this failure is making me wonder if I am a moron but just can't see it? (F. pt5 last ask part)

Hi,

The ISST-D therapist finder doesn’t require any information beyond the state, at the most basic. Even including the city sometimes throws it off, and there’s no need to include name or organization. If you can’t find any therapists within driving distance through that, you may want to expand your search to the Psychology Today website or similar search engines. Not all therapists who work with dissociative clients advertise with the ISST-D because they may not be looking for more dissociative clients specifically, but they may still list dissociation as something they specialize in on other site profiles.

Another option is to reach out to the nearest ISST-D member and ask them if they know of anyone closer to you whom they could refer you to. Sometimes, therapists may not advertise at all that they work with dissociative clients, but they may still have received helpful training or worked with dissociative clients in the past, and other therapists may be aware of this. Sidran, local survivor groups, or a case manager may also be able to help in this regard.

You may also want to reach out to therapists who specialize in trauma. They may or may not have prior experience with clients with DID/OSDD-1, but that doesn’t mean they’re not willing to learn along with you. Sidran has a list of questions to ask potential therapists to see if they’re likely to be able to treat complex trauma and dissociative clients. Kevin went a little more detail about the questions he specifically considers important here. As I said in the same post, it’s also worth asking if a therapist is willing to be supervised (possibly virtually!) by someone who has more experience treating DID/OSDD-1. There are also books aimed at therapists who want to learn how to better help dissociative clients, such as Psychotherapy for Persistent Dissociative Processes by Chefetz, Treating Trauma-Related Dissociation: A Practical, Integrative Approach by Steele, Boon, and van der Hart, Rebuilding Shattered Lives: Treating Complex PTSD and Dissociative Disorders by Chu, and Understanding and Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Relational Approach by Howell. 

If nothing else, a trauma therapist who doesn’t know much about DID/OSDD-1 but who’s willing to do stabilization and basic trauma work with you regardless is likely better than nothing. As long as they don’t disrespect your parts and are careful not to destabilize you, they can help you to stay afloat until you can find someone with more knowledge and experience.

I’m sorry that you’ve had such negative experiences in therapy. It can be really difficult to navigate health care, especially mental health care. It’s not your fault that you haven’t found a good therapist yet, but I hope that this knowledge will help you to find someone willing and able to work with you.

Best of luck,

Hey, if you have DID or know someone with DID, what are some tips y'all could give me about writing a character with it? I have a character that I want to give DID but I don't want to portray it incorrectly.

My current knowledge is that it happens because of childhood trauma, in which you had to behave/think differently to the extreme in different situations to survive, and over a long, extended period of that happening regularly, you develop more than one personality. They can have different genders, sexualities, names, and pronouns.

If any of that was wrong CORRECT ME.

I'm looking for more info than I currently have.

For example, if a child has an abusive or neglectful caretaker, they might think "this person loves and cares for me, and I love them" and at the same time "this person keeps hurting me" and not be able to consolidate those two realities. So amnesia barriers develop between those two realities and forms one alter who denies that they're being abused and believes that their caretaker is completely good and loving, and another alter who deals with the pain result of the abuse.

Absolutely. Ian (our little) has cynophobia, a fear of dogs; seeing one in person will instantly fill us with panic. This usually causes one of the others (typically Kyra, but lately Atom too) to come forth and be caring and protective; or even just take control entirely. It's times like this that I am thankful for my alters. That being said, it's not for everything. Jak often has to deal with his emotions alone, not because we don't care but because it rarely gets so bad that we have to intervene.

As far as being able to intentionally take some of the weight, it's a bit of a mix up. Sometimes you can, sometimes you get no response back. I have often asked my selves for help only to have to do everything myself; bear it myself. Other times it feels like they're already there, the moment I stumble back they catch me before I fall, and before I know it, I'm safe again.

Absolutely. Ian (our little) has cynophobia, a fear of dogs; seeing one in person will instantly fill us with panic. This usually causes one of the others (typically Kyra, but lately Atom too) to come forth and be caring and protective; or even just take control entirely. It's times like this that I am thankful for my alters. That being said, it's not for everything. Jak often has to deal with his emotions alone, not because we don't care but because it rarely gets so bad that we have to intervene.

As far as being able to intentionally take some of the weight, it's a bit of a mix up. Sometimes you can, sometimes you get no response back. I have often asked my selves for help only to have to do everything myself; bear it myself. Other times it feels like they're already there, the moment I stumble back they catch me before I fall, and before I know it, I'm safe again.

(Here's basically everything we wish we knew up front).

- However many alters your system has is fine. You don't have too many. You'll probably realize you have more than you originally thought as time goes on.

- It's really normal to have nonhuman alters.

- It's really normal to have fictives.

- Not every alter needs to fit into a specific obvious role. A lot of alters will probably fill more than one role in your system.

- Being the host doesn't mean you're the "real" person and they're YOUR alters.

- Being an alter doesn't mean you're not the "real" person. Everyone, even the host, is an alter too.

- Persecutors aren't evil and if you treat them like that, they'll just get more problematic.

- However often you switch is normal. If you switch multiple times an hour, great. If you don't switch for weeks on end, also great. That's how your system works and it's fine.

- Age is weird in systems. You can have adult alters who lack the maturity and ability to function like other adults. You can have littles who are able to make complex decisions. Don't assume what an alter is capable of based on their age without actually getting to know them.

- 99% of the time there's no benefit in having a formal diagnosis beyond validating YOU. A trauma and dissociation oriented therapist can help treat your symptoms without making a formal dx. In fact, you might be better off without having that dx on paper.

- You don't owe anyone proof that you're not faking it.

- Thinking that you're faking it is extremely common. If you have to worry about that, you're not faking it. You'd have to make the intentional, conscious decision to fake it.

- Not knowing who you are is common. Blurring together/ passive influence is really common.

- You can split again simply out of necessity; you don't always have to go through a new traumatic event to split.

- CSA isn't the only type of trauma that can result in DID. Any type of ongoing trauma in childhood can cause DID.

- "Is it normal if _____?" Probably. The experience of being/ having a system is incredible subjective and varied.

- There's a good chance your inner world is more or less a vivid daydream. It doesn't have to be like a literal place you "go" when you're not fronting. If it is, cool, but it doesn't have to be.

- Some systems have to intentionally create their inner world to aid in communication. Not everybody just has one automatically.

- At the end of the day, you are one person. In the long run it'll benefit you to remember that and not over-focus on all your differences because that can increase dissociative barriers among other things.

- You are collectively responsible for each other's actions and need to learn to work as a team, as much as you can.

- Yes switching during dreams is a thing.

- In-system relationships between alters is a thing and it's not weird. It's common.

- If you can't track down when and how everyone in your system split that's normal.

- You don't all have to be super distinct to be valid. It's normal for alters to have a lot in common/ to have overlapping traits. Again, you're all part of the same person.

- Alters having a different accent internally but not using it externally is a thing.

- Substances will affect switching and internal communication.

- If you all just use your physical birthday and don't celebrate individually that's fine. If some or all of you celebrate different birthdays/ significant dates that's fine.

- Sharing a romantic/ sexual relationship with a partner is fine and normal, but you also don't have to. However, you should work towards everyone in the system having some kind of positive relationship with your partner because it'll make things way easier.

- You don't owe it to anyone to tell who's fronting.

- If you don't even know who's fronting that's fine. It's normal to not always know.

- If your switches aren't obvious to anyone outside of you and you don't all act super different, that's normal. It's a covert disorder.

- Alters intentionally doing things to give themselves a sense of individuality is normal. Sometimes it's a coping mechanism. If you do things like develop your own handwriting on purpose, that doesn't mean you're faking.

-“you need extreme trauma to have DID” is true but misleading. If you went through something relatively continuous/repetitive/ongoing, that overwhelmed your ability to cope, and you had nobody you could truly rely on to comfort you through this, before the age of 9 or a little younger, so you dissociated to cope, that was enough.

-memory works weirdly and differently in every system so don’t stress about how memory is “meant” to work. You might forget what you did but remember what other alters did. You probably won’t blackout, but you might. Whatever your thing is it’s probably normal.

-thinking of yourself as one person can feel viscerally wrong, and what “person” means is debatable, so it might help to instead think of yourselves as living one life. You share a life with other alters, hence why you’re responsible for them and vice versa.

-you can tell people and they might not recognise alters still. It’s normal.

-no matter how different you act other people will still probably not notice. You’re not faking, it’s just that 99% of people only look at your body/face to tell who you are and don’t look much beyond that at your personality.

-even if nobody believes you that doesn’t mean youre faking. People hate believing in DID for some reason.

-not remembering you did something is not an excuse for doing it. You are still responsible for your alters actions.

-alters change over time, just like real people! Someone not acting like how they used to doesn’t mean you’re faking.

A little brief background for those not informed on this topic.

What was once termed "multiple personality disorder" is now referred to medically as "dissociative identity disorder." There are many many perfectly healthy examples of multiple consciousnesses sharing a single body in a way that's healthy and functional, and a lot of work over many years was put into getting the American Psychiatric Association to officially change the diagnostic criteria for DID so that multiple systems who are healthy are not considered to be disordered just because they're multiples. The definition of DID now includes that it must disrupt your ability to function. Medically speaking, multiple systems who function in society don't have anything that can be diagnosed. They're just people, who happen to share a body.

Some multiple systems (traumagenic) come about as a coping mechanism for severe trauma. Essentially these personalities exist to help each other and protect each other from trauma and allow each other to function.

Other systems (endogenic systems) do not result from trauma. Some people are born this way. Some engage in work with spirits and channeling. Some create additional entities deliberately.

I (Dove) am the primary "host" of an endogenic system. My headmates are entities I created, originally as servitors, who took on their own awareness and sense of self and now I have roommates in my brain. None of us are human.

There is heated debate created by a small faction of the multiplicity community who believe that endogenic (non-trauma related) systems aren't real or don't have a right to terms like multiple system, and/or that only people diagnosed with DID are "real" multiples.

All of that is background since I know a lot of my followers aren't connected to the multiple community but will still see this, and I want you to know what the hell I'm on about.

In brief, I think the "syscourse" is fucking stupid.

The multiple community has always included healthy multiples, and we've been fighting to de-pathologize our existence since the 1950's. The Troops of Truddi Chase published a book on the topic over thirty years ago.

We only managed to achieve that goal in 2013 with the publication of the DSM-V, the official diagnostic manual used by the American Psychiatric Association. Prior to 2013 all cases of multiplicity were seen as atypical and therefore wrong, and the primary goal of all treatment was integration, the return to only one person in the body. Which much of the multiple community sees as essentially murder.

No sooner have we won that battle, then multiple systems turned up wanting to drag us back by claiming such nonsense as that everyone who claims to be an endogenic system is lying, or that no one should ever use multiplicity terminology unless they have a DID diagnosis.

By that logic, if someone has a DID diagnosis, and they are in therapy, and as a group the system no longer needs therapy, then they magically aren't a "real" multiple anymore and have to pretend not to be, to keep from offending these "sysmed" people.

By their reasoning (only DID patients are multiples) all multiplicity must be either dysfunctional, or it's fake, and the only acceptable treatment path is integration. This is the opposite of what we want.

Either non-DID multiplicity is valid, or all multiplicity is dysfunctional. Because the criteria of DID include dysfunction. One of these things must be true. Outside of the last ten years on Tumblr, we all agreed it was the former.

Additionally, their reasoning is religious bigotry. Endogenic systems usually (not always) have a religious world view. This "sysmed" argument insists that I'm a fraud and that the channeling of spirits isn't real. Which is incredibly offensive to many many religions and spiritual paths.

Not all traumagenic systems even qualify for a DID diagnosis under the current DSM criteria. Any system that functions in society, or any system that doesn't experience amnesia, doesn't have DID. It's not even that uncommon for systems to have mixed origin. To reference Truddi Chase again, some of "the troops" came into being as a result of her extreme early childhood trauma, while others identified themselves as having come from another place and chosen to come and help them to function in the world.

The medicalist rhetoric invalidates the trauma and mental health needs of these mixed origin multiple systems by insisting that their endogenic members aren't real or valid. It also dismisses and gatekeeps systems who refuse to label the origin and nature of their existence (sometimes called quoigenic systems) by demanding that they define themselves by their origins rather than by their relationship with each other and society. In particular, refusing to treat them fairly unless they disclose their medical history is... really fucked up, to put it bluntly.

- please do not put Anti-DID propaganda in the DID tag. If you're endogenic, whatever, just don't use the DID tag.

- I am not qualified to say if endogenic systems exist or not. But do not use the DID tag for endogenic discussion. A lot of people with actual trauma who would benefit from acknowledging trauma are going to stumble upon endogenic posts and think "oh that's a relief! I don't have trauma at all, I'm just Naturally Formed" and then not get any kind of treatment.

You're the ones creating the discourse. There wouldn't be any discourse if you didn't come into our spaces and tell us we're not allowed to tell anyone we exist.

A little brief background for those not informed on this topic.

What was once termed "multiple personality disorder" is now referred to medically as "dissociative identity disorder." There are many many perfectly healthy examples of multiple consciousnesses sharing a single body in a way that's healthy and functional, and a lot of work over many years was put into getting the American Psychiatric Association to officially change the diagnostic criteria for DID so that multiple systems who are healthy are not considered to be disordered just because they're multiples. The definition of DID now includes that it must disrupt your ability to function. Medically speaking, multiple systems who function in society don't have anything that can be diagnosed. They're just people, who happen to share a body.

Some multiple systems (traumagenic) come about as a coping mechanism for severe trauma. Essentially these personalities exist to help each other and protect each other from trauma and allow each other to function.

Other systems (endogenic systems) do not result from trauma. Some people are born this way. Some engage in work with spirits and channeling. Some create additional entities deliberately.

I (Dove) am the primary "host" of an endogenic system. My headmates are entities I created, originally as servitors, who took on their own awareness and sense of self and now I have roommates in my brain. None of us are human.

There is heated debate created by a small faction of the multiplicity community who believe that endogenic (non-trauma related) systems aren't real or don't have a right to terms like multiple system, and/or that only people diagnosed with DID are "real" multiples.

All of that is background since I know a lot of my followers aren't connected to the multiple community but will still see this, and I want you to know what the hell I'm on about.

In brief, I think the "syscourse" is fucking stupid.

The multiple community has always included healthy multiples, and we've been fighting to de-pathologize our existence since the 1950's. The Troops of Truddi Chase published a book on the topic over thirty years ago.

We only managed to achieve that goal in 2013 with the publication of the DSM-V, the official diagnostic manual used by the American Psychiatric Association. Prior to 2013 all cases of multiplicity were seen as atypical and therefore wrong, and the primary goal of all treatment was integration, the return to only one person in the body. Which much of the multiple community sees as essentially murder.

No sooner have we won that battle, then multiple systems turned up wanting to drag us back by claiming such nonsense as that everyone who claims to be an endogenic system is lying, or that no one should ever use multiplicity terminology unless they have a DID diagnosis.

By that logic, if someone has a DID diagnosis, and they are in therapy, and as a group the system no longer needs therapy, then they magically aren't a "real" multiple anymore and have to pretend not to be, to keep from offending these "sysmed" people.

By their reasoning (only DID patients are multiples) all multiplicity must be either dysfunctional, or it's fake, and the only acceptable treatment path is integration. This is the opposite of what we want.

Either non-DID multiplicity is valid, or all multiplicity is dysfunctional. Because the criteria of DID include dysfunction. One of these things must be true. Outside of the last ten years on Tumblr, we all agreed it was the former.

Additionally, their reasoning is religious bigotry. Endogenic systems usually (not always) have a religious world view. This "sysmed" argument insists that I'm a fraud and that the channeling of spirits isn't real. Which is incredibly offensive to many many religions and spiritual paths.

Not all traumagenic systems even qualify for a DID diagnosis under the current DSM criteria. Any system that functions in society, or any system that doesn't experience amnesia, doesn't have DID. It's not even that uncommon for systems to have mixed origin. To reference Truddi Chase again, some of "the troops" came into being as a result of her extreme early childhood trauma, while others identified themselves as having come from another place and chosen to come and help them to function in the world.

The medicalist rhetoric invalidates the trauma and mental health needs of these mixed origin multiple systems by insisting that their endogenic members aren't real or valid. It also dismisses and gatekeeps systems who refuse to label the origin and nature of their existence (sometimes called quoigenic systems) by demanding that they define themselves by their origins rather than by their relationship with each other and society. In particular, refusing to treat them fairly unless they disclose their medical history is... really fucked up, to put it bluntly.

- please do not put Anti-DID propaganda in the DID tag. If you're endogenic, whatever, just don't use the DID tag.

- I am not qualified to say if endogenic systems exist or not. But do not use the DID tag for endogenic discussion. A lot of people with actual trauma who would benefit from acknowledging trauma are going to stumble upon endogenic posts and think "oh that's a relief! I don't have trauma at all, I'm just Naturally Formed" and then not get any kind of treatment.

A little brief background for those not informed on this topic.

What was once termed "multiple personality disorder" is now referred to medically as "dissociative identity disorder." There are many many perfectly healthy examples of multiple consciousnesses sharing a single body in a way that's healthy and functional, and a lot of work over many years was put into getting the American Psychiatric Association to officially change the diagnostic criteria for DID so that multiple systems who are healthy are not considered to be disordered just because they're multiples. The definition of DID now includes that it must disrupt your ability to function. Medically speaking, multiple systems who function in society don't have anything that can be diagnosed. They're just people, who happen to share a body.

Some multiple systems (traumagenic) come about as a coping mechanism for severe trauma. Essentially these personalities exist to help each other and protect each other from trauma and allow each other to function.

Other systems (endogenic systems) do not result from trauma. Some people are born this way. Some engage in work with spirits and channeling. Some create additional entities deliberately.

I (Dove) am the primary "host" of an endogenic system. My headmates are entities I created, originally as servitors, who took on their own awareness and sense of self and now I have roommates in my brain. None of us are human.

There is heated debate created by a small faction of the multiplicity community who believe that endogenic (non-trauma related) systems aren't real or don't have a right to terms like multiple system, and/or that only people diagnosed with DID are "real" multiples.

All of that is background since I know a lot of my followers aren't connected to the multiple community but will still see this, and I want you to know what the hell I'm on about.

In brief, I think the "syscourse" is fucking stupid.

The multiple community has always included healthy multiples, and we've been fighting to de-pathologize our existence since the 1950's. The Troops of Truddi Chase published a book on the topic over thirty years ago.

We only managed to achieve that goal in 2013 with the publication of the DSM-V, the official diagnostic manual used by the American Psychiatric Association. Prior to 2013 all cases of multiplicity were seen as atypical and therefore wrong, and the primary goal of all treatment was integration, the return to only one person in the body. Which much of the multiple community sees as essentially murder.

No sooner have we won that battle, then multiple systems turned up wanting to drag us back by claiming such nonsense as that everyone who claims to be an endogenic system is lying, or that no one should ever use multiplicity terminology unless they have a DID diagnosis.

By that logic, if someone has a DID diagnosis, and they are in therapy, and as a group the system no longer needs therapy, then they magically aren't a "real" multiple anymore and have to pretend not to be, to keep from offending these "sysmed" people.

By their reasoning (only DID patients are multiples) all multiplicity must be either dysfunctional, or it's fake, and the only acceptable treatment path is integration. This is the opposite of what we want.

Either non-DID multiplicity is valid, or all multiplicity is dysfunctional. Because the criteria of DID include dysfunction. One of these things must be true. Outside of the last ten years on Tumblr, we all agreed it was the former.

Additionally, their reasoning is religious bigotry. Endogenic systems usually (not always) have a religious world view. This "sysmed" argument insists that I'm a fraud and that the channeling of spirits isn't real. Which is incredibly offensive to many many religions and spiritual paths.

Not all traumagenic systems even qualify for a DID diagnosis under the current DSM criteria. Any system that functions in society, or any system that doesn't experience amnesia, doesn't have DID. It's not even that uncommon for systems to have mixed origin. To reference Truddi Chase again, some of "the troops" came into being as a result of her extreme early childhood trauma, while others identified themselves as having come from another place and chosen to come and help them to function in the world.

The medicalist rhetoric invalidates the trauma and mental health needs of these mixed origin multiple systems by insisting that their endogenic members aren't real or valid. It also dismisses and gatekeeps systems who refuse to label the origin and nature of their existence (sometimes called quoigenic systems) by demanding that they define themselves by their origins rather than by their relationship with each other and society. In particular, refusing to treat them fairly unless they disclose their medical history is... really fucked up, to put it bluntly.

- please do not put Anti-DID propaganda in the DID tag. If you're endogenic, whatever, just don't use the DID tag.

- I am not qualified to say if endogenic systems exist or not. But do not use the DID tag for endogenic discussion. A lot of people with actual trauma who would benefit from acknowledging trauma are going to stumble upon endogenic posts and think "oh that's a relief! I don't have trauma at all, I'm just Naturally Formed" and then not get any kind of treatment.

Infants

Infant alters are alters that are infants. In our experience, they often can’t type or talk or function very well, and normally require a big to front with them. The “infant” age is what one would consider a baby; maybe 0-18mo

Littles

Littles are child alters. They typically fall between the ages of 2-9/10, though some use “little” to encompass what we classify as “middles” as well. They tend to act and have the mentality of the age they present as, and may enjoy child-like things. They may speak or type in a childish manner, but may also have a fairly decent (for a child) ability to grasp larger concepts.

They are typically formed because the brain sees a need for a younger, child-like presence. This may be to try and regain or have the childhood it lost (as systems are formed from trauma) or wish to see naively or be unaware of adult things happening.

Please treat them as the age they present as. Regardless of body age, it’s irresponsible and wrong and potentially harmful to speak of more adult topics to a little. It’s not a kink or fetish.

Middles

Middles are what most would consider “tweens.” Typically 10-13 years of age, and sort of that in-between young child and teen in mentality or emotional maturity. Once again, they tend to act their age, and it’s asked that you treat them as such.

Teens

Shoutout to alters who are semiverbal some or all of the time: that is perfectly okay, and you deserve to be understood and accepted as you are, now and in the future

Shoutout to alters who are nonverbal some or all of the time: that is perfectly okay, and you deserve to be understood and accepted as you are, now and in the future

Shoutout to alters who find it hard or impossible to speak some or all of the time: that is perfectly okay, and you deserve to be understood and accepted as you are, now and in the future

By: Dave

I think a lot about our time in the Homestuck fandom. About the ships, the fic tropes, the general fan attitudes. I could fill a book with all my opinions on it, but this ain’t about that specific fandom. This is about the fact that fictives exist in fandom spaces, and y’all need to keep us in mind. Cause if you’re not a fictive, or you don’t share a system with fictives, you probably don’t

I mean be honest, do you ever think about us? When you’re constantly making jokes about Nightwing’s ass, are you thinking about how that might affect Dick Grayson fictives? When you’re arguing that Endeavor isn’t abusive, are you thinking about what that sounds like to fictives of the Todoroki kids? When you decide it’s fine to depict Bro as a totally cool guardian and not a fucking monster, do you stop and consider how you’re making Dave Strider fictives feel?

I’m guessing not

We probably never cross your minds. Maybe you don’t think it’s a big deal. Maybe you think there aren’t enough of us for it to really matter. Or maybe you don’t care because “it’s just fiction”

Fact is, it’s not fiction to us. We’re real, and we’re not going away any time soon, so y’all better accept that and figure out how to accommodate us. I can’t tell you how to do that, cause frankly I don’t know. It’s a complicated fucking issue, and I don’t think there’s ever gonna be a way to set rules about it. Y’all can come to your own conclusions about how much you care about how your fandoms impact fictives. I can’t tell you what those conclusions should be, but you need to think about us

Anyone who relates to Nightwing can see your sexualizing him and be uncomfortable. Anyone who's been abused is likely to be hurt by your Endeavor apologist rhetoric.

Hi, 

The best way to figure out anything is to work on your communication. 

We made a post that can help you -> link here.

We posted it few months ago but It really helped us so you can try it if you want.

Maybe some people won't like it, but the most important thing in this process is time. 

DID/OSDD are extremely complicated disorders for which there are no template methods.

(I’m not sure if you asked about switch or maybe co-con so I will write about both.)

Switch is when one alter takes control of the body.

For DID system:

You can’t remember what happend (amnesia). 

For OSDD system: 

You can remember what happend but you can’t do anything about it. You can’t control your body. People with this disorder remember events but are not emotionally connected to them.

Co-conscious (co-con)

Several alters are aware of what others are doing/ more than one alter fronting at once.

You need to know yourself very well to know what is happening to you. Sometimes it is difficult even for people who have known about their system for years.

Sometimes you will just feel it, sometimes you can hear it in your voice, sometimes you will do things that don't suit you. sometimes you say something you didn't mean, sometimes you will listen to different music than you normally would or suddenly change your mind about something.