another one of those plural blogs

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Daydreamer anatomy☁️

I absolutely fucking despise it. when asked their favourite colour they go pastel pink and yellow, I'd say it's cornflower blue or gold.

now this is overexemplified but it's what up with us at any given moment. I'm eating something, suddenly I can't stand it anymore, I hate it and I'd rather starve to death than eat it; oh that hobby I like so much! *loud incorrect buzzer* wrong! hate; etc

fronting is what happens when an alter assumes executive control over the body. every alter has different executive functioning abilities, as well as weaknesses and impairments.

if alters are fighting for executive control, from the outside it can look like it's only anxiety, rumination, or inattention. and while the system may be experiencing those things, the cause is temporary: front-fighting, rapid switching, loud headspaces - is part of executive dysfunction in DID.

and this isn't from some purely abstract mental process at all. alters essentially inhabit different neural pathways in the brain. meaning, there is a difference in how signals are able to move around and what areas of the brain are being most utilized by each alter.

and to me, that study of DID does explain a lot of things about DID that you wouldn't otherwise expect to happen. the differences in speech, body language, body mapping (proprioception), sensory experience/ability, physical ability, talents, skills, etc...

your brain can have a strength or limitation, even when you as an alter do not. alters can have contradictory abilities. there is no cohesion of the self, not only in social identity or emotional experience, but in any part of one's being.

and for those of you interested in neurology (also the term psychobiological fucks)

Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a posttraumatic psychobiological syndrome that is both an adaptive response to an inescapable and traumatizing childhood environment and a psychiatric disorder. This condition is associated with substantial financial, personal, and societal costs, but is significantly understudied in part due to historical controversy and modern-day misunderstanding. Neurobiological mechanistic understanding of DID has the capacity to aid in assessment, to reveal novel brain-based treatment modalities, and to decrease stigma. Given the importance of biological research on DID, this chapter provides an overview of the current state of the literature on neurobiological markers associated with DID. Structural abnormalities in DID span subcortical and cortical regions. Functional neuroimaging studies point toward DID-related differences in self-related thinking, implicit emotion processing, working memory, spatial memory, and at rest. Functional connectivity studies implicate altered communication between key neurocognitive networks in the brain. Future research elucidating the prognostic implications of these brain-based biomarkers of DID is warranted. Ultimately, identifying how the brain changes in DID will inform neurobiological and physiological models of stress, illuminate roles that distinct brain regions play during shifts between states of consciousness, and expand our understanding of identity.

present (copied from webpage)

Polyfragmented MPD – Presence of such a wide variety of alter personalities with such frequent switching between alters that it is difficult to discern the outline of MPD and the multiplicity actually disguises itself.

Isomorphic MPD – Several very similar alters take control as a group and try to pass as one. The only overt signs may be a fluctuating level of function, unevenness of memory, or inconsistencies in the patient’s personality. Kluft’s example is “she’s quite bright, but what an airhead!”

Mediumistic MPD – Alters who are experienced by the patient as having a supernatural quality and communicate with the patient in such a manner.

Private MPD – Alters are aware of one another and have consciously adapted to pass as one.

Ostensible Imaginary Companionship MPD – The patient has an adult version of the imaginary companion who is friendly and supportive with the other socially constricted host. What the patient is not aware of is that this entity does assume executive control and that there are other alters present as well. (<- from childhood, we figured it out last year)

Phenocopy MPD – The most important of the covert forms. Occurs when the alter’s interactions with, and influences on the host and each other, create phenomena that are similar in appearance to the manifestations of other mental disorders.

Somatoform MPD – Very common. The pain or discomfort of a traumatic event which was experienced by an alter, is felt physically by the host, who has no memory of the trauma.

Orphan Symptom MPD – Closely related to all of the covert categories. This is the phenomenon of unexplained and spontaneous feelings, sensations, actions, or intrusive traumatic imagery which manifests in the host, is not understood by the host, and which has been triggered by a contemporary stimulus that relates to the childhood trauma.

Switch-Dominated MPD – Most commonly seen in the patient with a large number of alters. The switching process is so rapid and frequent that the patient appears bewildered and forgetful. Patients are often misdiagnosed with an affective disorder, psychosis, and organic mental syndrome, or seizure disorder.

Modular MPD – Very uncommon. This occurs when usually autonomous ego functions split and different personalities are reconfigured from their elements. When an alter is encountered it may have a vague feeling to it, and may never be seen in exactly the same way again. These patients have been seriously abused, and are brilliant and quite creative. Kluft has also found an unusual computer literacy since childhood among these patients. <- (checks out btw)

past presentations

being plural means smiling and laughing at a joke one of your headmates made, or having witty banter with them as you make a meal that you'll both be able to enjoy

being plural means a headmate going "its okay, you don't have to do this, i can do it" and you thanking them because yeah, you cant do that, and thats okay

being plural means thinking about your headmates when buying new clothes, or seeing a shirt or pair of pants for sale and going "they'd love that !!"

being plural means making one of your headmate's simplyplural profile, and spending lots of time perfecting it so that it fits them to a T

being plural means knowing you aren't alone

being plural means knowing that your headmates, your friends, your family, are always there for you

being plural means love.

Now, in my mind, amnesia meant everything sort of went black and you’d come to days later without a clue of what had happened or where you were. And while, that absolutely can be the case for some— it wasn’t for me.

Amnesia for me is much more complex. The gaps of memory I loose are patched together by the things that I do remember. My mind may omit half the day, but because I can remember the other half, it doesn’t feel as if I’ve lost any time truly. My mind worked overtime to hide how much time I was loosing, simply because if I knew, I don’t think the past version of myself would’ve handled it very well. </3

a comic about forgetting