trispins

today we’re going to be talking about a simple prospect.

it’s called

“nuance”.

this should not be a hard concept to understand.

every action, every argument, pretty much everything, has little distinctions. has details. even if they’re emotionally charged, they have nuance. this means that

not everything is perfectly black and white. just about nothing is entirely, completely one way or the other.

This is because, especially when it comes to discourse of any kind, there are not JUST two radical extremes, which is many times what both sides want there to be. There is a sliding scale and a spectrum of thoughts, opinions, and points of view. WHETHER YOU LIKE IT, OR NOT.

this means that, yes, when you leave out details and push your personal, two-dimensional opinion that this thing is ALLLLLLL the way down the other side of the road and should be hated and shunned (just so that your own point of view is not at risk of being compromised, mind you)

✨ you are being manipulative!! ✨

and no, people are not radically in the opposite direction nor are they evil just because you disagree with them!! pretending that is true is… let me get my megaphone again…

MANIPULATIVE AND SEVERELY IMMATURE!!!

Let’s think about it this way. I’ll be using an example that will not be or represent any argument but its own, but that will represent a sliding scale of opinions based on it.

Opinions on vanilla ice cream.

I hate it. My favorite.

<—————————>

Notice the two opinions on either side of the far ends of this scale are extreme.

They’re not the only opinions that exist, though. If they did, things would be black and white. It’s either all bad or all good to someone. It can be your favorite flavor in the world, or you can be disgusted by it.

But this isn’t how people think, is it?

No, it’s not.

People have these lovely things, everyone has them, and they’re allowed to have them! They’re called

Opinions.

Any thought-out opinion is going to have some sort of nuance to it. If it doesn’t, especially with emotionally charged subjects, it may need to be explored or thought out more if you want to stay true to how you feel about it.

This means that despising this flavor of ice cream vs. having it as an absolute favorite isn’t the only option.

You can fit anywhere in the middle, or further than the stretches of the ends.

I don’t really like vanilla, but it doesn’t make me sick or anything.

I hate vanilla, and I hate everyone who likes it. They make me sick.

I like vanilla! It’s not my favorite for sure, I like strawberry better, but it’s pretty good!

I don’t really feel any sort of way about it. I don’t like it or dislike it.

I would eat it if it were put in front of me, but wouldn’t choose it on my own.

I don’t like the sourcing of vanilla beans. I like the flavor, but the way that it’s obtained isn’t something I’m okay with.

I’m allergic to vanilla. I don’t know if I like it or not.

I used to love vanilla ice cream, but one time I ate it and got really sick because of it. Not I can’t even look at it anymore.

These are all opinions, valid opinions, on this subject. It’s the same in many cases. So before you discourse, demonize someone, or say things that aren’t true, remember this:

Arguments aren’t black-and-white. You don’t have to be radically on side or the other. A good argument is a nuanced argument, and all points should be considered if you’re wanting to form a good argument.

This has been a post towards both internet discourse in general and syscourse.

You can have Osddid and be happy.

Here is a list of all my Casual Explanations about DID/OSDD. Please note that these are specific to the experiences of DID/OSDD and should not be attributed to anything else.

My casual explanations are a combination of academic research, personal experience, and community feedback. I am not a professional. I’m simply a person with dissociated parts, one of whom enjoys doing research. A lot.

If you would like to repost my work elsewhere, please include a link back to this post so others can see my sources!

DID/OSDD Casually Explained posts:

What Causes DID/OSDD?

How Alters/Parts are Experienced Internally

Parts In Control

Elaboration of Parts

What Is Integration?

Splits in Established Systems

Substitute Beliefs

One Person’s Experience of Having Dissociated Parts

Parts and Memories

Understanding Dissociated Parts:

Part 1: Belief and Appearance

Part 2: All About Introjects

Main Sources:

Books:

The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization by Onno van der Hart

Coping with Trauma-Related Dissociation by Suzette Boon, Kathy Steele, and Onno van der Hart

Treating Trauma-Related Dissociation by Suzette Boon, Kathy Steele, and Onno van der Hart

Treating Adult Survivors of Childhood Emotional Abuse and Neglect: Component-Based Psychotherapy by Hopper, Grossman, Spinazzola, and Zucker

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Internal Self-Alienation by Janina Fisher

Helpful Links:

The Treatment of Structural Dissociation in Chronically Traumatized Patients by Janina Fisher (pdf)

International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (2011): Guidelines for Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder in Adults, Third Revision

Trauma-related Structural Dissociation of the Personality by Ellert Nijenhuis, Onno van der Hart, & Kathy Steele

PODS (Positive Outcomes for Dissociative Survivors)

Adding on once again: there is no word for our experiences that has not been used as a slur and isn't *still* used as a slur.

if someone says something that most of your social circle thinks is !!just awful!! and says it clearly not meaning to put people down and not knowing your social circle, take them aside later. don't make a big mess of it.

Finally sat down and made this, after a lot of deliberation.

This casual explanation addresses the theory of Structural Dissociation in regards to DID/OSDD, and if you’d like to learn more you can read “The Haunted Self” by  Onno van der Hart, Ellert Nijenhuis, and Kathy Steele. Or you can check out this article written by the same authors. Be warned, both are quite clinical and use language you might find confronting if you are a system!

Endos/western tulpas are not oppressed, nor a minority group.

Recently I’ve begun to see things like this surfacing…

AND IT NEEDS TO STOP!!!

An article that was written in 2014 has been resurfacing lately in the plural community, especially among people without DID/OSDD. This is the article in question. In this article, the author is expressing some less than validating feelings about what he calls MPD. He didn’t believe in it. He seems to personally adhere to the unsubstantiated iatrogenic (it’s created by therapists) & sociocognitive (it’s a fad) models. He talks about how he wanted to remove MPD from the DSM-IV, but couldn’t do so.

Why is this such a big deal…?

Well, the guy who wrote this article is Allen J Frances, the man who chaired the DSM-IV taskforce. People have recently started spreading around these scary rumors that because he personally didn’t believe in MPD, he came up with “DID” to replace it.

This is NOT true.

Each edition of the DSM is run by a taskforce of many people. You can learn about how the taskforce for the DSM-IV worked here. Basically, the diagnoses were divided across different work groups who would receive input and data from researchers that specifically researched those disorders. They’d then analyze what might need changes, conduct field trials, and propose their suggestions, etc.

Frances just oversaw this process. He wasn’t a member of any of the work groups who were actually down in there coming up with & suggesting the changes. (Source: The DSM-IV pp.851-873 lists out everyone who contributed & what they did.) He wasn’t a researcher, either. He wasn’t giving any input or data.

He did not “coin” DID. The name change was recommended by researchers.

Look, I’m not a fan of Frances either. He doesn’t believe in the disability that I have. As the chair of the DSM-IV, he was strongly against ‘diagnostic inflation.’ His intention with the DSM-IV was to make sure that diagnostic criteria were as limited as possible so less people could get diagnosed. Because of this, many diagnoses ended up with minimal information and vague, limited criteria.

He’s not on the taskforce anymore and hasn’t been for a long time. If he’s the chair of anything now that would be campaigning against the DSM-5. This guy actively condemns the most recent DSM because it undid a lot of the (frankly, harmful) changes. The DSM-5 lowered the threshold of many diagnoses, undoing the more restricted nature Frances pushed for.

That doesn’t mean that the DSM-5 is perfect; I certainly don’t think so. But it’s a lot better than the old manual, in my opinion.

Back to the whole “He coined DID!!!” thing…

So this whole thing that Allen Frances “coined DID” and “DID is his ableist replacement of MPD” is so fucking ridiculous. Don’t you guys think that if this were true, people would have been talking about it more? The earliest thing I could find mentioning something like this was this blog post from 2019.

I keep seeing threads practically repeating what is in this blog post. They keep bringing up that article I shared at the beginning of the post, but if you read through that article…he never mentions that he changed MPD to DID for some ulterior motive. He never even mentions changing MPD to DID at all. He just talks about his shitty opinions and whines about how he couldn’t delete MPD even if he wanted to. The best he could do to harm the diagnosis was injecting some controversy into the manual (which has been removed in the DSM-5).

Here’s that controversy. (The highlighted bits)

(^ Fuck that ableist shit. Why is everyone focusing on the disorder name and not THIS?)

I just have to wonder… If someone who was literally not a researcher coined DID and did so in order to harm people with it, over 20 years ago, WHY WOULD NO ONE WHO ACTUALLY RESEARCHES AND CARES ABOUT DID/OSDD TALK ABOUT THAT? Because there’s quite a lot of professionals who have talked about the controversy & restrictions he put into the manual! And, unsurprisingly, the name is not something that has come up! Nearly all professional sources I have found that talk about the change from MPD to DID says that it was done in order to make the disorder more understandable.

And do you guys wanna know some of the other disorders that were renamed in the DSM-IV? Literally all of the dissociative disorders (other than DPDR). They were all renamed to have “dissociation” in the name. To make them more understandable. Yeah.

DSM-III:

DSM-IV:

So, to all those people out there shitting on the DID diagnosis because they think that this asshole coined it…why are just shitting on DID when you should be shitting on ALL of the dissociative disorders that got name changes? Seriously, though. Saying that he coined DID is just straight up misinformation. My concern is that all this “DID is ableist” talk is going to end up getting dissociative people attacked or push them away from getting help. Reframe the hate lens!!! You can dislike Frances without spreading misinformation that can end up harming the people with the disability that he does not believe in.

That’s all I have to say on this.

Feel free to link this post to anyone you see spreading this rumor.

if i shouldn’t use my cane because i can sometimes technically walk without it, it would just hurt like a motherfucker then abled people should no longer be allowed to use potholders to take things out of the oven because i mean

i can tell you this 10000% for certain

if one alter has tics, EVERY ALTER HAS TICS

its neurological, it affects the whole brain and body, which includes the entire system!

NOW-

some alters may have tics more severly than others, that’s fine but.

the bottom line is 

Hey anon, you're not bothering me at all! That's great that you're getting a cane, I hope it helps!

This might end up pretty long so sorry in advance

When buying one, make sure you get one that's the right size - I'd definitely recommend an adjustable one rather than a traditional wooden walking stick, especially as an adjustable one should have a more comfortable handle. If you google the right cane size for your height you should be able to find the exact size you need but as a general rule, make sure it lines up with your wrist like in this diagram

You want it to be the right height or it's not going to be comfortable and you'll end up hurting yourself.

Personally I use a swan necked cane as I prefer them (I find them to be more stable) but you might prefer a straight one. Something really important is to look at the handle - you're gonna be holding it for an extended period of time so you wanna make sure it's comfortable. I have canes with foam and gel handles because they're comfy, but just a warning that YOUR HANDS WILL GET SWEATY when it's hot and that sweat is gonna get on the handle so be aware of that. Sweat on a gel handle is not fun lol

Here are some examples of handles! I'd recommend gel and foam bc I get chronic pain in my hands so they're the comfiest for me but lots of people use derby handles (the black bottom right) so don't think they're awful or anything, they're just harder than the others

A folding cane might be a good idea if you're only going to need it sometimes bc you can just shove it in your bag, I have one I take w me sometimes. I think they can feel a little less stable but that might just be me, they're still useful anyway

The bottom of a cane is called a ferrule and you'll need to replace them when they lose their grip, if you're ordering online then the website should have ferrules too, I'd recommend buying a few so you don't have to worry about not having one when you need it

I'd also recommend getting a strap for the handle if the cane doesn't already have one because you WILL end up dropping it otherwise, I drop mine all the damn time

When it comes to actually using one, I use one on my right side w my right hand as my left side is weaker. In general, use your cane on your stronger side! Some people differentiate between what side they use their cane on depending on their pain but this depends entirely on your condition and whatever is most helpful for the day.

To walk with one, practice at home first, it'll probably feel weird at first but you'll quickly get used to it. Put your cane out at the same time as your opposite leg - so I put my cane down w my right hand at the same time I put my left leg out, then my right leg goes out, then repeat

DR HOUSE USES HIS CANE WRONG so don't be like Dr House

You can find videos on youtube for how to walk with a cane, like this one for example! This video is really useful, definitely watch it

When you start using one, people are probably gonna stare. It sucks but most of the time it's not malicious, after a while you don't really notice it. People might also assume you're completely helpless and try to "help" by being an inconvenience (like grabbing your cane, holding the door open when you don't need them to, insisting on grabbing something you're trying to hold, that sort of thing) - don't be afraid to tell them to back off. It's frustrating as hell but hopefully it shouldn't happen too frequently.

You're also probably gonna get people asking what's wrong with you or asking if you've injured your leg or something. Again, don't be afraid to tell them it's none of their business - strangers aren't entitled to your medical history. If anyone gives you shit for it then they're an ableist fuckhead and I'm wishing them a very Die

Your wrist/elbow/arm in general might ache when you first start using it, or your hand might cramp up, so be prepared for that. I use magnesium oil if my arm is aching a lot and I take breaks too, my arm doesn't really ache as much anymore after using my cane for a few years though.

Uuuh that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Oh, decorating your cane is super fun too, stickers and washi tape are GREAT. It's your cane and you can have fun with it, make it as pretty or punk as you want.