I have SO many concerns with those "develop a fragment" or "anti-endo/anti radqueer build a headmate" blogs popping up. like I have no ill will but this can truly hurt someone with a CDD.
The concept of these blogs normally seems to be: someone sends an ask like say, "I have/am a fragment, assign me an identity, name, pronouns, traits, and faceclaim". Often, they will request a specific aesthetic, theme, fandom, character, or general concept to associate them with. The person(s) running the blog responds accordingly.
Often the responses use images of real people as faceclaims. I don't like telling people what to do but honest to god PLEASE don't do that, it's weird, inappropriate, and you probably wouldn't want someone to post a random picture of you to go "hey here's a faceclaim for you".
But for the most part it seems harmless enough. Helping someone find themselves, or something like that, that's the idea I think. I donât think the intention behind blogs like this is malicious. And I don't fault people who just want to help and think this is healing or productive because these online communities not only reinforce and reward identity elaboration, performance, and presentation, especially aesthetically but, it seemingly revolves around it.
However, intention and impact arenât the same thing. Encouraging elaboration in someone with structural dissociation ignores the functional purposes of a CDD, and that it is a survival mechanism meant to compartmentalize trauma. You must not forget this fact.
Even if the blog says âthis is anti willogenic/radqueer/endo, endos fuck off!â the mechanism being encouraged is very similar. It's online suggestions shaping identity formation in people with a dissociative disorder. You can name your demographic, but your blogs are identical without that specification. Call it anti- whatever you want, do what you want, but I can't ignore that fact. I see no distinction. I point this out to emphasize how removed it is from clinical reality.
Don't get me wrong, I have a problem with all of the BAH type blogs. But if you have a CDD, you're probably ignoring the rq/endo oriented ones (ik there are exceptions). The anti endo/rq ones are more dangerous imo. It uses the framework of structural dissociation and invites people with a severe psychological disorder to interact, while a "transplural build-a-headmate" blog doesn't intersect with medicalization and tell people with a disorder "this blog is for you, specifically". Those blogs are dangerous and offensive in their own ways but that's not what I'm focusing on right now.
But, this is where it gets concerning for me. Like, really really concerning.
Early DID treatment guidelines emphasize stabilization before elaboration. Thereâs a reason clinicians donât sit down and go âalrighty letâs flesh out your fragmentâs aesthetic, gender microlabel, and social persona! Any characters or aesthetics in mind?â. Increasing identity complexity too quickly can increase emotional flooding and trauma leakage. Kluft, Howell, ISSTD guidelines, all caution against pushing identity elaboration too fast. This is genuinely dangerous. In worst case scenarios, life threatening.
And when itâs happening in a public, performative space where differentiation is socially rewarded, that risk increases.
Fragments in CDDs are typically narrow-function states. They hold specific affect, memories/memory clusters, or defensive responses. Theyâre not however, blank slates waiting for aesthetic completion. That's the thing. Identity elaboration in dissociation usually develops internally over time and in response to lived experience and/or therapy.
When you start externally "customizing" identity for something thatâs already dissociated, you risk reinforcing separation without stabilizing it. And if you don't understand why this carries such a risk, I don't feel you are in a place to give advice of this nature to pwCDDs. In my humble opinion.
Assigning names, pronouns, gender identities, and personality traits can strengthen differentiation in a way that increases compartmentalization. For someone with high dissociation, that can destabilize communication, increase internal barriers, and intensify identity shifts. I do not feel as though the risks are being assessed. In my opinion, while often well intended, it's highly, highly irresponsible.
Parts are more than welcome to explore identity just like literally anyone on Earth. I don't think I need to establish that, but I want to be clear on that- alters/parts can and do often elaborate naturally. However, when you're here treating fragments like customizable characters and not trauma organized states, you blur the line between stabilization and aesthetic identity. And that can have real psychological consequences. Devastating ones, in worst case scenarios.
Again, not saying someone doing this is inherently bad, malicious, or dangerous. But this conceptually, has the potential to severely harm pwCDDs in particular so I just think that should be highly taken into consideration for anyone running or submitting requests to blogs like this.
