#note: the current fronters did not write this post | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

multiplicity-positivity · 9 months

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All About Headspaces!

We thought it would be a good idea to write a post on headspaces (or inner worlds) as we understand them. This post will contain information that we’ve learned along with our personal experiences. No two headspaces work the same way, and no two systems will experience headspaces in a similar fashion, so don’t be alarmed if your system’s headspace functions differently from what we describe in this post!

What is a headspace?

A headspace (or inner world) is an imagined, fantasized place that exists within a person’s mind. Headspaces are not exclusive to systems - all sorts of people can build or create their own headspaces. Many created systems or paromancers may call their headspaces “wonderlands,” but they’re in essence the same thing. Any system member can start the process of visualizing a headspace, and as other members are included and collaborate together, their headspace can grow to involve the whole system and become a place of solace and rest.

The creation of mental “safe spaces” is often used in therapy for treatment of anxiety, PTSD, and other mental illnesses. When feeling overwhelmed, it can be immensely beneficial to have a gentle, peaceful place in your mind you can return to in order to calm down and relax. Headspaces are a skill taught in dialectical behavior therapy, and many therapists may incorporate building headspaces into their patients’ treatment plans.

Who can have a headspace?

Nearly everyone is capable of building and maintaining their own headspace! The one example we can think of for individuals who may struggle to create a headspace are folks with aphantasia. Since headspaces are visualization tools, those who are incapable of visualizing places within their mind might find themselves unable to create a headspace.

You don’t have to have DID in order to create a headspace, you don’t have to be a system, you don’t have to be traumatized or even struggle with mental illness! Headspaces are for everyone, regardless of ability or state of being.

Are headspaces the same as paracosms?

In our experience, if headspaces and paracosms are not the same, they are incredibly similar. Both are imagined worlds that exist within the minds of the people who create them. Our paracosm exists as a part of our headspace, and many other folks may find their paracosms are similarly connected to their headspaces!

Are headspaces physical places?

No, headspaces are imagined or fantasized places and only exist within the minds of those who create them. While experiences within the headspace may seem quite vivid or feel visceral and may even have physical consequences and effects on each individual, events that take place inside the headspace are not happening in a physical sense.

Some systems with particular spiritual beliefs may understand their headspaces as physical places which exist in alternate dimensions or somewhere else in the universe. While these individuals are deserving of having their experiences heard and taken seriously, most headspaces in fact do not function in this way.

How can I make my own headspace?

To start, try to find a calm, quiet environment where you can be by yourself for a while. Close your eyes, and try to imagine the first piece of your headspace. This can be an area like a beach or a meadow, or something simpler like a plant or a piece of furniture. As you imagine this space or item, ask yourself questions like:

- What does this place or object look like?

- What does it feel like? If I imagine myself touching the object, or the things in the place around me, what textures might I encounter?

- What does it smell like? What does it sound like? How does it make me feel?

Envision using all 5 of your senses to imagine this place or object. Once you have a pretty good idea of what it looks, feels, smells, and sounds like, spend a little time just sitting in your space or with your object. Then, take a break from visualizing. Later, come back to it and try to imagine everything exactly as you did before. By leaving and coming back to it regularly, you can help ensure your headspace can somewhat exist even when you’re not actively thinking about it!

If you need help finding inspiration for your headspace, you can turn to image sites like Pixabay, Unsplash, or Pinterest to help you discover what helps you feel calm and safe. If you have access to other members of your system, perhaps consult with them to see what they’d like to have in a headspace and what you could create that would help them feel safe and comfortable.

Once you are able to comfortably and reliably access the place or item you’ve created, feel free to repeat the process to add to your headspace! Our system created our headspace in this way, and by this point it is a vast world full of different areas for our alters to exist in when they’re not fronting. But it started with one room - a living room with quilts tossed over couches, rugs all over the floor, and big, bright windows with sunflower curtains. Gradually we added rooms, then an outside, turning it into a treehouse, and just kept expanding from there!

Wrapping up

We know this post doesn’t go into much detail, but we hope this is useful to folks as a bit of an introduction to headspaces, what they are, and how to go about making one! We’re including some links below to posts and articles about headspaces and inner worlds - hopefully they can help even more! Best of luck to y’all with your endeavors to create a headspace that fills you and your system with peace and comfort!

^ this link uses “tulpamancy” language - our system has switched to “paromancy” language, which is less racist and less culturally appropriative! the guides on tulpa websites are still quite useful, but we wanted to include a disclaimer on the terminology.

(Image ID:) A pale orange userbox with a cluster of multicolored flowers for the userbox image. The border and text are both dark orange, and the text reads “all plurals can interact with this post!” (End ID.)

#headspace #headspaces #inner world #innerworld #safe space #inner safe space #wonderland #long post #note: the current fronters did not write this post #but we are more than happy to answer questions about headspaces to the best of our ability

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spitxlfields · 2 years

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Writing a Character with DID -- Part 1

I would like to eventually make a big master list, but that takes more organization and thought then I am currently capable of, so I’m going to post these little snippets and then eventually put them into one big post/document.

*Disclaimer -- I am not a doctor, not do I even play one on TV, however I have been officially professionally diagnosed with DID and am undergoing therapy for it. I have done a lot of research on the subject, and am also the expert on my own experience, but there may be times when I get things wrong or word things in a way that unintentionally lead them to be misconstrued.

You cannot tell when someone has DID.

Overt DID is pretty rare. Huge oscillations in accent, affect, clothing choices, etc. in quick succession are the exception and not the rule. This isn’t Clark Kent going into a phone booth and coming out as Superman. Most cases of DID present themselves as covert. However, even in overt cases, most people’s first thought will not be “Oh, this person has DID.”, it will be “Oh, this person is really weird.” You are much more likely to be branded by the average Joe in the street as a rogue theater kid than someone with a dissociative disorder. On that note, when it comes to people noticing changes, most people really don’t care to pay enough attention, and when they do think something is up, the human mind is amazing at brushing it off as literally anything else. There are tons and tons are just weird and wacky people in the world who don’t have DID, who change their looks and likes with every passing fancy because that’s what happens to make them happy. Do you want to know how many times even well before I got diagnosed that I have been called ‘eccentric’? I can’t count that high. Unless you are a trained professional observing a client over an extended period of time you as a lay person cannot tell who has DID.

Specifically looking at the majority of cases that present as covert, you are not going to be able to tell when someone switches. This is not the dramatic eye rolling and head nodding you see on TV. It’s more like several moments of dissociation (hence the name of the disorder), maybe a few blinks of confusion, and then back to whatever they were doing. I think most people have had the experience of walking into a room and completely forgetting what they came in there for. It’s similar to that, but with mild to intense episodes of dissociation and happens a lot more often.

DID is a disorder that specifically tries to hide itself from the host/main fronter. Most people who have DID don’t know they have it, and don’t find out they have it until being professionally diagnosed. That’s not to say that you can’t have an inkling that you have DID and then find out you are correct, but most of the time it’s not until psychiatric intervention (and usually after being incorrectly diagnosed with everything else under the sun). Because DID forms in early childhood, the missing time, the identity alteration, the feeling of lacking an identity, the dissociation, etc. becomes your normal and you don’t notice it. And again, the human mind is really good at making up excuses for itself. Many times, a person isn’t diagnosed or thinks they might have the disorder until they are finally out of the dangerous and trauma inducing situation that they are in and are in a safe space. Upon being in a safe space, sometimes alters will act up or act out because there former ‘job’ has been uprooted.

Too add to all of this, surmising whether or not someone has DID is really gross and literally none of your business. Not only are you making assumptions about a person’s trauma, it is also literally none of your business. It also feels very much like trying to clock someone as trans -- there is not exclusively trans look, and there are no gross details that can tell you for certain that someone has DID. DID is also a highly stigmatized disorder, and openly claiming that someone has it can be detrimental to them. Also did I mention that it’s none of your business. I love to be nebby as much as the next fellow, but you need to learn to draw a hard line.

In conclusion -- if you are writing someone with DID, someone who just met them, or even someone who has known them or awhile, are not going to be able to tell they have the disorder.

#dissociative identity disorder #writing tips #did #osdd #moon knight #moon knight rp #rp

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omegathetaone · 9 months

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Welcome to the Omega System ｡･:*˚:✧｡

Hey! We're the Omega System (also known as ΩΘ1/Omega or Theta in short), and we are a self diagnosed traumagenic system. The full DNI list will be written below, however note that we are expressly anti-endo/tulpa as they make us very uncomfortable! Below you will find our DNI list, frequent fronters, sign offs, and more! Please, please give it a read before interacting with us! Especially the DNI list, if nothing else!

This post is subject to updates at any time, so make sure to check here to keep yourself up to date! (Long Post under the cut <3)

The Basics & BYF

We use we/us and I/me interchangeably We are autistic, a minor, and bodily a trans man We are a self diagnosed osdd/did system but we can't tell which kind of system we are even after extensive research (we are leaning towards OSDD-1b)

We are a fictive heavy system We are a masc-identity heavy system The majority of our system is queer

We collectively go by Omega or Theta online. Outside of that we use the body's name (we will not be sharing it here) We collectively use He/It pronouns, so if you don't know who's fronting or are referring to us in general just use those pronouns

We block very liberally

We will delete posts as we so choose. One day you might see it, the next it could be gone. Sorry if this causes any confusion!

We struggle with self-acceptance at times to please be patient with us. We're doing our best to get out of that mindset but it's not an easy process

Don't be afraid to let us know if someone is problematic! If we reblog from someone unknowingly then letting us know would be greatly appreciated so we can block them and correct our mistake!

Boundaries

We prefer to interact with people who are at least 16, so if you are younger than that you will be on thin ice with us unless if we're mutuals.

General rule, please don't refer to us as "plural" or to our headmates as "parts". We don't feel comfortable with these terms.

We are open to most questions about being a system, how our system works, or anything else that might be on your mind! We love answering questions (though don't expect this from other systems online- they don't have to share anything if they don't want to).

Our DMs are open unless stated otherwise. If another system needs someone to talk to or is looking for a system friend, then you can come to us! Keep in mind though- we will stop communication and/or block you if we feel super uncomfortable!

We aren't a roleplay account. Please don't try to roleplay with us unless if it's a fandom thing we agreed to and not "oh you have a fictive of x character!", because it makes us uncomfortable.

Interests

Some Media/Shows/Movies that we really enjoy!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (+ TBB)

Heartstopper

Transformers

Demon Slayer, Naruto, + many more

Detroit: Become Human

Resident Evil (Video Games, not movies)

Subnautica

Destiny (Video Games, both 1 and 2)

Arcane (The Show)

Hades

Red Vs. Blue

Some more obscure ones are...

Orwell: Keeping an Eye on You

In Sound Mind (Video Game)

Firewatch

Some of my other interests include...

The Horror Genre

Cryptids, SCPs, Analogue Horror, and other things of that nature

Music + Composition

Sound Design

Art

Chemistry

History

Geography

Marine Biology

Marching Band (Marching music my beloved)

Learning new instruments (I'm up to 5 now I think)

Writing (I blame fandoms for this)

Of course some of these can vary depending on who's fronting but they are generally pretty consistent? For the most part anyway.

Favorite current songs...

Mayday mayday! by Biometrix

Downfall by NEONI

Outlaw by NEONI

Wonderland by NEONI

Big Guns by NEONI (can you tell we like Neoni?)

E.T. cover by Rain Paris

Beautiful is Boring by BONES UK

THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND by BAD OMENS

Underground by Unlike Pluto and 8 Graves

There's more, but the list would be going on forever lol

DNI

You are free to interact if you aren't anywhere on the list below (and if you don't break any boundaries of ours). That being said, DNI if you are...

endo/tulpa or a supporter

transphobe/homophobe/bigot

fakeclaimer

anti-mogai

anti-alterhuman

anti-neo/xenopronouns and genders

transid/transage/transrace

gendercritical

anti-informed self dx

zoophile/MAP/pedophile/proship etc.

anti-semetic

white supremasists/nazis

syscourse

racists of any kind

pro-life/anti-abortion

Anti-Paraphilia recovery

terf/swerf/radqueer/radfem, etc.

Other things to note here:

If you participate in cringe culture, or harass/call other people 'cringe' for doing what they like, I don't want to see you on my blog.

I will block blank blogs because of tumblr bots, so if you don't want that to be you then please make your blog look HUMAN and not a part of that mess.

I do not want to interact with HP fans/stans. Based on the rest of my DNI, the reason should be obvious. If not, just leave, y'all make me uncomfortable.

If you think that all systems have to sign off on every message and/or constantly let you know who's fronting, realize that just...isn't true. We like signing off a lot of posts because that's how we roll, but that doesn't mean other systems have to give you that window into themselves. Hell- we don't have to either if we aren't feeling it.

Once again, don't bring syscourse here. It makes us very, very uncomfortable.

Frequent Fronters

Max (He/It) - Host

Desmond (He/Him) - Co-host

Charlie (He/Him) - Sexual Protector (Kind of? He's our resident romance king)

The Omega System Member Sign-Off Legend

This isn't everyone, but it's the main ones who like speaking on tumblr and social media in general (for the most part)

✧ 🌌 - System tag

✧ 💤 - Max

✧ 💼 - Desmond

✧ 💌 - Charlie

✧ 💕 - Charlie (aka Char)

✧ 📜 - Alexandre (Aka Alex)

✧ 🩸 - Aurelius (aka AZ)

✧ 🎧 - Axel

✧ 🪀 - Chris

✧ 🔪 - Felix

✧ 🌗 - Domino

✧ 🐻 - Harley

✧ 🔥 - Kyo

✧ 🌠 - Sam

✧ 👑 - King

✧ 💣 - Fuse

✧ 🦋 - Kode (Pronounced Cody)

✧ 🐕 - Nick

✧ 🌹 - Nines

✧ 🐏 - Sebastian (aka Seb or Sebs)

✧ 🕷 - Weaver

✧ 🕸 - Xeno

✧ ✈ - Aileron

✧ 🖤 - Vox

✧ 🌧 - Apollo

✧ 💿 - Taz

✧ 🌙 - Soren

✧ 👻 - Talon

✧ 🧊 - Melvin (aka Mel)

✧ 🕊 - Marcel

✧ 🎵 - Liam

✧ 🎮 - Mustard

✧ 🌳 - Aspen

✧ 🌑 - Anakin

Userboxes

(from @/sysboxes)

(from @/sysboxes

(from @/sysboxes)

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sysboxes · 2 years

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Welcome to @sysboxes! 🥐

We make userboxes for systems who do not want to be affiliated with pro-endo accounts! We'll be making a variety of different boxes in different colors and styles. Requests are also available. Thanks for stopping by!

FAQ & More

This (linked) post contains our current FAQ. Take a look before asking a question! Estimated number of requests left to do: 137 (last updated 04/25/24).

Blog Rules

Anything requested must be SFW (as in not detailedly-explicit).

We do more than just system-related boxes! We also make boxes for your interests, boundaries, etc.

If you see a non-traumagenic or a supporter using our boxes, please let us know!

We do not condone harassment/sending hate, to anyone.

We queue posts, and our queue is usually quite long.

Rude people get their userbox privileges revoked.

We don’t owe you anything <3. We love y’all and we love this blog and that people have been helped by it, but this being a big blog does not mean it’s a community/public one. We are a group of friends who enjoy making userboxes. Please check your parasociality before sending in an ask about what you think we’re obligated to do.

DNI at bottom of post

[Text: Our askbox is currently closed!]

Get to Know the Mods!

The Wonder System

We’re the Wonder System! We have 21+ alters, and our collective pronouns are they/them. We wanted to help make sysboxes you don’t usually see.

our main is @friends-call-me-snow-miser (if we reply to comments) and our system blog is @fromthewondersystem

mod wonder ❄️

The Plush Collection

hi!! :3 we are the plush collection! we use the name plush and the pronouns they/them for all ~14 of us, collectively. we’re here to make some silly sysboxes and help support our community!!

our system blog is @theplushcollection!

mod plush 🌻

Morpho

Hey I’m Morpho and I use he/him. I’m here because I like making boxes and want to do something to help uplift the community! (also bc my friends are here :3 )

mod morpho 🦋 (aka Mod [REDACTED] 😔 if tumblr is acting up)

Avon

I'm Avon! Nice to meet you. We use they/them collectively. I'm here because I really love userboxes and my friends, and this blog has both!

My main blog is @avonsdrabbles

mod avon 📖

The Weeping System

Hi! We’re Mod Weeping, a programmed DID system. You can use they/them and Weeping when referring to us! We love userboxes and wanted to help make some!

Our main is @delightfulweepingwillows

mod weeping ❤️

The Royal Jesters

Hello! We are the Royal Jesters. We are a polyfragmented DID system and our collective pronouns are he/it. We are here cause we love the community and enjoy making userboxes.

our main is @mold-family

mod jester 🖍️

The Bugz

Hi! We are The Bugz and we are the primary fronters of a polyfragmented DID system! Collectively we use they/he pronouns. We're all HTML and CSS coders, so we LOOVE making system boxes! We hope to post many userboxes here!

mod bugz 🐛

The Luxray Pride

Howdy!! were the Luxray pride, our system has several names thought, collectively using he/they/it! we're mixed Romani and Mexican, with some irish, but are cultural connected to us being mexican, we used to be known as mod 404!

Our most active system-based blog is @luxraysyscourse

Mod luxray 🐈‍⬛️⚡️

The forgotten Collective

Hello! we are the forgotten collective (or the music note system) we are a polyfrag system and collectively use they/it/fae! We write image descriptions for the blog!

Mod starry 🌌

DNI

endos/non-traumagenics + supporters ☕ map/nomap/pears ☕ terfs/radfems ☕️ racists and antisemites ☕️ other basic dni criteria

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riptidecoric · 3 years

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4 - About Us

WOOO WE GOT TO THE FUN PART Y'ALL!!

Table of contents

Disorders

Abt the body + singletsona

Interests

Alter list

4.1 - Disorders

Ooh ah 'you shouldn't list your disorders online' BOO HOO this is our place to unmask and talk about them so you get this sexy list.

DID

Autism

ADHD combined type

Schizophrenia

NPD

Restless legs syndrome

Insomnia (prof dx)

Some depressive disorder

Social Anxiety disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder

Some physical thing we are in constant pain and always tired we really need to talk to a doctor but we just moved

4.2 - Body + Singletsona

14 y/o, we turn 15 on oct. 17th

White

Neurodivergent

Transmasc genderqueer and queer

he/they or he/ae/hy pronouns

Rye or Riptide collective name

We live in Oregon

4.3 - Interests

Some of our interests are below!! Bold is for spins, italics is for hyperfixations and permafixations (p will be put next to permafixes), both is for if it's both, and if neither it's just a normal interest.

Genshin Impact

Psychology

Cookie run (ovenbreak)

HTML

Algebra

Childe from Genshin Impact (p)

MOGAI stuff

Writing

Character analysis (I especially like digging into character's pasts and connecting it to their current behaviors and thought patterns)

4.4 - Alter list

Here's a list of everyone we have logged in Simply Plural, with pronouns a few notes. As we make more intros, we'll add links here!! For now these are links to Instagram posts.

Key : Frequent fronter : # | DNI : ** | Friends only : = | cautiously interact : ? | may need help : !!

Aether - he/hy/ae (#)

Aizawa (!!)

Amber - she/her (!!)

Bakugo / Kats - he/they

Berry - she/they (? !!)

Childe - he/him (#)

Deku (!!)

Diluc - he/him (?)

Dream - he/him

Echo (!!)

Ekkoe (!!)

Elijah - he/him

Ganyu - she/they (!!)

George - he/him

Ghost - he/they/it

Hu Tao - she/they (#)

Jean (!!)

Jiro / KJ - they/he

Kaeya - he/him (? : anti noun neos)

Keith (!!)

Kirishima (!!)

Klee - she/her (=)

Lance (!!)

Luna - she/her (**)

Lyric - he/she

Maya - they/she/he

Nico - he/hy/vie

Paimon - they/she/paimon

Parker - she/it (=)

Percy (!!)

Philza - he/him

Pidge (!!)

Hizashi / Present Mic (!!)

Qiqi (!!)

Ranboo - he/she/vae (#)

Rowan - pronouny

Sandy - she/her

Sapnap - py/pyro/pyr & he/him

Saturn - xey/xem, they/them aux (?)

Shiro (!!)

Techno - he/him

Thoma - he/him (!! : very bad amnesia)

Tommy - he/pog

Venti - pronouny (#)

Wilbur - he/him

Zhongli - he/him (!! if alone)

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space-jaam · 6 years

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Tag 20 Followers You Want To Get To Know Better!

@mrs-han Thank you for tagging me!! I hope this is interesting and not too off-putting \ (•◡•) /

I have DID (dissociative identity disorder) so I’m answering a couple for me (main fronter) and Lydia (other main fronter - she mostly just does the fun stuff!)

Nicknames: Just Eli // (( Lydia uses Noa Hara for Japanese otomes, & Chorong Myeong for Korean otomes though ))

Gender: Male (trans) // Female

Star Sign: Aquarius ♒

Height: 5′5

Hogwarts House: Slytherin (but not in the bad way!!)

Favorite Color: Royal blue // Pastel pink

Current Time: 6:25 pm

Average Number of Hours Slept: 7-11 (I have no sleep schedule lol RIP 😴 )

Lucky Number: 7 & 27

Last Thing I Googled: “why does sage smell like weed” lmao

Favorite Fictional Character: Kuzco (Emperor’s New Groove) // Jumin Han 💓 & Saeran Choi 💕😍

Number of Blankets I Sleep With: 6 😅 (3 on me, 1 to each side, & 1 to cuddle)

Favorite Bands / Artists: Romeo Santos, Hozier, Miguel, & -MASA Works DESIGN-

Dream Trip: Disney World (Florida), Akihabara, Japan (I looove window-shopping), & every decent-sized cave (sitting still inside a cave is the most peaceful, transcendent experience tbh)

Dream Job: Home organizer - nothing else is as satisfying to me!!

What I’m Wearing Right Now: An oversized light blue tee & black PJ pants

When I Made This Blog: So, so long ago - I first joined in 2010, but wasn’t really active til a ways into 2011

How Many Blogs I follow: 1,015 (most only post a couple times a week or less)

Posts: I do a lot of liking, but not so much posting/reblogging 😅

What I Post About: I love writing for Jumin, so my posts revolve around him~

When My Blog Reached It’s Peak: My single post to get any real number of notes is my Love Nikki / Doki Doki Literature Club crossover edit, if that counts lmao

Do I Get Asks Everyday: Almost never, but I don’t post much so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

How / Why I Chose My Username: Griffin McElroy made the lovable abomination in my icon named (Space) Jaa’m in the Spore episode of Monster Factory and I, too, am an awful gremlin lmao

Thanks for the tag!! No obligation to participate, but I’m tagging:

@thepolyphonicsystem, @galumphing, @randomistheonlyconstant, @sensible-psychopath, @ecxcabre, @hoesbeforebross, @spoons-and-blow-torches, @munchflower, @merverelli, @decassowary, @unidentifiedflyinggender, @watercolourstorm, @minimusambus, @shocktastic, @ericdragonslayer, @itsmeappo, @furansu-pan, @kwehkwehmotherfucker, @philosophyofshh, @kelseyjannings

#my stuff #text #meme #tagged #abt me #askmeme #tagmeme

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real-did · 7 years

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Hello! Hope I'm not being a bother, but I'm writing a story, and one the characters has D.I.D and I want to portray it correctly. At the moment my biggest problem is the actual switching between the host and his alters. So, could you give me some info and personal experience with that? Like, how often it happens and what it's like for the system when it happens? Thank you in advance and hope you have a good day!

You’re no bother at all!

Please check out my writing tag (here) for some cool information, as well as my info tag (here) for general information about dissociative disorders. Examples under the cut for length.

How you write switching really depends on the format of your writing. If you were representing it super accurately (which isn’t necessarily artistically clean and clear), I’d do it something like this.

Marshall opens the jar in front of him, finding it harder and harder to focus. He blinks rapidly, the room seeming to spin for a moment. Spike finds himself holding an opened jar, confused but very much present.

That’s one way to do it, with shifting third person limited to the current fronter. Your readers are smart and will figure things out.

Marshall crosses his arms, furious. “Don’t you dare.”

Beck smiles, her hand posed over the button. “What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean!” Marshall pushes for control, Beck staying solidly in control of the body. “Leave that alone!”

In a final push, he finds himself in control of the body, but his hand is resting solidly on the button.

“Oops.” Beck giggles, her voice echoing through his panicked head.

Idk man. Interactions between alters can very much be voices-in-head style. If you want to use a dissociative cue or something to signal to readers that the fronter has changed, you can definitely use something like “blinking fast” or a visual cue (I tend to part/style my hair differently, even through rapid shifts). Alters can have different physical habits, like tugging at hair, chewing their lips, tapping fingers, etc. Write these down and stick with them.

You could also do shifting first person, and just start each chapter with a different alter.

Chapter One- Ami

Chapter Two- Marshall

Or something like that, and just not explain how the alter shift happens.

If the character with DID is not the main character, it might be more like this.

I turn to Marshall. “Hey man, can you help me draw this map?”

Marshall shakes his head, eyes downcast.

I hesitate. “Oh, sorry. Uh, Ami? Right?”

“Yeah.” Marshall mutters, his voice pitched up slightly. “I can’t draw, sorry, remind me later.”

It’s really up to you, in this example encounter, if you want to change the pronouns of Marshall and his alters. Unless the character has the same pronouns for every alter. I wouldn’t find offense either way- it would depend on how well the MC knew the character with DID and whether the alters found it easier to all go by the DID hosts name/pronouns. The MC won’t notice every switch. It’s up to you, as the author, to put in subtle (re: SUBTLE) hints the reader can pick up on once they know the character with DID well enough.

As far as personal experience, it depends. I have a couple child/trauma alters, and a couple assistance/adult/older alters. I don’t have much ability to communicate with them or access a headspace.

Child/trauma alters are usually triggered out, but not always. They’ll either front completely, getting panicked or being tricky for like, a half hour. Depending on how completely they’re fronting, they’ll have some ability to act like “me” in front of friends. I’ll kind of be conscious of what’s going on but typically not have clear memories at all of what happened while I was out. They tend to either freak out, get really scared, buy things, or play with stuffed animals. I have limited communication w them.

The helper/older alters weren’t formed from trauma events but from a general system need (one is very good at school and work, one is very good at social stuff, etc). I can’t? always tell which one of us is fronting until afterwards. Right now I can’t be 100% sure who I am, it’s very dissociative. We’re all, mostly, fairly good at functioning as the body. We have separate names but are fine with going by the body’s name. It’s hard to explain. Switches feel very subtle, but people around me notice more. I’ll wake up and style my hair differently, talk to people I haven’t talked to in weeks, start and drop a couple new projects. Okay, that’s not me, I catch on. I’m not sure if that makes sense, and it would definitely be hard to write in fiction. Heh.

Most systems have a “host,” or the alter that’s fronting most of the time. I switch hosting with the other older alters every couple of months, but we all switch more subtly throughout the day. I’ll find, oops, I can’t write rn. I’ll try again when ____ is out. Why did I message this person earlier? Must have been ____. Huh. I have no concept of what I was like/thinking at any point in the past, even earlier today, even a couple hours ago. Trauma/child alters will front a couple times a week. I’ll often find blog posts/liked posts/notes/messages I sent, and I won’t remember when they were written or who wrote them (sometimes it’ll say. sometimes it won’t).

Dissociation is the primary symptom of DID, not alters! DID is caused by childhood trauma only!

Please let me know if you have any more questions. I’m more than happy to help.

#writing #long post #Anonymous

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