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Truths & Myths: Pluralpedia Part 1

Welcome to our "Truths and Myths" series! In this series, we aim to debunk misconceptions and provide accurate information about Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). We will mainly focus on DID as it is the disorder we are most familiar with on both a personal and research basis.

Each post will highlight the accurate and inaccurate parts of each term, from the best of our research ability. Then, at the end, we will explain the full story of what DID actually is and provide our sources. We will be taking requests for terms anyone would like us to review. Otherwise, we will use random terms we find.

This first post is an exception to the random terms as we wanted to go over the formation of a DID system.

 To develop Dissociative Identity Disorder, a child must experience overwhelming, severe, and repetitive trauma during their childhood. Having a dissociative disorder such as DID, PDID (ICD-11), or OSDD (DSMV) is the only way to have forms of dissociative identities.

As previously mentioned, DID can only be formed from trauma.

However, it has been suggested that individuals with a natural ability to dissociate or use dissociation as their primary response to trauma are more likely to develop DID. This innate ability allows them to reach a high level of dissociation and form dissociative identities. It is important to note that there is currently no confirmed link between this ability and the development of DID, but it is a proposed logical theory that would need more research.

Furthermore, certain biological factors can make an individual more susceptible to trauma, such as being born biologically female or being neurodivergent. For example, biological females are statistically more likely to experience s*xual abuse, which may have been the trauma they experienced as a child that led to the formation of their system.

Additionally, it is crucial to clarify that Dissociative Identity Disorder cannot be present at birth, and therefore, one can not be born with a system.

The theory of how personality is structured suggests that the personality comprises "modes" that contain cognitive, affective, behavioural, and physiological representations. These modes also represent a plan for encoding experiences and responding to internal and environmental demands.

For example, a person may have a "mother mode" activated when caring for a child, and this mode would have planned what care a child needs. However, the person will also have other modes, such as one associated with demands about their work or demands for defence in verbal ways. In a regular adult, all modes are connected to each other and are under a "conscious control system," which allows for an integrated self-state. This is why it may feel you have fluctuations in your personality or feel differently around your family than your friends. They are different modes, but importantly, they are all integrated together, unlike in an individual with DID.

DID occurs when this coupling process of modes is disrupted by dissociation caused by trauma. This results in smaller, more isolated pockets of modes, leading to multiple conscious control systems that represent different and discontinuous modes. Each of these systems has its own aspect of self, reflected by the modes within it.

One's I specifically used to write my explanation:

Though I suppose technically, in the way the theory is currently proposed, people who have DID never had a "singlet" phase. Otherwise, they would not have been able to form a system or develop DID.

Revisiting the etiological aspects of dissociative identity disorder: a biopsychosocial perspective. (Section under Dissociative Identities)

McLean Hospital. (Section under What is Dissociative Identity Disorder?)

Other external sources that also validate my claims but were not used specifically in the writing:

Cleveland Clinic. (Section under What causes Dissociative Identity Disorder)

The coupling process can be disturbed when a child tries to displace their thoughts, feelings, and emotions onto a “not me” in order to escape what they are experiencing and carry on with life and allows the child to remain for example creative or have a sense of humour even in very difficult circumstances. This leads to disconnected feelings and disorganised attachments to primary caregivers, which means the integration of modes is impossible.

NHS (Section under Causes of Dissociative disorder. It is important to note that this covers all dissociative disorders, not specifically DID)

Better Health Channel. (Section under Causes of Dissociative Disorders. It is important to note that this covers all dissociative disorders, not specifically DID)

Thank you for reading our first part to this series. Feel free to send us an echo to our page or leave in the comments any questions or suggestions for future parts to this series.

Made from the collaborative efforts of the system who run this blog.

Black Holes: A metaphorical view of Trauma in Dissociative Identity Disorder. Part 1

Written by Olive. This is a personal and educational post.

This post covers in more detail why new dissociative identities may be formed in adulthood and define integration in terms of the end-goal treatments for DID.

When trying to understand the complexities of life, metaphors are very powerful tools to visulise our experiences. We find many aspects of Black Holes can be an analogy for the way trauma interacts in the lives of individuals with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). In this post, we will explore the anatomy of black holes and explain how we relate each aspect to our lives, whilst providing an educational light on the disorder’s realities. 

Singularity.

At the centre of every Black hole is a point known as the singularity. This point is considered to be where all the mass of the black hole is centred under infinite density. When something passes the event horizon of the black hole, it will travel inwards towards the singularity.

At the heart of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) lies chronic, severe childhood trauma. We envision this trauma as a singularity, events from which all experiences are affected and the initial formation of alters. Even alters formed later may stem from this foundational trauma. The trauma is deeply stored within us like an infinitely concentrated source of pain. It disrupted our childhood integration, leading to remaining fragmented, and continues to hinder integration efforts today. 

The Event Horizon.

Past the event horizon, considered the boundary that defines the black hole, the escape velocity required to overcome the gravitational force of the black hole is greater than the speed of light. This means nothing can escape from a black hole, not even light. 

Trauma is not always visible, it can be mental, emotional, or even physical and does not leave a lasting effect on the body. This can be reflected by the fact that light cannot escape from a black hole therefore it cannot be seen and is only observed from objects around it. Victims may not be believed if they do not have “physical evidence” on their body but evidence of trauma can be seen from the history of the environment around them. 

The event horizon of a black hole can be likened to the window of tolerance for individuals with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Once something breaches this threshold, causing overwhelming stress or trauma, it can lead to fragmentation in the brain. It's crucial to understand that the nature of these experiences can vary greatly. They can be as seemingly insignificant as a photon of light or as impactful as an entire planet. Similarly, some black holes may exist near planets without consuming them, reflecting how different individuals respond differently to potential trauma.

This metaphor illustrates how anything can be traumatic for a system, potentially causing a split later in life. The severity of the trauma does not need to match that of the initial childhood trauma for it to cause further disturbances in integration. Everyone has a unique window of tolerance, which is why not everyone with severe childhood trauma develops DID, but all individuals with DID have experienced chronic severe childhood trauma. 

This can result in systems having dissociative identities that are very specific, such as being the only one to handle money, or whose whole role is to complete a mundane task of life, such as being the one to take a shower or hoovering because this may for some reason overwhelm an individual, such as the fact it is repetitive or it could be overstimulating. Even the thought of being in a situation that could reactivate traumatic memories can cause the brain to split, such as dreading a visit to a family member, this shows examples of fragmentation being a defensive mechanism because the individual will now be able to handle the situation and did not need to be retraumatised for the brain to become aware that the current system is overwhelmed by this task. This conceptual framework is supported by the work of Van der Hart, Nijenhuis, and Steele (2006) in “The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization”, where they discuss patients developing new dissociative identities in adulthood and the theory that later in life structural dissociation becomes a mental defense tool, despite beginning from traumatisation. 

Hawking Radiation.

As is also presented in the work of Hawking (2018) in “Brief Answers to the Big Questions”, in quantum theory, space is filled with matter and antimatter pairs, such as a proton and an antiproton, that spontaneously appear, collide, and then annihilate each other. If this spontaneous appearance occurs near the event horizon of a black hole, the matter particle can either fall in or escape and appear to be radiated by the black hole. Theoretically, the anti-particle is traveling backward in time so if the anti-particle falls into the black hole this can also be a way it loses mass. As the anti-particle travels it will eventually in time reach where it first appeared and then travel forward in time because the gravitational field scatters it. This process is known as Hawking radiation, and it explains how black holes dissipate over time and why the very first black holes formed in the universe are no longer present. 

The process of Hawking radiation can be likened to the slow yet significant role of processing trauma. To be effective, it must proceed at a pace an individual can handle, and it may never feel certain when a breakthrough in trauma recovery will occur. However, it brings hope that healing from the trauma that caused DID and its symptoms is possible. Through therapy, dissociative parts can become more integrated, meaning they will have a greater connection of memories without amnesic barriers and better communication. This can lead to either functional multiplicity, where all integrated parts work together while maintaining multiple dissociative identities, or final fusion, where all dissociative identities fuse into a single, unified personality. A clear distinction between fusing dissociative identities and integrating them is further supported in the work of Llyod (2023) in “Integration and Fusion in DID/OSDD: Part Two”, which verifies my use of the word ‘integration’.

Written by Olive. This is a personal and educational post.

Bibliography

Van der Hart O, Steele K, Nijenhuis E. The Haunted Self : Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization. W.W. Norton; 2006.

Lloyd M, The CTAD Clinic. Integration and Fusion in DID/OSDD: Part Two. YouTube. Published December 17, 2023.

Hawking S. Brief Answers to the Big Questions. Hachette UK; 2018.

Food for Fangs: Unmasking Vampire Parts.

Personal and Educational Post.

Written by Blade.

The way dissociative identities present as individual parts reflects how trauma has affected the brain. Their traits stem from what was needed to protect against trauma or overcome stress. These traits or ways of perceiving the world may be disguised or interpreted by the brain in the presentation of different types of alters. This allows the individual to remain unaware of their trauma, as the brain may create a narrative that feels understandable and logical, reducing the likelihood of questioning these details. It may be the way the individual's brain allows itself to feel things the host personality was not allowed to during abuse. 

However, there are many misconceptions about the way parts present in Dissociative Identity disorder. This series will cover non-human parts. This part 1 post is about Vampires, written by Blade, a vampire alter. This post will also primarily only cover parts when in executive control, as we feel discussing internal worlds is a different section more suited for the post of their own.

"Can vampire alters consume human food?" 

This question often arises due to the misconception that vampire alters truly believe they are vampires trapped in a human body. However, this is not the case. While an alter may present as a vampire, they are still aware of their human biology. If an alter is unable to understand or realise their role within the system fully, it could result from high levels of dissociation, such as derealisation and depersonalisation. It is crucial to address and work through these issues, as allowing a trauma-based reaction to persist outside of the traumatic experience can be harmful. 

Do they eat human food?

Depending on the role an alter has within the system, they may be required to consume food if they take executive control for an extended period. However, there may be trauma associated with food, and this discomfort may manifest through the vampire alter. Some may have the role of holding these feelings to prevent others from experiencing them, as it may cause less distress for them as a vampire who does not have an innate connection to the concept of consuming food. This is what my part did, I was disgusted at the idea of food and I only began to feel normal hunger after some therapy focused on my individual. This was also not questioned by other members of the system because it felt normal that a vampire would not want to eat human food or find it repulsive. 

But aren’t Vampires always hungry?

Although not all vampire alters are hungry all the time, this could be another trait of protection that is allowed through a vampire part. As discussed by Howell EF (2011) in “Understanding and Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder”, a non-human part may form a protective state that is allowed to express an emotion or feeling that the host part is unable to. Expressing hunger or being allowed to feel hungry may be something that the individual was not allowed to do so the brain displaced that feeling onto a part suited for that position of dealing with that pain, or the child/adult experiencing more trauma related that feeling as being like a vampire.

“Vampire Alters crave blood”

This relates to the point I made earlier: vampire alters are not actual vampires from mythology, so they do not crave blood. However, there may be aspects of their role that give the impression they crave blood. This could include being around procedures involving blood, being around mentions of blood, or being tasked with clearing a wound if it occurs. In the mind of a child or an adult experiencing additional trauma, a vampire would be the most suitable alter for this role, as they would naturally be comfortable around blood. However, to a part that is unaware of this trauma, or even to the vampire alter themselves, they may feel them being around as an impression that they crave blood like in myths. A vampire alter may also be assumed to crave blood if they happen to also be a persecutor who causes physical harm that results in blood.

 A person's craving to drink blood, known as Clinical Vampirism, is a rare condition that has been documented through case studies. However, it is often associated with a delusion or as part of mental health conditions such as schizophrenia. But, there was a case study on a man who suffered from vampirism and was later diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). His violent tendencies, stemming from his vampirism, manifested through his other identity, leading outsiders to believe that his dissociative identity was a real vampire as an alter. This perpetuates the misconception that vampire alters are always like their mythical counterparts. However, the introduction of the case report clearly states that there is no established link between vampirism and DID, and they should be treated as separate conditions. This case study serves to show that vampirism is possible in patients with DID even if DID did not cause the vampirism. We have included the case study in our bibliography to provide sources, but we must issue a trigger warning for extreme violence, SH, su*cide, and trauma of all ages. Additionally, the use of the r slur in the introduction should be noted as it may be offensive and we do not agree with the use of the word. We will have linked more reading on the topic including other case studies of people with schizophrenia and one study that talks about the different levels/types of vampirism documented. All the same trigger warnings apply.

Although vampires do not have an inherent desire to drink blood, some may find comfort in consuming red foods. This may serve as a way for their brain to establish safe foods and comfort through this alter without it seeming out of place or may have been the brain thinking the only way the individual would be able to consume these foods was if they were a vampire and hence the trait is given to the vampire alter. In my own recovery, addressing my relationship with food was important. I eventually discovered that my comfort food was tomatoes, and I found it easier to consume foods like Gazpacho, which is in liquid form. This allowed me to find comfort in eating while also embracing my vampire identity because it felt like a natural progression towards something more positive, as it also involved addressing past trauma but brought comfort too in being a non-human part.

This post serves as an important reminder that DID is a trauma disorder so everything about an individual will be shaped by trauma. It is not a fantasy or roleplay in which dissociative identities are made or exist by.

Bibliography

Howell EF. Understanding and Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder. Routledge; 2011.

Sakarya D, Gunes C, Ozturk E, Sar V. ‘Vampirism’ in a Case of Dissociative Identity Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. 2012;81(5):322-323. doi:https://doi.org/10.1159/000335930

O’Brien C, Hallahan B. Delusions of Vampirism in an Adolescent and Treatment with Clozapine: a Case Report. Cureus. Published online October 2, 2023. doi:https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.46352

Halevy A, Levi Y, Shnaker A, Orda R. Auto-vampirism--an Unusual Cause of anaemia. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 1989;82(10):630-631. Accessed July 25, 2024. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1292349/?page=2

Hervey WM, Catalano G, Catalano MC. Vampiristic Behaviors in a Patient with Traumatic Brain Injury Induced Disinhibition. World Journal of Clinical Cases. 2016;4(6):138. doi:https://doi.org/10.12998/wjcc.v4.i6.138

References 3-5 are the extra case studies referenced in the post.

Written by Blade.

This is a personal and educational post.

Truths and Myths: Pluralpedia Part 4, Alter Roles.

This is an educational post.

Written by 🤍. (Temporary emoji placeholder)

And at the same time

A part that is designed to hold trauma, known as an emotional part, may remain stuck at the age when the trauma occurred. This can be part of the process in which the individual part repeatedly relives the trauma or unconsciously reenacts it in their actions when taking executive control, even though the trauma has ended but they are unaware. As a result, they are unable to age past the age of the trauma. Later in therapy, trauma can be processed and this can relieve that part from their need to be fixed in time

Further discussed in Van der Hart, Nijenhuis, and Steele’s book (2006) “The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization”. The authors disscuss a patient whose child emotional part would reenact situations from the trauma in an attempt to prevent it from happening again. Additionally, they discuss that some emotional parts can experience severe nonrealisation therefore that part may literally experience themselves as being the age they are stuck at, in the book this is used in context of child parts.

According to the NHS (2024) website on eating disorders, there are many potential causes for them, including various traumas. An individual experiencing an eating disorder or in recovery may also experience trauma or stress, on a psychological, physical, and social level. As a result, an alter may split due to the eating disorder as parts are fragmented due to trauma. This alter may serve as a protective/caretaker part, ensuring the survival of the body, but it may also be a part that has split off due to denial of the eating disorder. This part may be used by the brain to hide the parts of the individual that are heavily affected by the trauma of the eating disorder.  This can also allow the affected parts to recover at their own pace, as they are aware that the body will be fine. However, this alter may also serve as an unhelpful crutch, causing other parts to believe that they do not need to recover or are not ready to do so. In reality, it is crucial for all parts to recover in order to aid in trauma healing and move towards a more sustainable life. Relying too heavily on one part can result in their exhaustion as they will be using their available resources to focus and take care of the needs of others. If this is their only role, it may result in a lack of self-awareness of their own needs, making it difficult for them to meet them. This point is supported by Van der Hart, Nijenhuis, and Steele's book (2006) "The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization" when discussing caretaker parts in systems. It is important to allow a part to take a break, otherwise they may begin to dread their role or task, leading to unpleasant or even stressful experiences. Therefore, it is necessary for parts to have the capability to share responsibility for tasks, even if only for a short time, to give the main part a chance to rest, another reason why recovery for those parts heavily affected should be encouraged. This idea and self-care is discussed more in W AT’s book “Got Parts: An Insider’s Guide to Managing Life Successfully with Dissociative Identity Disorder”. 

The term "called out" may refer to this alter being triggered when food is present or is brought out when a part is triggered by food, allowing it to take control of the situation. Alternatively, it may refer to the switching technique learnt in therapy, where communication between alters is improved to the point where one alter can reach out and ask another to take control. However, this is a complex skill, as it is considered, to master and there will always be a risk of failure, so it cannot be guaranteed to work every time. Based on this, it can be assumed that the term refers to the act of this alter stepping into either calm or avoid a trigger.

Van der Hart O, Steele K, Nijenhuis E. The Haunted Self : Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization. W.W. Norton; 2006.

NHS. Overview - Eating Disorders. NHS. Published 2021. https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/feelings-symptoms-behaviours/behaviours/eating-disorders/overview/

W AT. Got Parts? : An Insider’s Guide to Managing Life Successfully with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Loving Healing Press; 2005.

Echoes in the Multiverse . Echoes in the Multiverse. Tumblr. Published June 16, 2024. Accessed August 2, 2024. https://www.tumblr.com/echoes-in-the-multiverse/753468998583271424/what-is-switching-technique-in-your-last-post-you?source=share

Bibliography link 4 is to a post we made discussing more about the Switching technique and the resources we used to write that post and expand our own knowledge we gained in therapy.

Is there an app that allows systems to talk to other systems but in a way that all alters can use their own separate account(?) to text other alters? Like Alter 1 from my system can message Alter A from my friends system, without having to specifically identify themselves every time?

Is there an app that allows systems to talk to other systems but in a way that all alters can use their own separate account(?) to text other alters? Like Alter 1 from my system can message Alter A from my friends system, without having to specifically identify themselves every time?

Ahhhhh I know for a fact this wasn't actually meant for me but I didn't want you to think that ur bud just didn't want to, Ghost will prolly do this again when he's back

i found a cool tag game on twitter and i really wanna import it (o^ ^o)

this picrew + the last song you listened to :]

no pressure tags: @blood-loving-leech @overtaken-boredom @lesbianthatyaps @kameonerd566 @hexedvampire @laczki @anonymous-shxtposter @fleurafae @flovqy + anyone who wants to do it <3

Yo, we do that! On discord we have our own plural kit profiles, as well as a "multiple people said this" profile and a "no clue who said this" profile. We used to try to figure out who said what all the time, but it's so much easier and less stressful to not do so.

we've made a discovery about ourselves recently and I just wanted to make a public post about it in case a fellow p-did system could find it useful. or even other systems!

tl;dr is in bold, but context of the whole post is also necessary

The thing with being a Partial DID system, is that there is, most likely, only one frontier and others are only able to take control of the body while the host is still fully conscious. at least that's the case for us. And training ourselves to be like other systems with distinct switching is a Long and Frustrating effort

we think a lot about the "influence on host" part of it all, and I think we came up with an alternative that works for us. 100% we're not the first and won't be the last to come up with this, but of anyone finds this Helpful it's worth talking about it

the long and short of it is: if you as a system struggle with letting others front, but find yourselves doing/saying some things in unison with no clear distinction of who takes "credit" for the action, this might be a good alternative to being fully in front.

we call this blending, speaking in unison, or speaking in legion! what happens to us is that, me and someone who fronts mix together on a conscious level (while still being two distinct alters, we're not blurring or fusing exactly). and just allow ourselves to do something at the exact same time without figuring out Who exactly thought of this first

it's kind of a very uneven mix. we can tell when someone's speaking separately too, so this Somehow doesn't make us doubt ourselves (so far). additionally it puts the weight off others shoulders when it comes to joining external conversations all on their own.

we think this might be a Very Good way of allowing others to take control and have a say in our collective life, and it might help other systems too