- causing you to harass, threaten or belittle others on the other side
- interfering with any important responsibilities you may have (job, school, etc)
That is your sign to step away from it. It is not a big deal, and is it not “the other side winning,” even if they may talk about it like it is. You are allowed to distance yourself from discourse because consistent involvement in it is never going to end well.
Reminder that alters can only split from trauma. Alters are highly complex dissociative compartmentalizations of traumatic memory that are reliant on PTSD in order to exist on a neuropsychological level. Your brain cannot compartmentalize a trauma memory if there is no trauma memory to compartmentalize.
Alters and the self-states that make up PTSD develop from the same process, just on different levels of complexity. If it were possible to split alters without trauma it would also have to be possible to develop PTSD without trauma, which it obviously isn't.
And importantly, splitting because of stress is not an exception to this.
The development of alters and PTSD is tied to a person's integrative capacity, which is made up of their mental energy and mental efficacy (ability to use that energy effectively).
When both of these are high, the person will easily be able to integrate their experiences even if those experiences are stressful or frightening. When both are low, the person will lose their ability to engage in more high level integrative actions, making them more vulnerable to structural dissociation until their integrative capacity recovers.
Chronic stress lowers a person's integrative capacity and prevents it from regenerating, and as a result people who have experienced complex trauma (which is required for the development of DID) tend to be stuck in a constant state of low mental energy and efficacy.
As such, if you have already been severely traumatized over and over, you are much more vulnerable to being traumatized again, even in response to things that a non-traumatized person would likely be able to cope with. This is what people commonly refer to as the "window of tolerance".
However, when that threshold is crossed, it is still a trauma response even if we wouldn't traditionally call the event that caused it "trauma". Neuropsychologically speaking, the exact same process of developing PTSD for the first time is happening when you split because of stress. Trauma is still trauma to your body and mind even if you're choosing not to label it that way.
Saying that alters can split without trauma because of stress is misinformation, because the entire point of the window of tolerance is that it is easier to become traumatized when in a state of chronic stress.
funfact; the human mind is not supposed to be stressed constantly, that is a falsehood peddled by the 1% to keep the poors working beyond our stress thresholds. You are not supposed to feel scared, anxious, or stretched thin all the time.
Links to studies about different presentations of DID, including different alter types, childhood and adolescent DID, and DID across different cultures.
General DID Presentations
Formation and Functions of Alter Personalities in Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Theoretical and Clinical Elaboration
Lived experiences of men with dissociative identity disorder
The Phenomenology and Treatment of Extremely Complex MPD
Symptom patterns in dissociative identity disorder patients and the general population
Differences Between Men and Women With Multiple Personality Disorder (not open access)
The clinical phenomenology of males with MPD: A report of 21 cases
Analysis of demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with dissociative identity disorder
Possession experiences in dissociative identity disorder: a preliminary study (not open access)
Alter Types
Therapeutic Hazards of Treating Child Alters as Real Children in Dissociative Identity Disorder
Therapeutic Alliance with Abuser Alters in Dissociative Identity Disorder
Internal self helpers of persons with multiple personality disorder
Issues in consultation for treatments with distressed activated abuser/protector self-states in dissociative identity disorder (not open access)
Animal alters: case reports
Introjection and dissociative identity disorder: a case report
Introject and identity: Structural-interpersonal analysis and psychological assessment of multiple personality disorder (not open access)
Opposite-gender identity states in Dissociative Identity Disorder: psychodynamic insights into a subset of same-sex behavior and attractions (not open access)
Childhood & Adolescent DID
Outpatient Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder and Allied forms of Dissociative Disorder not Otherwise Specified in Children and Adolescents
Dissociative Identity Disorder Among Adolescents: Prevalence in a University Psychiatric Outpatient Unit
The Scientific Status of Childhood Dissociative Identity Disorder: A Review of Published Research (not open access but you can find a PDF of it if you look it up on Google Scholar)
Child abuse and dissociative identity disorder/multiple personality disorder: the documentation of childhood maltreatment and the corroboration of symptoms
Held in mind, out of awareness. Perspectives on the continuum of dissociated experience, culminating in dissociative identity disorder in children (not open access)
Dissociative disorders in children: Behavioral profiles and problems (not open access)
Diagnostic evaluation of the child with dissociative identity disorder/multiple personality disorder
Clinical phenomenology of child and adolescent dissociative disorders
Confirmation of childhood abuse in child and adolescent cases of multiple personality disorder and dissociative disorder not otherwise specified
High psychiatric comorbidity in adolescents with dissociative disorders
Long-term outcome and prognosis of dissociative disorder with onset in childhood or adolescence
Treatment for childhood and adolescent dissociation: A systematic review
Adolescent inpatients' history of abuse and dissociative identity disorder (not open access)
DID Across Cultures
Gender and Racial Variability of Dissociative Identity Disorder Symptoms in an International Sample
Prevalence of dissociative identity disorder among psychiatric outpatients in different cultural groups
A Schema Therapy approach to complex dissociative disorder in a cross-cultural setting: a single case study
The Scope of Dissociative Disorders: An International Perspective
Structured interview data on 35 cases of dissociative identity disorder in Turkey (not open access)
Dissociative Identity Disorders in Korea: Two Recent Cases
Trauma and dissociation in a Chinese-American sample
Working with Chinese trauma survivors with dissociation: Lessons from two cases in Macao (not open access)
Current status of multiple personality disorder in India (not open access)
Multiple personality disorder - A case report from Northern India
Multiple personality disorder in the Netherlands: A clinical investigation of 71 patients
Dissociative disorders in black South Africans: A report on five cases
Dissociative disorders in Japan: A pilot study with the dissociative experience scale and a semi-structured interview
Multiple personality disorder in Puerto Rico: analysis of fifteen cases
While I'm chill with the radnormal creator, and VERY specific radnormals, the community does really fucking scare me
I keep coming across people who PROUDLY admit they are ableist towards people with paraphilia's, which ISN'T okay, and shouldn't be something anyone is proud of being ableist towards
Paraphile ≠ By choice
Thoughts ≠ Actions
People with paraphilia's, including the big three, CAN recover, and CAN be good people, someone having a paraphilia does not mean they want those urges/thoughts, and those urges/thoughts do not reflect who they are as a person
And this is honestly why I'm so scared to call us radnormal, because all I'm seeing is people taking advantage of it to harass and just be general assholes. I mean, maybe we'll make our own term, I have 2 names in mind
shoutout to anti-endos that BITE. shoutout to anti-endos that are sick and tired of the ableism from (pro/neu)endos & all other related terms. shoutout to anti-endos that arent afraid to be mean. shoutout to aggressive anti-endos. shoutout to anti-endos that snap at (pro/neu)endos, and shoutout to anti-endos that are very outwards and loud about being anti-endo. you are all so appreciated, as another aggressive anti-endo system. we need more of you guys.
- "There is scientific evidence for endogenics *links a carrd/pluralpedia*"
- "Of course you have (insert any cluster b personality disorder) and are anti endo"
- "Ugh you're such a traumascum/nazi/sysmed"
- "You're so ableist to think that plural spaces can only be for traumagenics! Stop being exclusionary"
- Free Space
- "You can have CDDs without trauma, stop lacking literacy and read the DSM they dont mention trauma at ALL"
- "I'm traumagenic and I don't see how a niche group is harming us even though you already told me"
- "Sometimes the brain just does things!"
- "Autistic people weren't taken seriously either so the words of an evil psych mean nothing!"
- "We are nothing like that hate group, because (repeats everything the hate group in the past have said/done)"
- "Non disordered plurality has existed throughout history and is older than CDDs"
- "Stop using endo terms if you hate us so much. and dont say plural either"
i wouldve put it in an actual bingo image but idont wanna out myself like that lol ik theres way more they have said but this is just stuff i can think of from the top of my head with limited time
IMG ID: A bingo card. From left to right, the squares read: *links a carrd/pluralpedia* / Cluster B ableism / Unironically says “sysmed” / “Stop being exclusionary” / “The dsm doesn’t mention trauma!!” / Guardian System document / False equivalence fallacy / “i’m traumagenic and I don't see how endos are harming us even though you already told me” / Plurality is just a symptom! / “Sometimes the brain just does things!” / avoids cdd language ( instead says “traumagenic” or “disordered”) / “We have nothing to do with a hate group! we just *explanation of the exact same thing*” / misuses the term endophobia / “im actually syscourse unaligned” / lumps us in with endos (“fellow plurals” “endogenic siblings”) / links source that has nothing to do with the debate at hand / “endos built the plural community” / “Stop caring, its not that deep, let them live” / uses their own experience as evidence (asterisk) / Accidentally reuses fantasy model bs / Appeal to emotion / Attacks identity (“you cant be (x) and anti endo!”) / Breaks your boundaries to start this convo / “everyone i dont like is hitler” argument. At the bottom, it reads: Five bonus points if they claim one of the points on here are actually valid. (Asterisk) When you’re trying to prove the existence of something, saying “well i saw it” isn’t enough.It’s the same with religious debates (your personal connection with a god and the places you see that god. does not count as proof of it) /END ID
1. even if you could create your own “headmates,” (calling them headmates for the sake of conversation since you can’t consciously create alters,) why would you? you do know when you’re creating a system, (which you can’t do but again for the sake of argument,) you’re technically signing a Terms and Conditions you didn’t read the fine print to that says “this headmate can intrude on you when you don’t want them to, do shit you’d rather them not do, speak in headspace when you’re trying to focus, and take control of your body when you want to be in control” right? because in CDDs, which being willo is a ripoff of, your headmates aren’t just friends or roleplay. they’re actual, sentient, independently functioning parts of you that you have to live with. in a real CDD there’s not always privacy in your own head and it can get very distracting when the front is packed. it’s not the party in your head you think it is
2. no, you cannot just build a headmate. if our host could just pick and choose what he wanted us to be like half of us wouldn’t exist and there would be a lot more consistency in aesthetics and behavior. that’s why DID and OSDD are disorders, because they cause distress, because you can’t control every aspect of it.
3. stop collecting fictional characters and roleplaying my guys. even fictive heavy CDD systems don’t get excited to finish off splitting the last of a show’s characters smh. roleplaying fictional characters and calling it “switching” and “fronting” only makes us fictive heavy systems look ridiculous. being fictive heavy is actually kinda common and look what endos have done, appropriated that too
4. I’m not doubting you have trauma my guy I’m just saying you’re not endogenic
5. about that. stop putting words in our mouths. when we say “endos aren’t real,” “willos aren’t real,” we mean you can’t have a system without reoccurring early childhood trauma. we know you as a person exist my dude that’s not the point
what people THINK systems want for characters that represent us in media: everyone gets fused together or goes away, leaving one person who is so incredibly happy to be alone! hooray! thank goodness you're normal again!
what we ACTUALLY want for characters that represent us in media: to just exist as we are and know that we are respected and loved or alternatively to each be granted our own bodies and lives
john pork @anti-willo-john-pork - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
