Pacifica Northwest with DID - headcanons & doodles
Before I get into it- reblogs are greatly appreciated!! I would love to hear people's thoughts and I am open to criticism - i may take it hard but that is my problem, i would rather know what i've done wrong. I'm not the best at wording things so I promise any offense is unintentional. Just be respectful.
For those who don't know:
"Previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder, DID is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct identity states, often known as alters or headmates, with impaired recall between identities."
~Pluralpedia
DID is a trauma-based disorder - from what I've read and been told, it is caused by "repeated and inescapable trauma," which fits Pacifica's situation pretty well. She goes from putting up a front to pushing down the parts she doesn't like to those parts becoming separate identities. At its core, DID is a dissociative disorder and having alters is not all there is to it. Amnesia is a big thing, and it can be scary to have full blackout amnesia, which often happens with DID.
DID presents differently in children than adults - so it really would only start to become clearer as she starts becoming a teenager. Above, they'd be like 15
She tends to "put on that persona" at work a lot, from the constant ringing of the bell whenever someone enters the diner, to the feeling of pressure of being around people. this "part" of her is very similar to what we see from Paz in season 1.
the brain is so interesting! different alters can have different preferences in food, music, and clothing style - so while Pacifica yesterday wanted a llama sweater with a turtleneck, Pacifica today is confused on why she would ask for that. Amnesia strikes again
Pacifica is pretty stubborn, so she'd be very insistent about things she does and doesn't remember - and it kinda causes problems with someone like Dipper who takes a more confrontational approach, as with above.
the second image below contains brief suicidal ideation/intrusive thoughts, so just scroll past or skip if it makes you uncomfortable <3 stay safe
I think one of her alters (all of which i am slowly developing into their own characters, in a way) eventually has enough of the Northwests and runs away to the Mystery Shack, sometime in spring when the Mystery Twins aren't around. It's a pretty big and overwhelming experience, so Pacifica is kinda dazed when she finally comes to- asking Soos where the twins are even though it's like April.
Aforementioned alter also has a bit more awareness of the system, even if they don't have the words for it yet. They know that they are not Pacifica but they want to keep her safe (which, not all of them do).
After this, she gets therapy, where the possibility of DID is brought up after a significant number of sessions. i don't know how getting diagnosed with DID works so use your imagination for this part. or look it up
You have to imagine Melody in the left one, drawing her did not succeed.
Mabel is a really big help to Pacifica through all of this, doing plenty of research and maybe discovering some things about herself on the way <3
If anyone is curious about what Mabel means...
"Endogenic is an umbrella term that refers to all systems that are not completely traumagenic in origin, it encompasses many experiences."
~ Pluralpedia
I'm not sure if I'll stick with that headcanon - mostly because creating one fictional system is hard enough /hj - but i'm just kinda throwing it in there to say that i am pretty syscourse neutral and lean to the side of pro endo, because it is a more positive place. You can still interact if you disagree, but mabel being endo isn't the point of the post so i'd rather hear your thoughts on Pacifica <3
if you don't know what any of that means that is a-okay
All that being said, while I know quite a bit about plurality, i do not have DID myself. Take everything shared in this headcanon with a grain of salt and do your own research.
Thank you for reading and indulging in my fixation - stay safe and ? reblog? if you want?? say something?
edit 1 - rephrasing + adding something I forgot to mention
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