Dear Systems

A blog for singlets and systems curious about all kinds of plurality, DID, and OSDD-1, and for systems to document and ask about their experiences. DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS. this blog is for peer support and education, and we are not equipped for crisis management! (please include trigger warnings in asks and submissions!) | mods: @hhalite, @december-rains, @resident-crow-goth, and @palomas-panaderia

[dysasterism]

Plurality Resources (incomplete)

► Basic Terminology and 101 Topics: The Plural Dictionary Google Doc The Plural Association website Plural FAQ from The Plural Association Pluralpedia More Than One website - basics and causes Whispering Flowers website - firsthand experiences General alterhuman resources Plurality categories on the LGBTA Wiki headmatesfaq on Tumblr - check the side bar for links on desktop headmatesfaq basic FAQ headmatesfaq glossary of terms The origin of “endogenic” and “traumagenic” as terms

► Plurality Origins: Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) basics Endogenic Systems Carrd - basics and terms Fictives - Multiplicity and Plurality Wiki Introjects - Mulitplicity and Plurality Wiki r/Tulpas - Reddit community Creating a tulpa A Partial History of Plural Self-Advocacy Dissociative disorders in general

► Apps and other things for organization: Simply Plural app The Plural Spectrum Tool - not an app

► Please click here for all plurality resources compiled on this blog.

Please feel free to contact me to add new resource links to this post or correct any misinformation. This post will be updated with far more information as I find it. If any of these links are from sources that are against non-traumagenic systems or non-disordered systems, contact me to have the link(s) removed. Keep in mind that I can only speak from my own experience as an OSDD-1 system with no existing tulpas or fictives. ⚡

[night-wyld-system]

Hello everyone!

We are looking for resources on the history of plurality and plural movements across time as well as possible examples in history of plural people far before the time MPD was ever coined (what is now known as DID). As well as information from a variety of places and cultures! I'm trying to get things together for something we are working on.

Please and thank you :D

[dear-systems]

How's this?

[dear-systems]

To answer the we/us anon, there's actually a thing on intrapersonal communication so it IS normal to refer to yourself in second person :)

!

[dear-systems]

We all share a single consciousness but we're all different even if we're not a system. God we feel so alone in this community.

Monoconcious systems are common. I'm so sorry you feel alone; I hope you can find people that you feel safe with and understood by.

[dear-systems]

We’re a little curious how common our experience is - we’re a singlet, but get euphoria from being referred to with plural terms. (like we/us pronouns, you guys instead of you, etc). It’s a really similar emotion as our gender euphoria. I’ve not seen too many others with similar experiences - have you (or your followers, ig) heard of anything like this before?

Heard of it, yes, but it's definitely uncommon; I think I've only head of one persons who was like that. If it makes you happy, though, absolutely go ahead!

[wellthatschaotic]

ooh curious about something

how big is your system?

less than or equal to 20 members

21-40 members

41-60 members

61-80 members

81-100 members

101-120 members

121-140 members

141+ members

infinite/other

vanilla extract (see results)

Voting ended onFeb 7, 2023

(added a see results for curious singlets lmao, also i have no clue how big i should set the brackets so i'll probably make another version of this poll after some feedback- if bigger you can put the number in the comments/tags if you want)

(also keep this post syscourse free pretty please!)

[cringe-is-inevitable]

this post is for the systems who aren't constantly switching and usually only switch from the host for a few hours at best. a lot of systems always seem to be switching a lot and seeing that lead me into denial because our switches aren't as frequent and it's the host that's fronting the majority of the time. it's normal and you don't have to have hella switches every day to be a system. just remember there's no set or "right" way to be a system <3

[dear-systems]

Hi so uhm, we are bodily a minor, we've known we're a system for a bit now... But it feels like we don't add up. We used to go with the term median since that is what the host thought we were... but found our system ligns up more with osdd-1b, emotional amnesia but no amnesia barriers... but some or half of us aren't as differentiated like osdd-1a, but we are bodily a minor so maybe it's just that we aren't fully formed properly? or the host is still in some kind of denial?? I'm confused and I want the host to feel at ease with our system

You can have fragments, even a lot of fragments. It's also not uncommon to have mixed type systems- some may be facets like in a median system, and others more 'fully' plural. That's especially the case if you have subsystems, but not necessarily.

[dear-systems]

I am trying to be brief (still failing) bc I've been kinda stressed and want to overexplain everything. sorry to bother.

I've always had transient dissociative episodes, mostly depersonalization. over the last couple of years I've had a few instances of suddenly feeling like I'm "waking up" after years, every recent memory feels like a weird dream, I'm literally engaged to someone I feel like I've never actually met, waking up in the life of someone else in a completely changed body and world.

Until the last few weeks (?) it only really happened a couple of times and didn't last very long so it was easy enough to move on. who I (eh confusing) have been for the last ~7 years has been, if not happy and healthy, at least fairly consistent as a person and she was kind of figuring out a rhythm of things, but now it's kind of overwhelming

I don't know that I want to or know how to sleep again, but I don't want to be here in someone else's business either. it sucks waking up and realizing that my life is not my life anymore. I don't want to tell my/our/her gf anything bc what does anyone gain from that

fucking. what do. is there any sort of protocol for this shit. sorry

Be patient with yourself.

Being honest with your partner about your experiences sounds like a good place to start, if that feels safe for you.

[dear-systems]

hey, is there a term for when one alter is an introject of multiple different characters at once?

Usually the term used is multifictive!

[pluraldeepdive]

The Spectrum of System Experiences

This survey is a part of my project to showcase the diversity of systemhood. I'm collecting personal experiences to display in a big, online

This is the initial survey for my project to spread awareness about the diversity of systems! Please consider taking it or reblogging! More info under the read more.

It seems like a lot of people were interested in this project so I decided to take a stab at it! Creating a huge collage of personal experiences would be a really cool way to spread awareness but of course I need to collect personal experiences from the community, first.

I decided to start small and focus on a few topics that I think are often misunderstood or overlooked: nonhuman system members, introjects/fictives/factives, and fragments. Even if you don't experience any of these, please consider checking out the survey! There are still a couple questions that anyone can answer.

Now, about the project... I'm thinking we have two routes here. It can either be a website or a full on e-magazine. If it's a website, maybe it can be like one of the layouts below?

Regardless, I can only make this project with the help of the community. Please consider taking the survey!

[notabled-noodle]

because I haven't seen a whole heap of decent information about this... I thought I'd do a beginner's guide to dissociation

disorders that can cause dissociation include:

DID

OSDD

PTSD

depression

OCD

BPD

DPDR

anxiety

eating disorders

some people also experience dissociation due to chronic pain

being dissociated can feel like, but is not limited to:

feeling disconnected from the world

feeling "blurry", "buzzy", "foggy", or "out of it"

not feeling any emotions

not feeling any physical pain

not remembering whole periods of time

feeling like you're floating outside of your body

your brain constantly going in and out of focus

dissociation is generally broken down into two categories:

derealisation: the feeling that the world around you is unreal, foggy, or just out of reach

depersonalisation: the feeling of being outside of yourself, or of not feeling real

I hope this is a helpful post, and that I've made people more aware of what dissociation actually is. if you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to ask!

[c-ptsdrecovery]

There are normal kinds of dissociation, which almost everybody does. For instance, you can be driving down the road and suddenly realize you don’t really remember the last two miles because you were thinking about something else. That’s normal dissociation; almost everybody does that. 

However, some levels of “phasing out” can be really disruptive to your life. Here’s an online test you can take to see how much you’re dissociating.

[siphonyx]

Uh, so I know I might gain the ire of some folks, but not all systems doubt their plurality. A vast majority do, but not all, and there are some systems that have never doubted they were plural once.

I feel like mentioning this because I see it stated often as almost a fact of plurality, and I know this is an area fakeclaimers could possibly exploit. Now sure, if you don't doubt most fakeclaiming will be water off a duck's back, but it's still something that could be taken advantage of, and I don't ever want to see that happening. Systems that don't doubt are valid, just as ones who do are.

[dear-systems]

uhhh hi! im a little (middle? somewhere i read im too old to be a little but not by a lot) is it normal for something like period cramps to be more severe on me compared to the host? I don't know if I should write it down somewhere that this happened because it could just be a me thing and that's probably not physical

It could be that your perception of pain is different, but it could also be physically different. I would recommend writing it down either way- it's good information to keep track of. You're valid either way. I'm proud of you for noticing.

[spidervarin-deactivated20241220]

Cannot fucking stress this enough but even though we have DID and don’t fully understand the endogenic experience (or other non-DID experiences of plurality) we will always be here to support the community

Endogenic systems have done so much for the DID community and if it wasn’t for them we never would have been able to figure out we have DID and ease into learning about trauma things and our structure, we wouldn’t have been able to find the words that describe us, and we wouldn’t have found spaces that help us feel comfortable in our identities

We are eternally grateful and want every system to feel safe and supported no matter what, you are valid and you are loved

[dear-systems]

So we're a pretty freshly discovered system. It's been yeeeears, honestly, but it was only recently that we started to allow ourselves to actually consider being an actual, real system. Communication usually cycles through the host and a few frequent fronters, but since we've started diving into the resources on systemhood we've noticed an issue that hopefully you or others could help with?

We have a hard time establishing our headspace. The few frequent fronters are also stubborn co-fronters, so we have a really hard time communicating to other headmates that don't front as much. Outside of heavy concentration or meditation, it's very hard to talk to the others. They seem, idk, muffled... at least thats the best way we can describe it atm. We were wondering if there were any tips on how to establish clearer communications to headspace without needing to meditate actively whenever we just need a simple confirmation. Does this problem happen because we're so used to masking or is it a matter of practice?

sorry if none of this makes sense! We are just... at a loss and kind of frustrated that headspace seems so hard to reach when it seems so vital for other systems!

Plenty of systems don't have one, and plenty of those with them can't access them. It's okay if you can't; it doesn't mean you're lesser. It sounds like you've just got pretty bad communication, which is normal and fine- it's a skill, that will improve with practice. Masking could be part of it, but mostly I would recommend practice. You can also try speaking aloud, or writing what you want to say- that usually makes it easier for those inside to hear, though it may or may not help you hear them.

[dear-systems]

Is it possible we simply THOUGHT our system was huge but it was really only like 10 of us?

Sure, that is definitely possible. More than that would be impossible to say without knowing you.