your friendly neighborhood system

kei | they/them | primary protector of the cyan system

[dissociativeresources]

transitioning as a system

today i’m going to talk about our experience as a system going through gender confirmation therapy and hormone replacement therapy (hrt), and how my system feels about it!

firstly, it’s important to note that it was a system decision to pursue hrt. we actually only have two female alters (that we know of), and only one of them regularly fronts, so it wasn’t a huge issue there. that alter is a little, so she already feels fairly uncomfortable in the body, and some things about hrt (such as having a slightly flatter chest) feel much better for her. 

after a long process of making sure everyone was on board and working with a therapist, our host made the decision to start testosterone.

we’ve been taking testosterone for about two months now and it’s been going incredibly well! we will update this post as more changes occur, but overall, we’re very happy with it!

-kei

[dissociativeresources]

when the host of my system was younger, he had an incredibly difficult time grounding himself without bringing harm to the body. here are some safe grounding techniques that have helped my system!

chewing on ice or gum

listening to music (note: if you’re trying to prevent a switch from happening, make sure it’s not music that will trigger someone else to come out!)

petting your pets

working on a task you find simple and soothing, like making a bracelet or going for a walk!

drinking something warm

taking a cold shower

calling someone you trust 

counting something, like how many beads are in a jar or how many pens are on a table

planning out your week

there are so many more grounding techniques, feel free to send in an ask if you’d like to hear more!

-kei

[dissociativeresources]

common types of protectors in systems

physical protectors: these protectors seek to protect the system from physical danger, either by fighting back or by taking the abuse themselves.

emotional protectors: very similar to physical protectors except for emotional abuse! they may take a similar role to caretakers as well, but their primary goal is to help their systems manage painful or uncomfortable emotions.

sexual protectors: these protectors may take on memories of sexual abuse, or they may take on unwanted encounters or emotions relating to sexuality

social protectors: for systems who have triggers associated with different types of social interaction, social protectors may exist to handle these situations!

persecutor protectors: i plan to make a separate post for these alters because they tend to be incredibly misunderstood! these protectors have misguided methods of protecting the system, often through causing harm to the body or people in their system, but there are always reasons for what they do. i cannot stress enough that there are no such thing as evil/bad alters.

nonhuman protectors: when a child experiencing abuse feels as if they’re unable to survive the abuse they’re facing, they may create alters that are nonhuman! these alters can serve any role, but they’re often protectors.

caretakers/soothers: these protectors help take care of younger, emotionally volatile, or unstable alters! 

-kei