Not here to start a fight, just to try and point out some things.
1. DID/OSDD aren’t separate and apart from endogenic communities. It is possible to be endogenic and have DID/OSDD, if you fit the criteria. DID/OSDD criteria itself does not at all specify that the system came from the trauma that caused the disorder.
2. DID, at least, is diagnosed by distress/lack of function, some type of amnesia, and the presence of other identities. So… yeah, it’s more than alters, but if there weren’t any alters it wouldn’t be DID. It’d be something else. The presence of alters, parts, etc, is essential to a DID diagnosis.
3. A focus on system members isn’t just true for endogenic and tulpa communities. Traumagenic and DID/OSDD communities focus heavily on system members, too. For good reason. A huge part of healing, or just building a better life, for a lot of system is learning about who’s in the system and how we can all help each other. There are other issues to focus on, like fighting stigma and increasing resources for systems that need it, but in the end a lot of topics circle back to system members and improving communication, learning about each other, tips for working together, etc. That’s not unique to only part of the community.
4. Plenty of endogenic and endogenic friendly blogs have advice other than “you’re valid”. Seen it plenty. A lot of the reason there are support blogs and a lot of “you’re valid” posts is because there’s a small but vocal minority– especially on tumblr– that spend their free time mocking, threatening, and belittling endogenic systems (and even their non-endogenic supporters). So yeah, it’s a message a lot of people seem to need to hear. That’s true for a lot of systems, not just endogenic ones. We live in a society where we’re all constantly told we’re not real, and if we ARE real, we’re dangerous. Validation is important.
5. DID/OSDD isn’t a personality disorder.
6. Yes, there needs to be separate spaces for systems with DID/OSDD, endogenic systems without DID/OSDD, traumagenic systems without DID/OSDD… but again, there’s going to be overlap. And there already are a lot of spaces specifically for certain types of systems, and systems with a diagnosis. No one is going to argue there shouldn’t be sparate spaces. The argument is that, plurality/multiplicity in general is not a traumagenic OR a DID/OSDD only space, so “common” areas– tags, forums, communities, etc– should be kept peaceful and inclusive.
7. We existed before our trauma began, that’s the long and short of it. The same is true for a lot of other endogenic systems. We, as a community, don’t deny our trauma any more than any other traumatized group. We just maintain that we were not caused by it, often because we existed before it. Yes, agreed, that any kind of trauma is traumatic enough to form a traumagenic system or for DID/OSDD to form. But it’s just not the root of it for some of us.
We have been diagnosed with DID. We are endogenic. We existed before our trauma; our trauma left us dysfunctional and in a lot of trouble. We’re still healing. But being endogenic doesn’t make us any less disordered, and having a DID diagnosis doesn’t make us any less endogenic. We’re not the only systems like this out there, and there are other non-endogenic systems that also don’t have DID/OSDD. The spaces overlap a lot more than people think.
In the end we just all want basically the same things. To be seen as real, to be treated with respect, to be able to access the resources we may need to access, and to have a supportive and healthy community. That comes when we all work together. Yes, we all need separate spaces, but we also need a peaceful united community, too, because we’re stronger like that.