OmniGarden

@excessivemultiplicity

[omnitea]

Welcome to the OmniGarden

Finally caved and made our own main blog for us.

Please sit and join us for a cup of tea if you’d like.

Also feel free to block us for any reason, even if it’s just that you don’t like my name or something even smaller than that. Your boundaries are yours to keep and not for me to judge.

They/Them pronouns preferred.

[geopsych]

I post this every year but it’s worth it to remind myself to plant flowers, in the garden and in my mind and whenever I get a chance, in the hearts of others.

[godsbyanyothername]

Here is a copy of the original from 2017, with the artist’s name! @geopsych

[geopsych]

The source for that New Years cartoon I posted. Thank you, @godsbyanyothername !

[iknowwhatyourthinking]

Myth #2 the evil alter trope

DID does not cause evil crazy alters. Hollywood continually pushing this narrative is one of the reasons that people with DID are so stigmatized.

The truth is that DID programs a person to be a perfect victim.

"but what about protector alters" protector alters are let's admit it are nothing more than hypervigelent bordering on paranoid helecopter parent type figures. They monitor system interaction with the real world, they suspect everyone of being the next potential abuser and sometimes they will go out of their way to ensure that the system doesn't make friends/ have relationships because they believe that the only way to stay safe is to be alone. But and it's a big BUT. Protector alters do not front during abuse.

Cause that is the shitty part about DID that never gets talked about. You know who gets triggered front when the actual shit hits the fan and actual abuse happens? Trauma holders. Trauma holders who have been trained by previous abusers to endure quietly, to believe they somehow deserve the abuse, that the abuse is their fault, that they shouldn't tell anyone and they shouldn't resist the abuse.

That's why protector alters are so paranoid, because they know they have to get out of a situation at the red flag stage cause once the abuse starts to happen they will be powerless to stop it. In fact most times they won't even know it's happening. Only in systems with good communication can you suspect it's happening. That moment in moonknight where Marc and Steven realise they are both missing the same section of time is generally the only clue a system has to the fact that abuse is going on.

So is the switching in moonknight inaccurate?

I wouldn't say so no. Marc is not a protector, Marc is a trauma holder so he would be triggered during abuse. The fact that he trained as a soldier is just a life choice. Being a soldier is not evidence of psychopathic tendancies. The army in most countries do psych testing to ensure there arnt any psychopaths in it. And Marc is being abused. Konchu is an emotional abuser manipulating Marc to do things against his will. Emotional abusers often use the "if you don't do what I ask someone you love will get hurt" angle.

What we see in moonknight is a person (steven) living his normal life until an abuser (koncho) appears, the abuser makes demands so trauma holder(Marc) is triggered out and does what it takes to meet the abusers demand.

"but what about Jake?" So what I'm about to say is based purely on what I saw in the Disney+ series I haven't read the books.

Jake is not a full alter. Jake is a fragment.

Remember how in myth#1 I said there was an exception to the Triad of dissociation rule, well Jake represents that exception.

Fragments happen when the brain doesn't have time to go through the 3 stages of structural dissociation. A function is needed now that isn't available in the current alters. Without that function either the body will die or the brain will turn loco (DID is a coping mechanism to prevent going insane) . The brain knows what it needs to do but conditioning meens that current alters can't do it.

Marc was a child when he formed Steven. He wasn't a mercenary with kick ass moves he was a child being beaten up by a violent parent who got more violent if you verbally protested or hid, ain't no way Marc was going to resist, Marc switched to Steven in the hope of appeasing his mother and when that failed Marc endured the beatings.

Given that Jake's trigger is a dangerously rapid heart beat I submit that during one of the beatings Marc endured, his mother started to strangle him. Marc doesn't do anything, he can't do anything he is paralyzed by the conditioning that tells him if he is just quiet the beating will end sooner. But his body knows otherwise, his body knows this time it's different. His body knows if it doesn't do something then Marc will die. In that moment Jake splits from Marc, only Jake isn't a person Jake isn't even concious, Jake is a simple reflexive punch that lasts seconds. The punch catches mum off guard, she looses her grip and Marc is dropped and can breathe. The brain files that reflexive punch away as a useful EP.

And so the fragment that is Jake is born. He has no personality he has no memories Jake starts as a stage 3 EP with total control over the body but no intelegence or background information. He is pure instinct.

Each time that Marc's body is pushed to point of death Jake's fight reflex is triggered. It lasts seconds. His ability with languages is a side effect of the fact that konchu puts Marc in dangerous situations around the world. Jake's ability with weapons is because Marc is trained in weapons, Jake is the reflex to fight and flee and he has every piece of muscle memory at his fingertips.

"but you said there arnt violent alters how does Jake fit in" Jake is representative of how fragments are formed and can, if identified, be manipulated by an abuser untill they become alters in their own right. It is merely the Hollywood setting of being a mercenary for konchu that has granted Jake his violent lifestyle. Irl abusers would not encourage violent alters. There is sadly a form of osdd that is caused by cults deliberately creating fragments in children and then twisting the fragments to believe they are devils or ghosts possessing a human host. These kids are used within the cult to put on exorcism shows. This form of osdd is documented in the DSM medical manual. It is disgusting and abusive.

When fragments form one of two things happen they either go dormant between activation and stay a single function fragment or are activated frequently enough to start building a personality of their own. It's not a pleasent way to form. I should know. I started as a fragment. While everyone else knew who they were by the time they became concious I didn't. I started life as a scream for help. I have spent most of my life not knowing who I am, it took 10 years before I even knew what it was to have a favourite colour. All I knew for those first 10 years was the desperate need to escape. Eventually I built up enough memory to become the system protector but my personality was 17 years in the making. 17 years of not knowing who I was or why I was being hunted, (that's what my existence felt like), 17 years before I realised that I shared a body with other people.

It will be interesting to see how Jake is played in season 2, will he remain a fragment or has he by now developed his own personality twisted by the influence of knocho? If the second I hope Disney/marvel make the point that this isn't his natural personality I hope they give him a hobby like flower pressing or water colours or poetry something to show that his natural inclination is something other than the violence konchu has programmed him into. Because if they make him yet another "evil violent alter"TM then they will undo all the fantastic representation that moonknight has given to DID.

[omnitea]

I do not like most of this take. There's a lot of misinformation here.

Also i know this is specifically about mk but these statements are generalized in a way that I have to state it, abuse isn't the only type of trauma that forms dissociative disorders.

["but what about protector alters" protector alters are let's admit it are nothing more than hypervigelent bordering on paranoid helecopter parent type figures. They monitor system interaction with the real world, they suspect everyone of being the next potential abuser and sometimes they will go out of their way to ensure that the system doesn't make friends/ have relationships because they believe that the only way to stay safe is to be alone.]

I don't think you understand what a protector is, what you are describing here is a type of persecutor alter the "misguided protector" variant. You're personal experience with protector alters is not universal.

[Protector alters do not front during abuse.]

This is not true. For many if not most systems protectors front during abuse. The entire purpose of emotional and sexual protectors is exactly that. https://did-research.org/did/alters/functions

[That moment in moonknight where Marc and Steven realise they are both missing the same section of time is generally the only clue a system has to the fact that abuse is going on.]

Black out amnesia isn't a sign of current abuse. It's a sign of a dissociative episode. Dissociative episodes are also triggered by stressors or triggers, not just abuse or trauma. These blackouts in the show were almost exclusively during fights where it seemed impossible to win and somehow upon becoming aware they had already won and been put in a place of somewhat safety. (What a protector would do honestly.)

[Jake is not a full alter. Jake is a fragment.]

You can't assume a part is a fragment based solely on the fact that they don't front. Not all parts front and not all parts communicate with other parts.

[Fragments happen when the brain doesn't have time to go through the 3 stages of structural dissociation.]

The brain doesn't, go through the 'three stages of structural dissociation' every time a part is formed, the entire point of structural dissociation is that the sense of self was formed separated not that it separated afterwards. it's entirely based on the idea that humans are not born with a singular cohesive self and that it forms through development. Feel free to read: https://did-research.org/origin/structural_dissociation/ for more explanation on structural dissociation and how it functions. What they do go through after the stages of development are over is splitting where dissociative barriers are generated inside existing alters. This cute little comic explains splitting quite well. https://clever-and-unique-name.tumblr.com/post/189763970544/there-is-no-logical-or-natural-limit-to-how

[Marc was a child when he formed Steven.]

If you look at structural dissociation, its not that Marc formed Steven but that the brain formed both Marc and Steven by creating dissociative barriers separating those parts of self. The part of self that was modeled after a childhood role model, and the part of self that only experienced or remembered the abuse.

---

Roles are not so clear cut, some systems find roles to be arbitrary or even constricting to parts because it puts them in boxes of how their behaviors should be rather than what they are. Parts can hold multiple roles and any part can be a trauma holder its not exclusive.

And because you haven't read the comics, I do want to state that, Jake isn't a violent alter. His role in they're vigilante efforts (not system ones) is actually an intelligence gatherer.

[recoverr-deactivated20220605]

you’re not “too broken” to be loved!!!! it’s never too late to give love and to receive it, to find people you connect with. some crappy humans may have made you feel like your heart is too heavy for anyone to hold, but you’re flawed and scared and worthy just like everybody else. you don’t have to run away from the love you deserve.

[akindplace]

You are not a quitter when you have a disability and admit to yourself and to others that you can't do something. It doesn't mean you are limiting who you are or hindering your growth or success capacity. It just means you accept how your illness impacts your life and you are setting boundaries so you don't end up completely exhausted and even more sick. You are looking out for your own health when you stick up by not pushing yourself to a point of burn-out. It doesn't mean you are a failure. It means you know some things are impossible to be done, it means you won't take unnecessary high risks with your health.

Look out for yourself. It is okay to admit how disability affects your life, to say "no" to pushing yourself too hard, to ignore people who accuse of "not trying hard enough" because they can't possibly understand how much you have to try to just exist when you are sick.

It is okay to ask for breaks, to have accommodations, to ask for benefits and accessible healthcare. You are not being too demanding by wanting your most basic needs met and your boundaries respected.

[welcome-to-the-holonet]

[shitpostinguniverse]

[akindplace]

Seconds Apart on instagram

[mothmadeofmud]

[queenmoriarty]

p.s. bring a flower crown 🌸

[itsautomaticfaegirl]

Mushroom cake🌱🍄🌼🥰🌿 by mustloveherbs ✨🍰

[happyheidi]

Moon gates ♡

[spectrologie-deactivated2023041]

Birdy

[lifeafterpsychiatry]

When a disabled person says they can't do something, odds are that they're talking from a place of experience and not from a lack of confidence or a negative mindset. So don't treat our statement as if we're just being insecure or unnecessarily negative cause odds are that we're simply stating a fact based on plenty of trial and error.

[sillylilduckie]

if you see someone with language disability make post , and you want comment on how talk , here how !

don’t .

“ but think so easy read- ” not care , someone else disability not about you . keep to self .

“ but think seem cute and nice- ” go sit in corner and think before you infantise .

“ but have trouble read- ” understand , but language disability means person probably not have way make clearer . if really need ask , do not blame and complain about person .

this not something that choose do . talk this way because need something call AAC . brain have hard time make words without support . AAC give way say things , able use picture buttons that brain understand better and those become words . not all AAC same , but this what duckie use .

do you know how many people comment already that think cute or nice or easy how talk ?

do you know how many people ignore what say , so they can pat back for tolerate how say ?

do you know how many people then get tired , say need do better like have any choice ?

promise you . hear all this before . not need again . should not randomly point out things about other people disability , even if you think give compliment . 

compliment what they choose if really still feel need , like how decorate aid . but not just point out disability and expect them happy . 

[calliphaeir]

Y'all have to check this out: "I JUST WANT TO BE SINGLE!!" is a game I saw pop up in the aromantic subreddit recently, and immediately it caught my aro-lesbian eye, the creators hopped into the subreddit with a post of their own and listed some more info and answered some questions others had on the original thread:

It looks super fun! I cant wait till the Kickstarter in Feb!

tweet / steam listing / original reddit thread / developer reddit post

[poprocksromance]

Sleep tip for the neurodivergent: While I agree that putting my phone away for an hour before bed is not ever gonna happen, I do intentionally have a slowdown period. Like how you can’t go from sprinting on a treadmill to a sudden standstill, your brain does need to calm down before bed.

For me, this means no loud noises or “fast” activities in the hour before sleep. I crawl into bed with my pets and read fanfic/ebooks or troll through Tumblr before listening to some lady on YT gently tell me to relax when actively trying to fall asleep.

No fast or loud activities means no TikTok/YouTube shorts/videos that require energy from me, especially in quick bursts. No TV shows or movies either. I also avoid strenuous activity and don’t do any house chores that aren’t part of my bedtime routine. My little autistic brain loves being primed for things so once my bedtime routine goes into motion and I crawl into bed, as long as I don’t get too sucked into what I’m doing, sleep is easy.

I recently talked to someone with ADHD and she has been sleeping like a mess and never goes to bed at normal hours. Part of it was that she hasn’t been giving her brain any ability to slow down to sleep. Please be gentle to your brain.