This may not be 100% correct but this is created to help clear up some things about systems, also trigger warnings as there is some sensitive content covered in this.
Dissociative identity disorders
Dissociative disorders are a range of conditions that can cause physical and psychological problems.
Some dissociative disorders are very short-lived, perhaps following a traumatic life event, and resolve on their own over a matter of weeks or months. Others can last much longer.
Causes of dissociative disorder
There are many possible causes of dissociative disorders, including previous traumatic experience.
Someone with a dissociative disorder may have experienced physical, sexual or emotional abuse during childhood.
Some people dissociate after experiencing war, kidnapping or even an invasive medical procedure.
Switching off from reality is a normal defence mechanism that helps the person cope during a traumatic time.
It's a form of denial, as if "this is not happening to me".
It becomes a problem when the environment is no longer traumatic but the person still acts and lives as if it is, and has not dealt with or processed the event.
Someone with a dissociative disorder may also have other mental health conditions, such as:
medically unexplained symptoms
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
anxiety and panic attacks
suicidal tendencies or self-harm
obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
They may also have problems sleeping (insomnia).
Symptoms of a dissociative disorder
Symptoms of dissociative disorder can vary but may include:
feeling disconnected from yourself and the world around you
forgetting about certain time periods, events and personal information
feeling uncertain about who you are
having multiple distinct identities
feeling little or no physical pain
Some people with dissociative disorders have seizures. These can vary from fainting to something more like an epileptic seizure.
Dissociation is a way the mind copes with too much stress.
Periods of dissociation can last for a relatively short time (hours or days) or for much longer (weeks or months).
Many people with a dissociative disorder have had a traumatic event during childhood. Dissociation can happen as a way of coping with it.
Types of dissociative disorder
depersonalisation-derealisation disorder
dissociative identity disorder
Depersonalisation-derealisation disorder
Depersonalisation is where you have the feeling of being outside yourself and observing your actions, feelings or thoughts from a distance.
Derealisation is where you feel the world is unreal. People and things around you may seem "lifeless" or "foggy".
You can have depersonalisation or derealisation, or both together. It may last only a few moments or come and go over many years.
Someone with dissociative amnesia will have periods where they cannot remember information about themselves or events in their past life.
They may also forget a learned talent or skill.
These gaps in memory are much more severe than normal forgetfulness and are not the result of another medical condition.
Some people with dissociative amnesia find themselves in a strange place without knowing how they got there.
They may have travelled there on purpose, or wandered in a confused state.
These blank episodes may last minutes, hours or days. In rare cases, they can last months or years.
Dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder (DID) used to be called multiple personality disorder.
Someone diagnosed with DID may feel uncertain about their identity and who they are.
They may feel the presence of other identities, each with their own names, voices, personal histories and mannerisms.
The main symptoms of DID are:
memory gaps about everyday events and personal information
having several distinct identities
OSDD-1 systems lack some criterion of Dissociative Identity Disorder while still exhibiting alters. The most common types of this are OSDD-1a and OSDD-1b, missing the distinct alters and amnesic barriers respectively. However, OSDD-1 can include lacking both distinct alters and amnesia barriers, or other presentations of dissociative and disordered pluralit.
OSDD-1a is missing the distinct alters found in DID, preventing a diagnosis. Alters are more blurry between one another and often have a core or shell identity. The identities with an OSDD-1a system may be very similar or diverse; one common presentation is one individual within different "modes" or ages, like an angry self, a 12-year-old self, etc. OSDD-1a is different than typical mood changes due to the amnesiac barriers between headmates.
OSDD-1b is missing the amnesia found in DID, preventing a diagnosis. There is no full amnesia ("blackouts") related to switching, but emotional amnesia may be present, as well as "grey-outs" in some cases. There may still be memory loss relating to trauma, but not between alters.
Core: Also known as the original or the original child, the core is considered by some to be the part first born to the body. Some see the core as the owner of the system, the part that has the most power and influence over other parts, and the most important part which the other parts were created to protect. Others see the core as nothing more than the self state that began to integrate sooner than other self states did. There is currently a debate over the existence of cores because it does not easily fit with the theory of structural dissociation. Not all systems have a part that could be identified as a core.
Host: The host is the alter that most commonly uses the body. Host alters collectively fall under the category of fronters, or alters who frequently “front” by taking control of the body and the front, conscious part of the mind. Host alters are responsible for most aspects of daily life, though teams of fronter alters might divide up daily life into more manageable and specialized units such as socialization, academia, work, and taking care of the body. If the host has spent years unaware of the existence of other alters and the trauma that created them, the host might have an extremely hard time coming to accept their DID. This alter might be used to viewing themselves as the only entity in their body and will likely at least at first view themselves as the core. This may or may not be correct.
Protector: Protectors are alters that protect the body, system, host, core, or other specific alters or groups of alters. Physical protectors might take or try to prevent physical abuse or become aggressive in an attempt to defend against physical abuse. Verbal protectors might take verbal abuse or lash back verbally in order to counter verbal abuse. Emotional protectors might take emotional abuse or comfort other alters to soften the effects of emotional abuse. Sexual protectors might take sexual abuse or attempt to instigate sexual abuse in an attempt to feel more in control of the situation. Caretaker alters are a unique type of protector that is focused specifically on taking care of younger, weaker, or more vulnerable alters or external children. Persecutors are another specific type of protector that are often not seen as such but that protect by harming the system themselves in order to avoid outside harm.
Persecutor: Persecutors are alters that purposefully harm the body, system, host, core, or other alters, sabotage the system’s goals or healing, or work to assist the system’s abuser(s). Persecutors might hold self hatred or provide an outlet for internalized abusive and negative messages. They might believe that hurting the system or other alters is the only way to control them or teach them how to behave and so prevent further and more extreme abuse from outside abusers. They might be reenacting abuse or trying to ensure that future abuse isn’t more harmful due to being preceded by a period of relatively little abuse. Some persecutor alters are introjects of abusers and may or may not understand that they are not actually the abuser themselves.
Introject: Introjects are alters that are based off of an outside person or figure. Introjects may or may not see themselves as the individual that they represent. Introjects can be based off a family member or adult caretaker who supported the dissociative child and provided a positive influence on their life, serving as a source of potential positive messages for the child to internalize. Unfortunately, introjects can also be of abusers. Abusive introjects, unlike more positive introjects, provide no comfort or moral compass for the system. Instead, they reenact trauma and abuse, sometimes reinforcing abusers’ lessons to prevent further abuse and sometimes serving as a permanent component of an internal flashback. Although less common, introjects can also be based off of historical or fictional figures that the dissociative child found strong, courageous, heroic, or otherwise worthy of being emulated and internalized.
Memory Holder: Memory holders are alters that hold memories that are usually traumatic in nature so that other alters do not have to be confronted by the memories. In some cases, memory holders might hold memories of childhood innocence or of being loved by the system’s otherwise abusive or neglectful family. In these latter cases, the memory holder might serve to preserve these memories untainted by memories of trauma or to avoid confronting the system with the pain of what the abuse has cost them. Memory holders are highly associated with abuse takers, alters that experience trauma so that other alters do not have to. Memories holders are the prototypical emotional part in structural dissociation.
Gatekeeper: A gatekeeper is an alter that controls switching or access to front, access to an internal world or certain areas within it, or access to certain alters or memories. The existence of a gatekeeper is highly stabilizing for a system because gatekeepers can to some extent prevent unwanted switching, failure to switch when necessary, or failure to switch to the correct alter. They can help to prevent traumatic memories from bleeding from the alters who hold them to alters who could not yet handle them. Gatekeepers might police the boundaries between subsystems. Because gatekeepers have control over which alters have access to front, they themselves are often or always near front and so witness everything that happens to the system. They might experience vast amounts of abuse and might present as ageless, emotionless, and nonhuman as a way to process this and cope. Gatekeepers may or may not also serve as an internal self helper.
Internal Self Helper: An internal self helper is an alter that holds vast amounts of knowledge about the system, alters, trauma, and/or internal workings. For those who believe in cores, internal self helpers are often viewed as the first alter to be created or as the normally pseudo-separate internal voice of logic and reason that all people possess. Within the theory of structural dissociation, internal self helpers are often viewed as observing parts or hidden observers, both less than distinct states. Internal self helpers may or may not also serve as a gatekeeper.
Fragment: A fragment is an alter that is not fully differentiated or developed. Fragments may exist to carry out a single function or job, to hold a single memory or emotion, or to represent a single idea. Depending on the way that individual systems use the term, a fragment might be any alter that could not survive if left on its own or that could not pass for a fully developed individual without the help of other alters. Fragments usually have not been exposed to enough complex, different, or interactive experiences to incorporate more into their sense of self and so become more developed and differentiated. It is possible for fragments to develop into more elaborate alters if the need arises or with further use.
It is important to remember that different systems have different needs, and systems may or may not have one or more alters for each of the above jobs. In smaller systems particularly, alters might hold multiple roles, some of which may even at first seem contradictory. For example, an alter might be persecutory to the system yet strive to protect it from outsiders. Other alters might hold roles that are specific to the system and would be difficult to define or generalize. Alters may hold unexpected roles, such as a child part handling finances or presenting in a persecutory manner. While fragments may be defined by their roles, other parts may be able to act in more complex and less reactive ways. The most well developed alters may be able to handle a wide variety of roles if this becomes necessary for the system's continued functioning. Finally, it should be remembered that an alter's roles can change over time.
