Lonely Identity Compulsion Disorder (LICD)
A MUD where someone feels the compulsive need to identify with terms they perceive as "lonely". (Term here can refer to any identity)
Different people with LICD have different reasons that they may perceive an identity as lonely. These reasons are called perception triggers.
Some possible perception triggers are:
No-one they personally know identifies with the term
No-one in their system identifies with the term
No-one in their friend group identifies with the term
Others expressing that no one(or few people) identifies with the term
The coining of the term or posts about the term having a low number of notes
Their being little to no representation of the term
This is just some examples, anything could theoretically be a perception trigger. They may also be occasions where one perceives a term as lonely with no trigger.
Once an individual perceives a term as lonely, they begin experiencing complusions relating to identifying as/becoming the term to relieve the perceived loneliness of the term. These compulsions can be any severity.
Some ways these compulsions can manifest are:
Compulsions to identify as the term
Compulsions to add term to hoards/id lists
Compulsions to transtion to the identity
Compulsions to identify as trans- the term (or iter- if term is already a trans-id)
Compulsions to force oneself to feel like the id
Compulsions to research the id and things related to it
Compulsions to refer to oneself as the term
Compulsions to convince themselves they were always the term
One may also have compulsions to look for new lonely terms.
A person with LICD can use the lonely- prefix for ids one identifies with due to perceiving it as lonely (full coining for lonely-id at end of this post).
Due to ones identification with the term being caused by compulsions rather than the usual causes, one may experience issues feeling valid in their identification with the term.
Some examples of issues are:
Imposter Syndrome in regards to identification
Guilt over not "truely" being the term
Heightened dysphoria around the id
A general feeling fakeness around ones identification
Note: Even though one may have issues feeling valid, they are. Lonely-ids are just as valid as all other ids.
Those with LICD may exprience other effects related to this disorder. None of these are inherent to this disorder.
Personfication of identity terms generally, not just in the context of loneliness
Issues with hoarding identity terms
General feelings of impostor syndrome around one's identity even with non-lonely-ids
Believing all terms "deserve" a large amount of people identifying with them
Encouraging others to identify with terms they perceive as lonely
Purple and blue are colours I associate with loneliness. The yellow and orange represent the relief to this loneliness through identification with it, the uneven waves represent the validation issues with this identification.
Identifying with a term due perceiving it as lonely. Mostly intended for those with LICD, tho can be used by others who may experience similar feelings.
-Post made by Cassie Lucas