ask time (and "main" reveal i guess - @pro-willo-miku)
what are your thoughts on the "i do think that it is the "most important part of DID" since it's the defining trait that makes it DID and not just CPTSD or another stress/dissociation disorder, but that's different than acting like there's only alters to DID" thing?
you mentioned "i would very much beg to differ about that one, but that might be because we are defining “alter” differently" and wanted to expand upon that
(this is such an awkwardly worded ask im too sleepy for syscourse)
hey there miku! if you ever need this post taken down because your main is in it, let me know. also, dont feel pressured to send asks, hope you got some rest :]
to start this off, i have a feeling we are defining “most important” differently so let me be clear: to me, defining symptom ≠ most important, so please continue reading this post with that context
to me, while alters are one of the defining traits of DID, i do not feel like they are the most important. i also feel like the general DID/OSDD/CDD/“disordered system” communities put far too much weight on them and greatly skew the narrative, especially for younger systems.
at the end of the day, alters are a symptom in an OCEAN of other symptoms. yes, they are connected to the ptsd, the dissociation, the social dysfunction, the amnesia, the list goes on- but in my opinion, those traits are all far more severe and deserve a lot more focus than alters do.
you could make the argument that those symptoms cannot be separated from alters, and to some extent you’d be right, however, you can also have these symptoms without alters.
the reason i feel like this is a bad thing is, time and time again, i have seen systems, younger and older, feel pressured into separating themselves more than they naturally are, which can lead to higher dissociation and amnesia as opposed to if they just let themselves exist as-is. this also leads to people who are unsure if they are a system rushing into “having alters” which can have long lasting or even permanent negative effects on singlets, if they were wrong.
as a 15-16yo, we were encouraged to overly separate our alters or give an identity to every single fragment which lead to severe dysfunction. i have also met systems who actively feel they are less valid for not having completely different alters, but instead, being more blurred together. this wouldn’t be the case if the general community attitude shifted away from alters being the “#1 big amazing cool” symptom to have /hyp.
while this may be okay to do for some systems, i still feel the wider narrative of DID should be more focused on the dissociative and ptsd aspects of the disorder.
