What is Dissociative Identity Disorder (D.I.D.)?
As explained by one of our members:
DID formally Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) is very real. You might be wondering how I know this… Well I’m an alter, an alternate personality and we have MPG (multiple personality gift). So what is an alter? The word alter stands for alternate personality. Basically to us it means that I’m different from another personality in the same body who could come out and carry on writing this. Confused now? Alters have different likes, dislikes, hobbies, skills, characters and favorite foods (assuming they eat at all). Each alter is an individual and should be treated as such.
The word disorder bugs me so that’s why we use the word gift, and yes we believe it's a gift. If we were a singleton (someone who doesn’t have alters) our body wouldn't be alive today, we would have been in the number of children that are murdered by their abusers, one of the ones that went “crazy” or commited suicide. Blunt? Yes, but it’s the truth.
All humans are different from one another and that’s a real special thing and the same thing applies to people with DID/multiples/systems. The birth one/original is the personality that is born into the body and that’s pretty much the only place systems are the same, from then on it varies.
Usually for those with DID because of severe trauma (usually severe sexual abuse, incest, ritual abuse/RA or s*tanic ritual abuse/SRA) an alter is created. Sometimes the alter will take the abuse and the birth one will return when it’s safe. Or sometimes the birth one does not return and an alter will run the life. Now this alter might not know they are an alter they might have full access to the memories and never realize they’ve only just been created until many years later. Same with the core personalities they might never know they "share a body" until 10 or 20 odd years later and this time is normally one filled with fear, denial and confusion. Other times alters might not have any memories of abuse but are created to hold excess feelings or to do jobs inside or outside of the system. So basically anytime a new alter is needed they are created.
Most alters are the same age as the body when they were created, but sometimes alters can be older than the body. So if the body was 4 years old when that alter was created the alter usually stays 4. In some systems through hard work alters can age but otherwise normally they just get smarter and their personality might develop. Alters also may not be the same gender as the body. It's common for female bodies to have male alters, and vice versa. Many systems have the added diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For our system this included experiencing vivid flashbacks and nightmares, getting startled and triggered easy, difficulty with sleeping and concentrating, anxiety and dissociating (spacing out).
Now a bit about littles. Littles are young alters and in our system our littles range from 4-7 years old, younger than that you have the babies and toddlers, after that come the middles. Other systems are different and a 3 or 10 year old might call themselves littles. Most littles never had a proper childhood and the chance to go to school so they write phonetically, they type how words sound and their structure of sentences might be off too. It can be hard to understand at first but try sounding out how the words are written and you’ll be half way there, if not ask someone to help you out. Remember littles are survivors too and deserve to be treated with respect so if you have difficulty in the chat room understanding a little, say so respectfully. Most littles will have no problem helping you to understand what they are saying, and many adults in the room can help as well.
Now a bit about teen alters. Teen alters have a very difficult time. Try remembering how hard puberty is, not having a real life, no support, then on top (usually) being stuck at the age and with the addition of being severely abused in the past and you will begin to get a glimpse of what they go through and the issues they have. Again be respectful.
Now just as a word of warning some alters will hate being called an alter and some systems will hate being called a system. Confusing, isn't it? If you "meet" an alter in the chat room remember they are people with feelings just like anyone else.
Glossary of the main terms but these will vary system to system:
Alter: Alternate personality.
Bigs: Might be the host, or anyone older one or the adults in the system.
Birth one/Original child: The one who’s born into the body. May also be called the core.
Co-consciousness: This is a continuum of awareness that the different personalities have of one another.
Front/Out: The alter who is controlling the body is front.
Host: This varies from system to system, it might be the birth one or it might be the one who does most of the outside things like a job, family commitments, social life.
Inner World: Some systems have an inner world where the alters live and play.
Littles: Young alters. They might like to color, play with toys, have stuffies. Age ranges can vary.
Middles: Ages vary from system to system as it’s all down to personal choice but 8-10ish.
Out/Front: The alter who is controlling the body is out.
Protector: Usually these are strong alters who hold anger. They protect the system from outside and inside danger.
Switch: When another alter takes front.
System: Systems are the total sum of everyone, it’s the birth one and all the alters.
Teens: In our system we call 13-19 year olds teens. 11-13 can be called middles or pre-teens. Again, it’s all down to personal choice.
Some tips and things to avoid when communicating with multiples:
Don’t make assumptions as every alter and system is different.
Unless it’s an emergency or you have already arranged it with the system don't ask to speak to another alter than the one that’s out/front.
Some systems we know use system names, a name all of them can use in the chat room. They have their reasons for this whether it’s for reasons of protection or feeling unsafe. Names can be very personal objects and if an alter tells you their name it means they trust you. If they tell you in private respect that and do not tell others what it is. Once you get to know the system better you might be able to tell who is front. If the alter doesn’t want to share their name don’t ask again and just "go with the flow”.
Maintain confidentiality. In some systems alters wont know one another and might have general and abuse memories the others don’t know. Now the lines get blurred when an alter tells you something that will harm the body, themselves or others. But if an alter tells you what they experienced in the past, their abuse history there is a reason why the others might not know. Maybe they are not ready to deal with it so do not break confidentiality and tell. You wouldn't share one member’s history with another without permission so the same applies here.
Hope to see you in our chat rooms, scheduled multiple chats and on the message boards soon!
For more information on DID: