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This article is about co-consciousness and co-fronting. There is not one widely accepted definition when it comes to consciousness. Same as with the word dissociation. People can mean many things when they talk about conscious. So for the purpose of this article we are choosing the Cambridge dictionary ( https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/conscious ) which explains consciousness with the word noticing. Or to notice that a particular thing or person exists or is present. I like the word present in this definition, because being co-conscious is all about being present in the here and now. Knowing where and when you are. When we use the term co-consciousness, we refer to a state where 2 or more alters are actively aware, they notice, what is going on around them. What is happening in their life at this moment in time. Whereas in a classic DID situation, one alter at the time fronts and the other alters have no awareness, lose time due to amnesic walls.
Table of Contents
Co-consciousness and co-fronting:
Being co-conscious has many benefits for plural systems. It limits the chance of losing time. System communication becomes easier. You are safer if everyone (who wants to participate) knows the current state of your life and the people in it. You can learn to feel safer without a full switch being necessary. This can be handy if you (want to) work for example. It makes therapy so much easier. And friendships and relationships on the outside can become easily available to more people in the system.
If you are lucky then co-consciousness came when you became self aware. Most systems seem to have to put some work into it though. First of all write down your goal as vividly as possible. People who very vividly describe their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish their goals, then those who do not. ( https://www.leadershipiq.com/blogs/leadershipiq/the-gender-gap-and-goal-setting-a-research-study ) By writing down your goal and then having other alters add onto it, you can create the first start of creating a co-conscious awareness. Everyone (who wants to participate) will need to know of the plan to become co-conscious. By that I mean, someone has to notice that a particular thing (co-consciousness) exists, before they can be co-conscious. (i’m not referring to terminology but the act of being co-conscious)
There are other things that might need to happen before co-consciousness becomes a possibility and i think it’s good to include those things into your written goal. Trust within the system is a big key. You can work on this by journaling, getting to know each other, creating/adjusting a safe space in the inner world. Kinhost.org has a great podcast on system trust. ( Starting at episode 9 https://kinhost.org/ManyMinds/ManyMinds009WelcomeToDIDWeAreNotTheEnemy )
Other things to work on are everyone being present in the here and now. Being safe in both the outside and inside world and everyone being aware of that. Being able to communicate on the inside. Video by Power to the Plurals with 11 tips and tricks for system communication:
Lastly i want to add something in here about co-fronting. Fronting, being out, using the body, being active/awake/online and so many more different terms are used to express when an alter is presenting. Co-fronting is when 2 or more alters are fronting at the same time. This can mean anything from multiple alters that can use the mouth or where one alter controls the left arm and one alter controls the right arm and anything in between.
Are you co-conscious? What have you done to reach that point? If you are not yet co-conscious, what steps have you already taken to become co-conscious? Join the discussion. To really engage and learn from each other we invite you to join
our Power to the Plurals Facebook group.
This is also where you can find The Stronghold System (Sarah Clark) and TheMyriad System (Ashton Parker) personal experience with the topic we discuss. We hope for active interaction between members of the group.
The Plural Association NonProfit depends on community support. Please consider donating towards the empowerment of plurals, so we can continue our important work. Donations can be madehere: www.powertotheplurals.com/donate
About the authors
The Stronghold System are the proud volunteer founders & CEO of The Plural Association Nonprofit. They are from the Netherlands and reside in a 30-something-year-old body, are nonbinary, parents of an amazing child & 3 cats. They got diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder over 10 years ago & also self ID as Plural.
I have always been co-conscious and rarely lose time because of it and two alters often co-front. This makes life easier, but made it even more difficult to find a healthcare professional willing to diagnose DID. I did finally find a wonderful therapist who has been a great help to me. I also took up Reiki and feel that has had a lot to do with my success in overcoming all the challenges with my mental health. For the last couple of years I feel that my personality has been running rather seamlessly and there have been no significant difficulties.
Thank you for sharing your personal experience with being co-conscious. Glad it’s working out for you and that you were able to find a good therapist!
I have become co-conscious over time and rarely lose time now. I have what we call our “core” group of 5 of us that tends to front simultaneously. It’s not like we are integrated or co-fronting, but maybe “blended”. It’s been great!
Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Wonderful post! We will be linking to this great article on our site. Keep up the good writing.
Thank you so much!
These articles are so validating. Thank you.
Thank you, glad it’s validating!
Thank you!!
CW: selfharm and substance abuse mentions. We have always been co-conscious but it does have some down falls the major one is when one of use takes over and starts to do things that involve substance abuse or self harm and two littles front the most and they do not like these things at all and sometimes they find themselves fighting for control over the body and they lose almost always so they are stuck being aware of what the others are doing and it feels like we are being forced to do things against our will but we’re told to be accepting of these alters and respect them because they might be stuck in a lot of pain and are using maladaptive coping skills because that’s all they know but being co-con can also be amazing the littles just got a new toy and you can feel how excited they are about it and some of these littles are struggling and when one of them come out to play and start sharing why they hurt is truly amazing
Even before knowing what we had there was voices in the head of the host that could take over, so they were co-con, just had no idea what was actually “wrong” with us so just DIDn’t know what to call anything. Apart from the hosts who were told they were schizophrenic but like no. I was a voice in their head occasionally, yes, but I took over the body too at times and it’s what caused the blackouts. Now that I’m more stable (ex persecutor here) and we’re working on working together more and in therapy where we were told that we’re not schizophrenic, but it’s a common misdiagnosis for DID and the host was even told that amnesia and not remembering not being yourself is a part of schizophrenia so it’s just like… How many other people are out there within psychiatric systems that refuse to believe DID is real so medicate people into oblivion because the voices won’t go away with medications so you need more? It’s sad when you think about it that way. I found out about DID before the host did but didn’t like that I was supposedly these things that people write about persecutors because it was what fit me the most, but not entirely, but it pissed me off tbh. I’m not a textbook thanks, I’ve always considered myself an individual in a body I stopped being able to relate to during puberty (I’m a he, it’s a she), but yes it’s still the closest to what I was even though I’m calmer and more cooperative now. It’s definitely not fine within the system, it’s still a bit chaotic at times, but we’re a lot more functional and co-con rather frequently now as opposed to when the host first found out and refused to believe it, as is very common isn’t it? I guess I can see it now but back then it was frustrating how in denial she kept herself. I do recommend on trying to learn how to co-con, it’s so much easier than the constant notes we had to write, or voice memos.