Personhood: Are you more than 1 person? You might actually be Plural! Discover the truth in this amazing article.

This article is about personhood and has the intent to explain more about the above picture and the plural umbrella. It has the intention to show that we are all more similar rather than different. The only real difference is that when you strictly follow the medical model, you can technically not claim personhood.

So we wanted to talk more about that in this article. It also has the goal to validate your experience and belief systems around your multiplicity. It is the task of a therapist to challenge those belief systems if that is needed, that task is not ours.

Plural simply means People who are Many. It is an umbrella term that people may use freely, to self identify with. It includes all sorts of people & experiences. Including but in no way limited to how psychology explains multiplicity. Nor does it indicate how someone became Many or if they are disordered or disabled in any way. Plural is an identity, a community, an umbrella, a label. Not a level or destination to reach. 

The Plural Association (TPA) nonprofit defines plurals in it’s legal documents as
‘everyone who self-identifies as being or having more than one individual within a single body.’ 

– The Plural Association

We think it is best to start off by explaining that The Plural Association does not agree with the points on personality states in the DSM-5 nor the amnesia claim in the DSM-5 nor the personhood language in the ISSTD guidelines. We pointed these things out to explain why many [DID/OSDD] people decide to (also) identify with the community-created Plural label, which includes DID/OSDD and can thus be compatible, as it is for many. 

What is personhood

Let’s first have a look at what personhood is. We will take the first sentence from Wikipedia to keep things simple. ‘’Personhood is the status of being a person. Defining personhood is a controversial topic in philosophy and law and is closely tied with legal and political concepts of citizenship, equality, and liberty.’’

Now that we have defined personhood, you might feel like you consider yourself to be a person, which is super valid, I know I consider myself a person. The problem arises when other headmates also claim they are persons. With emphasis on the plural here. Being one person is okay, being multiple persons is strictly advised against as we can see in the ISSTD treatment guidelines on page 121. 

Image from the ISSTD guidelines page 121, text continues under the image:

The only way we can see this to be beneficial is if a whole system wants to try to reach ‘fusion integration’, has little elaboration (name, age, gender, interests etc.) or experiences itself not as people but as self-aspects or states. System responsibility is not lacking in systems who perceive themselves as different people any more than in people who do not make such claims.

Every system is different!

Every system is different, some systems consist of multiple persons/people, denying that experience serves little purpose in our experience, working with over 2500 systems since 2017. It is also not researched or studied, no source is given for these statements in the ISSTD guidelines. Two more examples from the ISSTD guidelines are posted at the end of this article, for those who need them.

As a headmate and a person, we are also not personality states, self-aspects, personalities, or alters. I am a person, we are persons. (I am avoiding the word people, as it sounds very human-like and some of us have nonhumans in their system.) As plurals we are not restricted by psychologies vision on us, hence we can claim personhood as it’s a cultural experience, it is not defined by the DSM or ISSTD. It is good to note that the DSM-5 in criteria A, says DID can affect our perception. It can make us claim personhood, but perceives this as a symptome and hence disordered. 

It’s the ISSTD treatment guidelines that deny us personhood so clearly during treatment. Maybe you are a person, not persons and that is also okay. Maybe you are not persons and not states, you can still use the plural label if you’d like. This chart is not to imply what you are but to help you figure out what labels you want to use to describe your multiplicity and if the plural umbrella is something you consider yourself to be part of. 

Image of the DSM-5 criteria for DID, text continues under the image:

If you do not consider yourself to be part of the plural umbrella it is important to note that you are of course welcome to use the services that The Plural Association offers. Part of our vision is that we can all learn from each other after all. Many of our volunteers live with Dissociative Identity Disorder or OSDD. 

The problem with amnesia in the DSM-5 is that first of all it does not speak specifically of amnesia. It speaks about ‘out of the ordinary forgetting’ which is a very vague term. Then we know it is so often interpreted wrongly both by the clinical community but also by many  systems. 

Amnesia varies greatly per system. Although we do not agree with the full outcome of this study and it contains some questionable flaws, the research by Huntjes, points to the fact that maybe amnesia is not as strong as we are led to believe. More importantly, the ICD-11 states ‘’typically episodes of amnesia, that can be severe.’’ – We like that definition a lot better than the word choice of the DSM-5, which could even be suggestive in some cases or lead to exaggeration of signs and symptoms, like we discussed in this article about Plurals and MPD before 1994.

On plurality in its many forms

There are many other reasons, cultural or spiritual, why and how people can be plural or use the plural label that has nothing to do with the DSM-5 or the ISSTD guidelines. The Plural Association tries to avoid mentioning all those subgroups by name, because if we would do so, we would always exclude people, as there are so many different labels and experiences that can fall under the plural umbrella. We have written a FAQ about plurality that explains more about this. We also have a 3 part video series on inclusion within the DID and Plural community. 

After asking feedback from plurals in the community they asked me to include something here about the social justice reformation behind the plural label, how finding a space inclusive of them not only changed, but saved their lives. How being allowed to self discover has brought them so much in life. How they wish that for others to find as well and for that we need to continue to break stigma, educate and advocate on behalf of all plurals. 

Because finding a place to be yourself is amazing, but being able to be yourself in the rest of the world is even more important. This takes teamwork, effort, time, social change and acceptance. Many people came before us, who paved the path and fought for our rights. Now in 2020 The Plural Association is setting forth the mission, albeit in its own words and in new ways.

So one day Plurals will be accepted in the world, seen as assets in the workplace, not oppressed but liberated by themselves, where help is easily accessible and readily available for those who need it. We deserve to be included in the world as ourselves with equity and respect. 
Personhood seems like a good place to start!

Why we need your help to reach these goals

We need your help as The Plural Association is a grassroot nonprofit that is staffed fully by volunteers. We are building a warmline platform where all plurals (whether they use that label or not) can call to, email or chat with a trained lived experienced plural, about their stories and worries. Our nonprofit depends fully on community support, we are not funded in any other way.

If you want to help us reach these and our other goals, please donate towards the plural association nonprofit. This week, the week of #DIDAwarenessDay 2020 is a perfect time to donate towards the empowerment of plurals! Our donations start at $3 to hopefully make it accessible to everyone to pitch in a little. Every dollar helps and together we can create financial stability for The Plural Association Nonprofit. 90% of our donations go towards our main goal ‘the empowerment of plurals’ and we do not pay tax over your donations, so your money will really help make an impact in the lives of plurals worldwide. 

Donations can be made via debit/credit card, paypal, sofot and ideal, by clicking the button:

Most importantly, as always, we encourage you to do your own research, to soul search and we invite you to follow your own theories. We will always be respectful of the path you choose and the language you use to explain your experience!

On OSDD 1A &1B

The image in this article mentions OSDD 1A and 1B, which are community terms. In the DSM-5 there is only the diagnosis OSDD. Not OSDD 1A and 1B. However, this article is for the community, not the clinical establishments, hence we have chosen to use the community labels in here. You can learn more about OSDD and these community labels, by clicking here.

DID Awareness Day 2020

Thursday March 5th 2020 it is the annual DID Awareness Day! We will be sharing memes, infographics, quotes, links, videos and more on all our social media. (Facebook and Twitter) It helps us loads when you like, comment and/or share these posts! It shows the social media websites that our posts are relevant and important. We will host a live stream on the Power to the Plurals youtube channel. We welcome you at: 11pm CET (Amsterdam) that is 5pm EST (New York) time.

Don’t forget that we give away a FREE 14 page PDF package, filled with 7 different handy tools! You can receive The Collective System Package for FREE in your inbox by signing up to our newsletter THIS WEEK. Sign up here to receive your copy by clicking the image:

Image of the ICD-11 describing dissociative identity disorder:

More examples from the ISSTD guidelines: 
Page 120:

And page 132: