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Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and/or Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD) is a disordered experience of Plurality, most often associated with early childhood trauma. Not all DID/OSDD Systems identify with the umbrella Plural label and not all Plurals identify with the clinical terminology like DID/OSDD.
DID/OSDD looks different for everyone, not two Systems are alike and there is no cookie cutter Plurality. All of us deserve to experience life with a form of Plurality that is not or no longer disordered, what that exactly looks like and how folks label that experience, is also different for everyone. There is no cookie cutter Plurality.
What it takes to reach this non disordered form of Plurality, one where it doesn’t cause us clinical distress, is also different for everyone, just as it differs how much time that takes. Which isn’t just based on the level of access to therapy, we have, our background(s) or how disordered our Plurality is or how much trauma we experienced, or which other minority groups we are part of, it depends on all of that and more. Many, most, of those circumstances, are out of our control.
Time is a weird concept for most Plurals. Many of us didn’t think we’d make it this far. A lot of us experience amnesia, now or in the past. I think it is hard for most of us to really realize how much of our life is still ahead of us and what that life can look like as a collective System.
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Personally, mostly because I have been unable to find (good) therapy myself, I believe that, for some, removing the clinical distress from DID/OSDD can also be removed without or with other forms of therapy. It’s the (clinical distress from) (C)PTSD that is the real problem for most of us, not our Headmates. If needed, we will make do, as we always have, haven’t we?
Yes, some who have access to therapy, (12.8% in the Top DD study) will reach final fusion integration, long or short term. But what I’m getting at is, that most of our lives, we will (hopefully) spend with a non-disordered form, a non-clinically distressing experience, of Plurality.
Whether we label that individually under the Plural umbrella or not, what we label that experience as, what words we use, is up to all of us individually. Just as it is up to us how we label all other experiences of Plurality, and whether we chose to identify with the clinical labels made available to (some of) us and/or the community labels available to all.
This is yet another reason, why it is so important to have community labels available to us. Why it is so important to allow folks to try out labels, ideas, experiences, while allowing them to make mistakes, to be wrong, to change their mind(s), without judging or shaming them. We must be willing to see how they experience it, or we can’t empathize with them.
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It’s important to me to not only focus on those with disordered experiences of Plurality, but also those who have overcome their clinical distress and those who never had such an experience in the first place, didn’t have it recognized, had to minimize it and themselves, weren’t believed or dismissed in other ways.
Because there is no cookie cutter Plurality, we must create spaces where people do not have to fit in but can find belonging. We must create spaces where people can safely discover and try things out, without being accused of faking. We must create spaces to listen to each other’s different experiences, with the goal of understanding rather than agreement.
We must create spaces where people are welcome when they experience clinical distress and where they are still welcome when they no longer do. All Plurals deserve community. All Plurals live in a singularnormative world. All Plurals who desire it, deserve support around their Plurality.
For many, Plurality is a fluid experience, not a stagnant one. So, what or how much support we desire, how much or how often we experience clinical distress and what that looks like, differs over time and also, per Headmate.
Once we create internal community, for most, clinical distress does lower, and they feel more empowered. Being part of an external community of Plurals, can give us so much; hope, motivation, inspiration and more.
For example, if you don’t know co-consciousness is possible, you can’t practice it. Community can show you it is possible, experiences from community members can show you lived experienced ideas that might be empowering and implementable in your own System.
No matter what labels or words you used, use or will use in the future, you can be part of the Plural umbrella and we gladly reserve a seat at The Plural Association table(s) for you.
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Plural (no matter the label you use!) and looking for community?
Join The Plural Association Community, a private virtual community with 25+ different (support) groups, weekly text chats, monthly virtual meetings and much more!
Join: https://www.thepluralassociation.community
As always, we encourage you and your System to follow your own truth, to soul search, to find words, labels, visions, theories and communities that aren’t only within your values but also match your lived experience and/or long term goals, so that you might find belonging and don’t have to try to fit in.
Thank you for investing the time to read this article. Please, feel free to leave comments or feedback in the comment section.
The Plural Association is the first and only grassroots, volunteer and peer-led nonprofit empowering Plurals. Our works, including resources like this, are only possible because of support from Plurals and our allies.
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Disclaimer: Thank you for reading our peer article; we hope it was empowering, informative and helpful for you and your System. There are as many Plural experiences, as there are Plurals. So not all information on this website might apply to your situation or be helpful to you; please, use caution. We’re not doctors or clinicians and our nonprofit, our work, and this website in no way provide medical advice, nor does it replace therapy or medication in other ways.
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.