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[gileonnen]

This is a Curious Post.

During the past few months or so, my circles on the internet have come increasingly into contact with the notion of ' plurality' of personae in one body. I've been working to understand what the concept means and why other people feel that it describes them, so this post isn't an 'explain to me what plurals are, I don't know

Comments

[cpip]

Hmm. I was loosely familiar with some of the subsets of what's now 'plurality,' but I wasn't aware the various subsets were coalescing under one umbrella.

I confess I tend to be skeptical of such claims -- then again, I tend to be skeptical of a lot of things.

[gileonnen]

*nodnod* The thing I had the greatest difficulty with initially was distinguishing plurality from Dissociative Identity Disorder (which is itself a diagnosis that tends to raise eyebrows in the psychological community). While plurality/multiplicity does bring several subsets under one umbrella, as you say, it's also worthwhile to be attentive to the umbrellas from which it's attempting to extract itself.

[caudelac]

I have very mixed feelings about it. It's odd putting it this way, but I had a borderline case of DID when I was in high school-- some serious thought-disorder and lost time stuff. I have had pretty much good experiences with people I have known who identify as plural, and heard some horror stories, so I figure its like everything else-- somewhere between romantic and scary, but ultimately, good for some and bad for others. I dunno.

[gileonnen]

*hugs* Thank you for sharing your experience--I'm sorry that it was a frightening one!

[irisbleufic]

The thing I had the greatest difficulty with initially was distinguishing plurality from Dissociative Identity Disorder

This, too. I found myself wondering if perhaps plurality and multiple system were terms for...reclaiming some condition previously looked on as a disorder, if that makes any sense?

[gileonnen]

That might be a way of looking at it? But the descriptions I've read of plural systems don't sound congruous with the understanding I have of DID--primarily because personae can interact, witness each other's actions, and have some (sometimes limited) degree of control over to whom an outsider is talking at any given moment. In short, very little dissociation.

I think it might be sort of like the salient distinction between having gender dysphoria and being transgender or genderqueer--not just the distinction between a disorder and an identity, but also a difference in how one relates to oneself and what one's experience of identity feels like.