Question about terminology

What is correct or common terminology for alters taking control or relinquishing it? Is it simply "come out" and "go in", or is there a more technical term? Also, I'm curious if anyone has their own way of expressing when this happens. Thanks for your help.

that would be 'switching'
some also use 'fronting'

Right. So if an alter switches and wants to express that to someone else, would they say "I switched out"? Would they describe the alter they switched with as having "switched in"?

as to who is coming and going in the front seat ?

for us it was simply the swinging door syndrome. I know others have their own way naming the different events.

the fact that it was all in motion made it simple when talking to others about it.

tieguyny wrote:Right. So if an alter switches and wants to express that to someone else, would they say "I switched out"? Would they describe the alter they switched with as having "switched in"?

Everyone has their own way of talking about it. And if someone comes to the front and wants to tell someone, they would probably say, "I'm [name]." Or "I'm here now."

These are people you are talking about. If you walked into a room, would you start the conversation by saying, "Hi. I just walked into the room?" Or a better analogy, I guess, would be if you joined a phone meeting. You would probably say your name, and not, "I joined the meeting."

Also, it's a whole spectrum. There can be more than one fronting, or there can be one fronting but others exerting strong passive influence, or the one fronting can relay what others are feeling or saying to them inside.

I'm feeling kind of annoyed by your questions. This is a support forum for people with DID. Not a place to come and ask questions about terminology. If you or your SO have DID, you're welcome to tell us about it.

To my knowledge there's no list of official terms but I wish there were. I'll list our own personal use of terms, not to advocate for following our usage (and I doubt we're consistent anyway) but to illustrate the different shades of phenomena you mentioned.

We use to switch for the act of coming or going, for changes that affect control of the body. For example, "Ulrich is better at confrontations so when that happens, we switch" (as in switch places). Or "most of the time we don't even notice if we switch," which happens to be true for us.

We tend to use to front or to be out to describe being in control of the body. For example, "I (John) usually front while I'm teaching my son something" and "Ulrich is out for that type of situation."

I use to front or to switch in for the process of taking over control of the body. For example, "the moment we start to feel disrespected, Ulrich fronts." And "a little was trying to figure out how to work it so I switched in to help him." (We're now both in control, both fronting.)

I think we use to switch out for leaving control of the body to somebody else and going inside. "The man's angry voice immediately caused our little to switch out." (he was in front, then he went inside)

It may well be more common to use in and out the opposite way we do. For example, to switch in could mean either moving in front or moving inside, which are opposites! We may use both ourselves. As a parallel, I've noticed at work that individuals tend to use either call in or call out to mean somebody phoned and said they can't come to work. I use the latter because the former doesn't feel right, but I know that's just me.

Lastly I'm just imagining how I use the terms, I haven't checked out posts to see.

Thanks JohnnyJack. That really helps. We say 'switched' and 'front' too. With our T I just say "Iain's here" if I 'come out'. That's being polite - though she mostly knows. I also liked what Gangs said. We're people sharing one body. Mostly we don't explain ourselves to anyone but our T. I mean we don't announce a switch because it's mostly nobody's business but ours - and our T's.

Hi tieguyny. Welcome to the forum. Tell us about yourselves so we can get to know you. My name is Iain and I'm a 14 year old boy inside a way older guy. Sometimes Host and I switch places so I can do things and not have to watch all the freaking time.

Iain