Types of alters

I also like the “mes” and “others” concept. We have a potentially similar scenario where a few of the parts identify her biological parents as their own parents.

It really is a great concise analysis that has had a lot of similarities in Sunflower’s system. L.R. would be our “sexual one”. Initially she was very one dimensional, and still could be considered “the indulgent one.” Now, she also likes poetry, wine, fine chocolates, and steak dinners. She told me that there are a lot more layers and she would share with me, but in due time. I’ve often thought their could be a lot of hurt in those layers and this post seconds that thought.

Thanks for reviving it Ponyta!

SOHank wrote:I also like the “mes” and “others” concept. We have a potentially similar scenario where a few of the parts identify her biological parents as their own parents.

It really is a great concise analysis that has had a lot of similarities in Sunflower’s system. L.R. would be our “sexual one”. Initially she was very one dimensional, and still could be considered “the indulgent one.” Now, she also likes poetry, wine, fine chocolates, and steak dinners. She told me that there are a lot more layers and she would share with me, but in due time. I’ve often thought their could be a lot of hurt in those layers and this post seconds that thought.

Thanks for reviving it Ponyta!

That "me's" and "others" thing feels very valid for us, too... There's ME, and the others all have their own parents and families in the inner world (somewhere I don't think I can go. )

It feels like that some times with all of us... we're so individual, but b/c I am the "host" pretty much entirely except the limited times they come out, it feels that way for us, too... they even seem to take to this sort of language about all of us, themselves, and me...

This entire thread has been very interesting.
I am glad it's here, and that it's been revived, too!

I spent time about 5 years ago researching trauma, and eventually started learning about DID. This was the post that made me realize I have it, beyond the point of turning back from that awareness. I've since gotten professionally diagnosed, and after years of therapy, I've been approaching final fusion.

Thank you for this. It means more than you know <3

Secret wrote:
The Host (The Main) This one is the "person" who is normally in charge of the body, and the one who manages the person's life. Almost always uses the "real" name (the legal name) and many times isn't aware of having alters until many years have passed. From the moment of the dissociation until the alters start coming out, doesn't normally show signs of DID. Normally doesn't even remember the trauma (if existed) that caused DID.

The Original (NOTE: The original and the host sometimes are the same person.

The Protector (The Older brother) This type of alters normally act as a parent or older brother, protecting and defending the system, but especially the original and the host.

Cadence Risa wrote:Here. I got this off of a part of deviantArt. Maybe this might fit one of your alters.

Protectors: These the main parts that have helped keep a person safe from perpetrators, and make very loyal friends once their anger/pain/ilnesses/self-hatred/guilt/issues have been worked on.
* Physical protectors: Their main attitude seems to be: "Don't mess with me unless you want a fight," although many have changed and become powerful internal helpers.
* Sexual protectors: These are the ones who took any sexual abuse. They will often be timid, they will be compliant, never fight back. All to limit/avoid any punishment and so protect the body from harm.
* Emotional protectors: These took the emotional abuse, the insults and put downs. They will often be very quick witted, able to outsmart the abuser at times. But they will also know when to just be quiet and take the abuse. Sometimes they will start to believe what is said leading to very low self-esteem.

Hope I helped a bit.

The Rational one ("Consciusness") Usually seems emotionless most of the time, or at least, not driven by emotions.Some people call them "The Inner Self Helper (ISH)".

The Angry one(The violent/aggressive one) This alter is often created from anger, frustration and hatred that are not correclty expressed by the host. In many cases is male, or a female with some man-like attitudes. Doesnt show many emotions, usually boredom or anger.


The Kids(The children, The little ones) These alters seem to be present in almost every case of DID.


The Suicidal (Self destroyer) Present in most systems, this is an alter that will try to destroy the system, usually by killing the body.

Other alters Here I will list otheer less common alters that I know about, open for suggestions
Pets Well, most families have pets, and that happens also on the inside ^-^ In some systems, there are different animals that are just that, animals. They are usually the pet of the system, and has to be taken care of just like a real animal (be careful if it's a wild, dangerous animal )
Objects In some systems there are objects with conciousness, so they're not normal objects. For example, talking objects, or a notebook that writes itself.
Emotion Alters Some alters are there to express just one emotion or state, just like the Angry one, but in different and less common examples, it could be "Emotional impulse/Irrationality" or "Innocence".
Changing Alters not so much a category in itself, but a characteristic some alters have. Sometmes, an alter can change shapes, disguise like a different alter or even objects, or it could cahnge age or gender, or even have extremely different personalities depending on the day.
Body Alters In some cases, there can be an alter that represents the body, so this one will always know what is wrong with it and how to fix it, and will always insist on taking care of it.

I'm a bit confused cos when I first looked on the board I thought this was a new post by someone called 'old soul' and only saw the one post...after I logged in to answer there's suddenly 5 pages to it!!!

Anyway its a good description but we don't seem to have all of them!

We don't have 'A Sexual alter' I don't know if being autistic has anything to do it and our 'original' who still prefers child form remaining inside? ...and believe the cause of trauma for them was intense medical trauma lasting most of the first 7 years of life...which is usually the period the autistic behaviour is most severe before social awareness develops and language ability (if it ever does...for some with severe learning difficulties on top they never reach that stage..we did eventually but just several years later than whats 'normal' for NT kids)

There's some overlap where seem to be describing the same thing twice...Protector, Emotional Protector and the rational one..is the same person in our system! (Kit)

Our daily host (currently me - Jay) is not our 'original' (who is Child Alter 'Bobby' who also isn't currently the youngest - for some reason they prefer the age of 10) and we've also had more than one host over the lifetime even when there was only ever one up front and we didn't know about each other, it seems that host did change over the years...often did about a decade each (roughly. ....our body is in its early 50's).. then we didn't have a regular host for several years (of disruption) due to last 'constant host identity' (ie Maddie) having a breakdown and others just randomly filling in and pretending to be her until the system worked out what to do...maybe hoping she would return after a break as we didn't understand what has happening? ... but she never has...

This has actually kind of helped overall in a strange way because ones that have previously only lived on the inside and didn't relate to the body or the outside life now have a better understanding of both after having to 'do shifts playing host'

You mentioned 'changing alters' we have 'Changelings' who have always been in the system and appear as animals they seem to carry trauma memories for 'the Littles' (of which we've only ever met 2 littles since discovering we could possibly be a system)...sometimes a select few 'changelings' have taken human form and acted as 'Internal helpers' in some way...usually they visually take on an identity that the littles can identify with.. ie fav TV stars/fictives ie spock or spirits of loved people/pets who have passed away. Most though tend to stay as wild animals/pets in our Inner world or within an 'holodeck program' if its a fictional animal (ie 'Aslan' lives in the Narnia program)

Jay

Jay,

First of all, check the dates. The first post dates to 2010 and the last post before the new one is 2018.

However, something to keep in mind is that not every system has all types of alters, and sometimes they have several of one kind. Some alters can also have overlapping or even more than one function within the system. As an example, we have several alters who would qualify as sexual (Violette [me]), and some of them are also protectors (an example would be Angel), but we also have several alters who would qualify as asexual (Beth would be one).

As for an 'original', the idea of that has come into question. The current thinking is that the consciousness doesn't fuse until somewhere between the ages of 6 and 8/9, and that the consciousness exists in the form of several 'ego states' prior to fusion. Thus, it is possible that the trauma that causes DID is sufficient to prevent fusion of the different 'ego states' and that these result in partitions forming between those early states. These partitions then create these different personalities as time goes along. Because the consciousness is already split, it becomes easier to just split more when there is need. Basically, there is no such thing as an 'original personality'. Tracing things back, we've been able to figure out that there were four of us at the beginning.

I hope that clarifies some of that.

Vi

Hi Vi

I can't see the tiny writing under the titles well, it just a bit blurred, unless I put reading glasses on or zoom in (if on ipad)..I couldn't remember where I'd left them! Thought it must be a new post as it wasn't on front page the last time I was on! I'll try and remember to check the dates next time!

For us when we say 'the original', we mean the first born into the body..I realise it may be hard for some systems to work out which 'little' that might have been, but given the history we know of behaviour wise and Bobby's stim's/communication etc ...it really can't be anyone else for us!

Plus we've showed the little's old photo's and they've pointed out where they feel it is them, from when they were on the outside. There's a clear split where Little Susie 'appears' as Bobby's child host for outside life and Bobby 'disappears'...probably at age 6 she's the only other one who can remember any events before 7/8 and Phoenix ..who we think may have been the very first protector alter and possibly why those 3 are very tightly bonded. ...We're not sure though why Bobby always appears older than her (usually 10) and LS specifically prefers age 6 (though both can age-slide a few years).

Ten may have been the age Bobby completely disappeared because they couldn't cope with transition to secondary school or into puberty. It may have been the last age we could have been mistaken for either a boy or a girl (as they prefer to see them self gender neutral like the changelings).

Jay

With us, as far as we can tell, there were four of us at the age of six; however, that might be a bit off. As far as we can tell, Beth, Angel, Veronica and I (Vi) are the original four. I guess if it came down to it, I hold the earliest memories, so I 'might' be the 'original', but I suspect that we four represent the beginning.

It's hard to tell sometimes since some of us split so young that figuring out who was the 'first' may not even be possible.

Vi

Yes Bobby, Little Susie & Phoenix were probably our original three - hence our system name.. even when we were unaware at the time it seems we always had 'fronting' a basic structure of:

a social mask alter (did school/work etc)
an alter that was more closer to 'the real me' (at home with family)
an alter that appeared at the time to be a 'fictional friend' - which we now know were the changelings and now as adults appear to us as a reincarnated spirit/Tulpa friend.

With others remaining inside and occasionally slipping out if a rare (in the earlier years when we didn't get much alone time) opportunity presented itself for a couple of hours.

We're beginning to work on a tree diagram to represent the system as we believe B/LS/P are the 'roots' ..so to speak ...then all other alters come from splits of them. If an alter is more on the autistic side they are probably a split from Bobby (eg Kit) and ones with more leaned social skills/interest in being sociable probably a split from LS as she grew up. I think I may have been a split from Teen S who would have been a split from LS.

Kathy/Kate would then have come from the changelings. The animal alters are also changelings we believe..possibly some being fragmented trauma parts, it was just our brains way of storing them due to Bobby's ability to understand & relate at the time possibly (more to animals than people).

Kit, Yuna & Juno are still working on that internal headcount I think! It may take a while ..especially to round up the 'wild animal' parts and find a way to count/identify them where they have no names ..to make sure they don't count the same animal twice if there's more than one.

Some could just be there for 'display purposes' made by the changelings? eg if one trauma part stayed as a deer the changelings could have created a small family/herd of them so that part wasn't lonely...so actually one ONE of what appeared to be a herd maybe the actual trauma holder fragment??? ..not sure how they'd work that out!

Jay

Is it possible to not know the roles of many of the alters? I know this is an old thread, so maybe I should make a new topic, I don't know.

-- Fri Apr 28, 2023 6:40 pm --

Is it possible to not know the roles of many of the alters? I know this is an old thread, so maybe I should make a new topic, I don't know.

It's okay not to know or have clearly defined roles or even have alters who have multiple roles within the system. In our system, we're not sure what we all are. Angel and Beth are both Protectors and Memory Holders. It's just that their trauma levels are very low compared to the rest of us. Vi, our host, is a Memory Holder as well as Host.

So, yes, it's okay not to know or have clearly defined roles.

Hope this helped,
Lilith