Are "Alters" Real?

It's always super confusing at first. But the more you manage to ground yourself into the here and now, the easier it gets to notice the inner structure, un-tangle everything, understand what's going on and why...

It's okay if it takes time. It helps to sort out and stabilize your physical life and be in a nice and supportive social environment on a daily basis and to feel safe in the here and now. It's a bit like finding the end of the threads so you can untagle them from here. While focusing too much the attention to the inside is like trying to untangle threads after catching them from the middle. Less easy.

I do NOT say to never pay attention to the inside! But it's important to focus on the here and now about half the time. From here, things get untagled more easily usually.

My opinion is that all people, with or without dissociative disorder, have pool of interests, motivations, feelings, memories, etc. That pool could contain content as all feelings one can feel, multiple life pathways, etc. Alter is then a card telling what to access in that pool thus creating distinction and even missing memories when card is not accessing them for reason specific to that card. So, single pool, single or multiple cards

I like your "access cards" metaphor! It's a nice way to explain what happens in the brain between a dissociated or not dissociated person! (bonus point: functional multiplicity is many cards with full access to everything )

ArbreMonde wrote:(bonus point: functional multiplicity is many cards with full access to everything )

Memories access aside, by my metaphor, many cards with full access to everything would mean losing distinction between alters.

ArbreMonde wrote:I like your "access cards" metaphor! It's a nice way to explain what happens in the brain between a dissociated or not dissociated person! (bonus point: functional multiplicity is many cards with full access to everything )

can it only be Functional Multiplicity if all alters have access to everything? what if you have littles and you dont want them to have to deal with 'adult trauma' situation (ie assault) that wasn't something they originally had to deal with (maybe their trauma was just coping with school but didn't experience any 'inappropriate touching' by an adult). ..what about older parts more 'emotionally fragile' who wouldn't be able to cope with that knowledge or event playing through their head after blending with the alter that carried those memories?

Do we have to re-traumatise EVERYbody just to achieve FM? ...so EVERYone has ALL memories??



Kit

In functional multiplicity, all the traumas have been healed that's why everybody has access to everything. There is no pain, no trauma. Only peace and healing and memories of a past long gone.

ArbreMonde wrote:In functional multiplicity, all the traumas have been healed that's why everybody has access to everything. There is no pain, no trauma. Only peace and healing and memories of a past long gone.

**TRIGGER WARNING**


I guess we'll never reach it then cos Kit carries memories of things that happened in an adult unit which she does not think our littles sand mroe vulnerable members hould have access to. Thea's memories of 'having a boyfriend' have been locked away too.

Our littles were not exposed to 'sexual acts' at the age they were first out in the body, their 'traumas' are more from early constant medical treatment and processing issues of not understanding due to the autism being more intense at the age they were up front.

They understand now that the things they thought were scary when they were child hosts was because our autism was so severe at that age and nothing made sense to them and everything seemed frightening and unpredictable.

Kit doesn't feel it's appropriate we should also force memories of 'inapproriate adult acts' on them just so everyone in the system processes those memories. She feels its akin to forcing a young child to watch adults do 'adult stuff' before they are old enough to understand what they are doing and why...and particuarly as being held down/restrained/someone laying on top of you is a triggering thing due to the medical treatments.

**TRIGGER ENDS**

This is why Kit has chosen to remain seperate as a protector.

Lily

Hi,

I know that, for me, acknowledging the alters as essential parts of my/our life was the hardest but most important step. Learning the host was also an alter was a shock. So if alters aren't real and the host is an alter, too... then none of us are real. 'Real' just doesn't seem to be helpful here.

To get a better life I had to find a way to respect, care for, and love the alters in our system. I don't know if alters are 'real' but I do know that treating them as fantasies or, worse, enemies wasn't working. The alters (me included) are here and capable of interaction with the world and each other (mostly). I'm not sure how much more 'real' things have to be before I acknowledge them.

Host

People who say stuff like that are just prejudice.
It's a denial that some children get extremely traumatised.
And how privileged for those who can maintain the denial of that reality.
The science is on our side. They are not neuroscientists they are normies clinging on to the reality they have collectively created.

~ Athena