Why do people need to appropriate a mental illness so much that they say their imaginary friends are alters? Just get over the fact that you have imaginary friends and not a serious illness. Coming from someone who has it, you don’t want to have it. Why is it that you have to make it harder for abuse victims who have this illness just so you can look cooler? It angers me when I see people who say “You don’t need DID/OSDD to have headmates” because where did that originate from? I have a guess: A non-reputable source. Not a professional. Get over yourselves. Headmates aren’t an identity label or roleplay.
Our system has had two different therapists personally (and through one of them a second opinion from another professional who had a bit of a background in dissociative disorders was also given) conclude we didn’t meet full criteria for DID and they were all literally of diagnosing us with OSDD while still all acknowledging we are multiple. So yeah, according to them we are multiple but none think diagnosing us with DID or OSDD is currently warranted. Granted my current therapist and the one who gave the second opinion’s stance on us was to wait and observe our symptoms in the long run might prove a clearer picture on if OSDD fits or not. However, given we’ve been seeing her for over a year, we’re not exactly expecting one. She had just been helping us with our dysphoria and dissociation without feeling a need to diagnose us.
Also, there is nothing cool or fun about being a system. Having headmates is not roleplaying and its not having “imaginary friends.” Its a condition.
“Also, there is nothing cool or fun about being a system. Having headmates is not roleplaying and its not having “imaginary friends.” Its a condition.“
This is a good way to point out the key differences in soulbonding vs being multiple. (Imaginary friends aside, as soulbonds aren’t imaginary either.)
Soulbonding in itself is a really fun experience, and entirely voluntary. If I wanted to, I could tell my bonds to leave and never come back. I wouldn’t want to though, since they’re my family. and it would traumatize me and my partners to do it. Like with any kind of relationship, there can be drama, and not all bonds are benevolent.
But when people compare it wholeheartedly to being a disordered system… I agree that ain’t right. So far as I can tell, the only similarities between us are that we share our minds with other people, these people can front, and they have identities and personalities all their own. The fact that soulbonding is an overall voluntary experience dealing with external entities that can be ignored if necessary makes a world of difference.
