Fictive Alters in Dissociative Identity Disorder

Hey, I just wanted to reach out and say that many people who are living with Dissociative Identity Disorder can entirely understand and appreciate where you're coming from.
The fact is that there is too much misinformation about fictional introjects online. People will discover the term and find it interesting and exciting. They will disregard the fact that these alters form from severe trauma and will envy the experience of those living with DID because they want to meet their favourite fictional characters, or they want to have a support system that feels like it's magically there for them. It's very common in younger people, especially with the speed at which this kind of misinformation can spread on platforms such as tiktok.
Your scepticism on the existence of introjects is entirely valid. Much of what you described is indeed not reflective of the DID experience and is rather reflective of the internet culture that has fetishised it. Many people with DID, and many fictional introjects elect to not be open about the disorder online because of the very things you mentioned here. These things have also made treatment and mental health support much harder for those with the disorder to access.
I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that the things I've seen online have made me feel deeply ashamed of having DID, and particularly having fictional introjects. I'm truly sorry that you've had to experience situations in which people claiming to be introjects have treated you poorly.
Please be assured that the actions of young, misguided people online is not representative of the DID community as a whole, and it is certainly not representative of living with or as an introject. We're tired of it too.
My biggest recommendation for you is to steer clear of spaces that claim to be geared towards DID, but allow or encourage the above described behaviour. I hope you find yourself in a kinder community soon.
Keep safe - Frank

like i said in another reply, i do agree with some of your points.
but i do have some things i want to bring up
>people looking for "sourcemates" never really made sense to us, but we got manipulated into it anyway and all it ensued was gaslighting, brainwashing, and grooming. it has put us in abusive relationships many times until we put our foot down about it. though, i have seen people use "sourcecalling" as "hey we have the same source we got introjected from lol" and not "I SHARE MEMORIES FROM ANOTHER WORLD WITH YOU", so im glad that's dying down a bit.
however, this doesnt change the fact that some of us fictives can have these fake memories, especially after splitting since that disorients us/the alter, it is just important not to fuel them, as that would be delusion, and it has hurt us many times.
it is important to steer away from these beliefs, but also know some of those people could be being manipulated right now by fakers (like how we were manipulated ie) etc.
>"endogenic" is completely made up and scientifically impossible. endos claim they do not need any trauma at all to form did/osdd, this is far from true. i dont think you need me to tell you that though, it's just for people scrolling by mostly.
>a lot of people try to loop tulpamancy into did, which is harmful for both the disorder and the spiritual practice. a lot of people call themself "tulpagenic" system, meaning they think they just manifested their system willfully. this is, like endogenic, scientifically impossible, and tulpamancy has nothing to do with a dissociation disorder at all.
>i also disagree with people posting about their "system", ESPECIALLY on tiktok, like its some show or diary for them. not only is it extremely harmful for that system if they happened to be a real system making a bad decision - but if the person is faking being a system, then now they are spreading false info on did, which is why us as a real system get slurred and screamed at by people we called "friends" anytime we tell them after knowing them for a year or so. it is messed up and i agree with the disdain for tiktok.
>for us, some of our fictives formed off of recent medias we have seen before having a traumatic or dissociative experience. our brain i guess picks up stuff like that and thinks whatever qualities the fictional character had would be helpful to us and put it in an empty shell and formed that alter, which has always confused us and made us get scared of faking despite or diagnosis process. ive met confirmed diagnosed systems who also have this experience. none of us picks what the fictive is based on or when they form, the brain is a mystery. ive also come to conclusions autistic systems have higher chances of having more fictives/general introjects than non-introject alters.
>anyone who claims they "recently became a system" might be confused on their wording or how it works, or they might really just be faking. some people are newly discovered, which is VERY VERY VERY normal for us with DID. we usually wont notice it until we are older or something very drastic happens (being hospitalized because of a persecutor ie.) for us, we began to notice weird things more in 2018, then found out about it in 2020. which was awful. when you finally figure out what could be wrong, and then get medically recognized or a diagnosis, its both hell internally and socially, and this usually happens when you are a child/preteen/teen, which makes it even harder and people make a lot of bad and unhealthy mistakes with how to cope (like getting manipulated or being waayyy too open about it/using tiktok like a diary.)
>for alters "already knowing the ropes of the system", this has always made us very distrusting of other people, but there are many factors as to why that can possibly happen, or just at least to a short degree.
-they might be an osdd-1b system, meaning they have little to no amnesia, or just emotional amnesia.
-when they split, another alter or that system's friend already explained everything to them internally/privately, so of course you wouldnt see that.
-alters split from each other, so that can leave to those two alters having a lot of similarities, along with a few key memories that alter may have as an instinct in order to survive or function.
what ive found is its best to not fakeclaim a system based on a few things you know about them because of how different each system is. they could be a did system, an osdd-1a system, or a osdd-1b system - so if you were one of the three, you wouldnt be able to really understand the other two. many systems can also have different traumas, experiences, coping mechanisms, and their medical history (other disorders the body has, if they have a therapist or not, what theyve done to cope with did/osdd, etc.)
the only time i ever fakeclaim someone on this is if they are spewing factually proven incorrect statements as true, and maybe even putting ACTUAL true statements down, but i find it's best not to interact with fakers, as they are usually just baiting and they will never change their mind for you. it's best to just research correctly, (did-research.org is a good source.), and make sure you spread the correct info and tell people to watch out for endos/myths. though, i have seen cases where "endos" were manipulated into thinking they were endo (by someone giving them the wrong definition, usually being "endo means u dont remember trauma!" [ which is incorrect, that is still traumagenic.]) or they are in denial of their trauma. it's best not to assume, and arguing with endos is draining, so as i said, its better to educate generally than to argue directly.
this was long, but i hope any of this helps.

Hi!
Please please please take this with a grain of salt. I don’t have dissociative identity disorder, but I do research for the sake of writing respectful and honest narratives relating to the disorder. Sometimes I go into DID spaces online to see the terms in use, so that if I write a character who uses the terminology accurately I can know what to write.
In online spaces, when someone asks ‘source’, it’s likely they’re asking about the source of the original work a fictive alter is based off of. Not the trauma that caused their split or anything like that, but the origins of the fictive.
Let’s say for example that someone with DID felt they needed the traits of a character like Sonic the Hedgehog when they were a child. They saw his headstrong and confident demeanor and thought they would live a better life with those traits, so an alter named Sonic and having those personality traits split off. Later on in adulthood they know they have DID and all that, and are asked, “Source?” when in relation to their fictive. Even if their fictive’s name might have changed, they may still answer “Sonic the Hedgehog” because that’s the origin point for that fictive alter.
While I understand diagnosis can be difficult and really stressful, I highly recommend seeking out professional assistance if you do believe yourself to have dissociative identity disorder or OSDD. However, I understand that not everyone has money, and the person who knows you best is yourself. There’s no harm in potentially being inaccurate in your self-diagnosis, so long as you eventually find your way to the correct answer.
I hope this helped, and have a good day!

Hi,
OSDD and DID are dissociative disorders formed by repeated trauma in the developing stages of childhood. Children in early stages of development have multiple personalities that are not completely fused. While people without this disorder (Singlets) eventually fuse, people with these disorders do not. As a trauma response these personalities (alters) develop into beings of their own, with separate thoughts, feelings, and identities. They all share a body, though often are not all conscious at the same time. When one personality is not conscious, they experience amnesia, either not remembering at all what happened or lacking emotional memory.
What differentiates roleplaying and systems is that one is a literal mental illness. Roleplaying is one person choosing to act as someone else. They can choose to stop pretending, and control what they do. Alters in a system cannot control the other alters in all cases except OSDD-1B, and cannot stop "acting" like someone else, because it isn't acting. Additionally, people roleplaying don't experience amnesia.
Regards,
Adam

A lot of people fake. Check “ this is not dissociative “ on tumblr, even if tumblr is a huge hub of liars who make D.I.D look like “ fun friends in your head” . Or that if you try hard enough, you ca become a system

They can merge into one, or have one more obvious than another. Sometimes they can look completely different than any of their sources.
-Anonymous introject

I think it would be best to ask them, but most systems, fictives included, are usually ok with meeting people that like their character. What most ask out of you is to respect boundaries and don't ask personal or negatively triggering questions about their source.
-Entity303 (it/its)

You aren’t though. Just someone who thinks they are spiderman

im not completely sure on this, but probably not. we are an OSDD 1b system with quite a few fictives, and some of them have sources thatre still ongoing! i say no on this because of the fact that that media didnt ever exist before- and therefore they wouldnt know that happened depending on the timeline of when they were in source after forming in the system. im iffy on this though, cause im thinking maybe itll unlock memories they didnt know about and theres also the fact that alters can know things that others dont; like languages or skills. dont take my word for any of this though im not all that familiar with this

They are not literally that character.
This is why people do not belive in fictives

Hi, this is called Splitrojectism! When an alter has two different sources. This is possible to happen after they've formed, as we have an alter from two separate sources.

its normal. not all introjects look like their source, and some chose to change their name or spell it differently to differentiate themselves from source

It's relatively standard. I'm an introject of Shadow the Hedgehog - but, if you keep calling yourself that in public, it creates some problems for everyone else in the body. I've been going by "Umbra" - I feel like it pays homage well enough, while also sounding enough like a name that I'll only get *some* looks for it.
As far as the anthropomorphized versions of the characters, it's not really something I have going on, but I probably could if I felt like it. Shape-shifting in headspace is a skill I learned pretty quickly. I think the age difference you might be seeing is more due to more anthropomorphized characters (gijinka?) being posted online, rather than anything sketchy. Easier to pilot a body if it looks roughly the same shape as yours, I imagine.
And, disclaimer, I really don't think self-diagnosis is that huge of an issue. Worst case, they end up being wrong. Getting an official diagnosis is expensive, and difficult since many therapists tend to misdiagnose DID as BPD / Schizoaffective disorders, not to mention frightening to many as some doctors heavily push final fusion, which can be seen as unappealing.

Here, here....I'm glad the top comment is a disclaimer, seriously who allows this crap to be "published" without proper credentials....not to mention if this person was really working on a master THIS would surely go against ethical guidelines torching any future employer from giving them a job. This kind of quack pseudoscience is why there are so many kids running around fake claiming disorders because they want to be trendy. This is a complete slap in the face for people who actually do suffer from DID.
As DID it's self is rare, fictives are rare in people with DID. It's also very rare for those suffering from DID to form new alters in adulthood. DID is a COPING mechanism for severe and repeated trauma that develops before age 8 when the sense of self is developing. You cannot develop DID after this, you can have dissosiative episodes in respnce to trauma but that is not the same as DID or even OSDD. Experience of trauma in early childhood does not mean a person will develop DID. The DSM would not exist if all trauma = DID. Many mental disorders have overlaping symptoms. Getting a diagnosis for DID takes years and is extreamly rare to be given prior to the age of 18.... no credible clinician would but their name next to these crappot claims. I'm so ready for the "having severe mental illness is cool" trend to be over with.

We should belive system hopping tulpagenics instead

As though this comment is pretty old, i just wanted to put it out there that "core" is a very out dated term. I pretty sure that the correct term that you would use if you wanted to refer to the alter that looks like the body you would call them the body holder or simply the host but i would run to the first one if the body holder isn't the host. this isnt hate because i didnt want to let another system have wrong info and give people a reason to fakeclaim them!

Totally! I’m in a fictive-heavy system (and yes! many of us formed in adulthood too! Protecting the body doesn’t end in childhood). Lots of us have a mix of both, and the longer we’re around the more we get body memories both as new ones are formed and as communication gets better. And sometimes just because brains are weird and provide new memories!

IRL is a term for a delusional attachment/delusional misidentification caused by schizophrenia, etc., it's when you have a delusion to being an item, animal, character, etc.

an IRL is another word for DA (delusional attachment). anyone can have an IRL and they usually arent permanent. people can have multiple IRLs ranging from just 1 to 50 (I have around 30-40). a person without DID or OSDD can be an IRL, so its not exactly a system term. but just because someone is an IRL doesnt mean they are any less valid then fictives
fictives are alters that are or are based off of fictional people or characters. fictives, while they already come from a media, can also have IRLs of different characters from different sources(but they dont have to)

From my own experience with having a partner with DID and a mainly fictive system, the fictional introjects in their system do hold memories from their source but it isn't exact. For example, all of these fictives are game-based. They have memories from their backstory, but as soon as it comes to the actual gameplay, that's where they differ and have no connection to.

I know this is an old comment, but my system went through the same thing! Our alter who used to be named Chelsea realized she was a fictive only AFTER playing her source. Same with our fictive Kenna, who's a fictive of Kenny from south park. It's possible, and now that I know someone else has experienced the same, I'd say it's somewhat common!

yeah it is disrespectful to use your source name when you arent bodily that race. its disrespectful and other asians systems have shown their dislike for this. its very easy to look for new names though

Hi! I’m Asian myself, but I don’t see an issue with it. It’s like having a new name in languages you like. As long as she doesn’t act in ways that appropriate Asian cultures, it’s totally cool to do that!