Glossary

This page contains a list of terms relating to Dissociative Identity Disorder. For ease of searching, please use ctrl+f and type your word in.

Alter: Dissociated personality states that operate independantly from one another, are able to control the body, and percieve themselves and the world around them in a unique way from one another. Can also be called headmate, part, personality state, or a variety of terms. Ask the system which term they prefer.
Amnesiac Barriers: Memory roadblocks that prevent an alter from knowing about a traumatic event and/or what another alter has done previously. May also serve to prevent certain alters and/or the system as a whole from being discovered.
Anger Holder: Subset of Emotion Holders; An alter that holds anger and rage that the system experiences. May or may not deal with anger better than other members of the system can.
Apparently Normal Part: An alter that does not have memories of traumatic events the system went through. May also be hosts, but not always.
Blurry: Informal term that refers to the feeling of dissociation. Can also refer to the events where multiple alters are in the fronting room to the point of overcrowding, and/or when it's hard to tell alters apart from one another.
Caretaker: An alter who takes care of the body and/or takes care of alters within the system.
Co-Consciousness: Refers to when an alter is nearby and is aware of what is happening in the outerworld, but they are not controlling the body. May be shortened to co-con.
Co-Fronting: Refers to when an alter is able to control the body alongside another alter. May be shortened to co-front.
Dissociation: The state of being disconnected from yourself and/or the world around you. See disorder info for more information on dissociation.
Emotional Protector: Subset of Protectors; An alter that keeps the system safe from actual or perceived emotional abuse. This alter may also comfort other alters to soften the effects of emotional trauma.
Emotion Holder: An alter that holds a specific emotion that the system experiences. May or may not deal with that specific emotion better than the rest of the system.
Factional Introject: An alter who is based on a real life person. They may be based on anyone that the system knows in real life. May be shortened to factive.
Fictional Introject: An alter who is based on a fictional character. May be shortened to fictive.
Fragment: An alter who is not fully formed and may represent a single function, memory, emotion, or idea.
Fronting: Refers to when an alter is in control of the body.
Gatekeeper: An alter who controls which alters may enter/leave the front and/or have access to certain memories.
Grief Abater: Subset of Emotion Holder; An alter that deals with grief. They may neutralize feelings of grief, assist other alters with the grieving process, and (if they have the ability to, or with the help of a gatekeeper) move alters out of front in order to help them get away from the grief and stress of reality. Coined by Styx.
Host: An alter who handles day-to-day tasks for the system and/or fronts the most often.
Innerworld: Refers to the space in a system's mind where alters go when not fronting. Not all systems have an innerworld. May also be called headspace.
Internal Self Helper: An alter who holds a lot of information about the system, alters, trauma, and/or internal workings of the system. They may or may not also be gatekeepers. Can be broken down into subcategories.
Little: An alter who takes on the appearance, mannerisms, and thought process of a child. May also be called syskid, middle, or a variety of other terms.
Outerworld: Refers to the physical world around the system.
Passive Influence: Refers to when an alter is near the front and influencing the fronting alter's actions and thoughts. For example, an alter who normally doesn't like strawberry ice cream notices they like it and realizes that another alter is nearby.
Persecutor: An alter who causes chaos for the rest of the system. They may try to cause harm to the body, agree with the abuser, and/or cause rifts in relationships and work.
Physical Protector: Subset of Protectors; An alter that keeps the body safe from actual or perceived physical abuse or harm. They may try to prevent physical harm via self-defense.
Polyfragmented: Refers to when a system contains over 100 (one hundred) alters and/or have subsystems or multiple fragments.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A common comorbid condition of DID; A disorder that develops after a shocking, scary, or dangerous event.
Protector: An alter who keeps the system safe from real or percieved harm.
Sexual Protector: Subset of Protectors; An alter that keeps the body safe from actual or perceived sexual abuse or harm. They may front when the body is going to have sex, or prevent sex via self-defense.
Splitting: Refers to when a new alter is formed. Can come with physical symptoms such as an extreme headache that isn't helped with medication, or feeling as though someone is in front but is either not identifying theirself or they are unsure of who they are.
Subsystem: Occurs when a system forms inside the main system. There can be mulitple subsystems inside of one system.
Switch: Refers to when two alters switch places when fronting; one goes into the innerworld, and the other takes control of the body.
System: The entire collection of alters within one body.
Time Loss: Refers to when an alter can't account for a period of time they can't remember. May also be called losing time or a black out.
Trauma Holder: An alter who is aware of the trauma the system experienced, and holds memories of what happened.
Trigger: A reminder of trauma that can induce symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; Anything that can cause an alter to come to the front.