Plurality (identity)

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Plurality, also called polypsychism [1] , refers to the experiences of those who believe they have multiple distinct consciousnesses, identity, or self-states that exist in their body. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [ excessive citations ] "Plurality" is typically used by those who view their experience as a form of identity, while " multiplicity " may be applied broadly both clinically and by individuals who may also identify with a plural identity. Existing clinical research primarily [7] associates multiplicity with identity disturbance and dissociative identity disorder [2] , While "plural" communities reject that these experiences are inherently disordered. [4]

Contents

Plurality is an umbrella term for which specific identities may include: [4] [6]

Resources dedicated to plurality started to appear early in the internet's history. [9] According to a member of the community interviewed by Vice Magazine, the plurality identity and related vocabulary originated in mailing lists of the 1980s. [4] Playing video games has also been cited as a context in which people engage with multiplicity. [11] [ better source needed ]

Vice suggests that experiences similar to multiplicity were also found in Haitian Vodou, spirit possession and the Tibetan practice of tulpamancy. [4] Nowadays, an identity dedicated to tulpamancy also exists, where practitioners willfully create and engage with tulpas which has been described as an online plurality space. [9]

Sysmedicalism

There is a sub-group within plurality who are generally DID-based. They "fake claim", or claim plural people are faking their experiences, and exclude plurals who are "endogenic " from having a plural identity. [12] :167-168

Characteristics

Plural communities exist online through social media blogging sites like LiveJournal, Tumblr, [13] [14] and more recently, TikTok, Reddit, and YouTube. [3] [15] However, the culture on each of the platforms are different, some composing their members as "systems" of multiple distinct identities or personalities in the same body. Those identities are often called "headmates ", "systemmates", and sometimes "alters". Typically, each headmate has a different identity. [13] [16] [9] These headmates are generally aware of each other, and some may even marry and procreate new headmates. [17]

Being plural, or identifying as multiple people in one body, is often seen as inherently "disordered". However, most systems do not consider plurality to be necessarily "disordered" in and of itself. [4] [10] As a part of this, some “Headmates” do not typically like to be called “alters” because they consider it dehumanizing.

According to Schechter and Christensen, systems in general have a large overlap with transgender [a] and autistic people. Some headmates may identify as animal or other non-human entities. [17] This is also known as being otherkin. [18]

History

1980s

1990s

2010s

2018

  • The community collaborated widely to adopt "Plural" as an umbrella term. More than 23,000 votes were cast across different support groups and platforms: according to Christensen, this "was, in itself, a historic moment for Plurals as they organized together in a way they never have previously". [17]

Role as a support community

Participating in plural communities can remedy social isolation. [2] [15] Ribáry et al. found that for participants, adopting a plural identity helps them cope with identity disorders and that discovering the notion of plurality and participating in related communities "is helpful and therapeutic". [2] According to The Plural Association (a Netherlands-based nonprofit founded to "empower Plurals, no matter the words or labels they use to define their unique and individual experiences" [20] ), "Denying the existence of separate experiences can be harmful and may not facilitate healing. Acknowledging and respecting the multiplicity-plurality of individuals with DID [Dissociative Identity Disorder] is essential for promoting understanding, acceptance, and support." [21]

As a personality style

In personality research, the term plurality can also refer to personality style defined as "an individual's relatively consistent inclinations and preferences across contexts". [22]

Stephen E. Braude and Rita Carter use a different definition of personality style, defining "personality style" as "personality" and proposing that a person may have multiple selves and not have any relatively consistent inclinations and preferences in personality. This may happen as an adaptation to a change of environment and role within a person's life and may be consciously adopted or encouraged, in a similar way to acting or role-playing. [23] For example, a woman may adopt a kind, nurturing personality when dealing with her children but change to a more aggressive, forceful personality when going to work as a high-flying executive as her responsibilities change. [24]

Glossary

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ This specific definition of trans headmates is a headmate who identifies with another gender that is not the gender assigned at birth.

References

  1. ↑ cooper, mick (1996). "MODES OF EXISTENCE: TOWARDS A PHENOMENOLOGICAL POLYPSYCHISM" (PDF). Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis. 7 (2): 1.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Ribáry, Gergő; Lajtai, László; Demetrovics, Zsolt; Maraz, Aniko (2017-06-13). "Multiplicity: An Explorative Interview Study on Personal Experiences of People with Multiple Selves". Frontiers in Psychology. 8 938. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00938 . ISSN   1664-1078. PMC   5468408 . PMID   28659840.
  3. 1 2 3 Lucas, Jessica (6 July 2021). "Inside TikTok's booming dissociative identity disorder community". Input. Retrieved 2022-09-25.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Telfer, Tori (2015-05-11). "Are Multiple Personalities Always a Disorder?". Vice. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  5. ↑ Rowan, John, ed. (1999). The plural self: multiplicity in everyday life (1. publ ed.). London: Sage Publ. p. 2. ISBN   978-0-7619-6076-8.
  6. 1 2 3 "What we can learn about respect and identity from 'plurals'". Aeon. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  7. ↑ ICD (11th ed.). World Health Organization. 2025-01-01. 6B64. The presence of two or more distinct personality states does not always indicate the presence of a mental disorder. In certain circumstances (e.g., as experienced by 'mediums' or other culturally accepted spiritual practitioners) the presence of multiple personality states is not experienced as aversive and is not associated with impairment in functioning.
  8. 1 2 Schechter, Elizabeth (March 2024). "Introducing Plurals" (PDF). Journal of Cognition and Neuroethics. 9 (2).
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Enacted Identities: Multiplicity, Plurality, and Tulpamancy". Psychology Today . Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  10. 1 2 3 Isler, Jacob J. (2025-03-27). "Tulpas and Mental Health: A Study of Non-Traumagenic Plural Experiences". Research in Psychology and Behavioral Sciences. 5 (2): 36–44. doi:10.12691/rpbs-5-2-1. ISSN   2333-4371.
  11. ↑ "Multiplicity and Identity Mitigation in Video Games | Nightmare Mode [Archived]". 18 June 2010. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  12. 1 2 3 Eve, Zarah (2024-05-28). Exploring emerging multiplicity and psychosocial functioning: a constructivist grounded theory study (doctoral thesis). Manchester Metropolitan University.
  13. 1 2 3 Riesman, Abraham (2019-03-29). "The Best Cartoonist You've Never Read Is Eight Different People". Vulture. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
  14. ↑ ""Multiple Systems" versus Dissociative Identity Disorder: Life-Style or Mental Illness?" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-11-11.
  15. 1 2 Styx, Lo (2022-01-27). "Teens Are Using TikTok to Diagnose Themselves With Dissociative Identity Disorder". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  16. ↑ Parry, Sarah; Eve, Zarah; Myers, Gemma (2022-07-21). "Exploring the Utility and Personal Relevance of Co-Produced Multiplicity Resources with Young People". Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma. 15 (2): 427–439. doi:10.1007/s40653-021-00377-7. ISSN   1936-1521. PMC   9120276 . PMID   35600531.
  17. 1 2 3 Christensen, Emily M. (2022-06-01). "The online community: DID and plurality". European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation. 6 (2) 100257. doi: 10.1016/j.ejtd.2021.100257 . ISSN   2468-7499.
  18. ↑ "Otherkin are the internet's punchline. They're also our future". The Daily Dot. 2020-09-25. Archived from the original on 2020-11-20. Retrieved 2025-09-16.
  19. ↑ Clarke, Lori F. (2016-12-20). "Embracing Polyphony: Voices, Improvisation, and the Hearing Voices Network". Intersectionalities: A Global Journal of Social Work Analysis, Research, Polity, and Practice. 5 (2): 1–11. doi:10.48336/IJATEC1628. ISSN   1925-1270.
  20. ↑ Stronghold. "TPA Nonprofit". powertotheplurals.com. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
  21. 1 2 Stronghold (2023-04-18). "How they took the Multiple out of Multiplicity - Understanding the history". powertotheplurals.com. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
  22. ↑ Eriksen, Karen & Kress, Victoria E. (2005). "A Developmental, Constructivist Model for Ethical Assessment (Which Includes Diagnosis, of Course)". Beyond the DSM Story: Ethical Quandaries, Challenges, and Best Practices. Thousand Oaks, CA: Page Publications. ISBN   0-7619-3032-9
  23. ↑ Stephen E. Braude (1995), First Person Plural: Multiple Personality and the Philosophy of Mind, Rowman & Littlefield, p. 86, ISBN   9780847679966
  24. ↑ Carter, Rita (March 2008). Multiplicity: The New Science of Personality, Identity, and the Self. Little, Brown. ISBN   9780316115384.

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