Glossary

A

Abuse — A repeated or systematic pattern of violent, demeaning, hostile, coercive, or invasive behaviors used to gain or maintain power and control over another person. See also: emotional/verbal abuse; neglect; physical abuse; sexual abuse; religious/ritual abuse.

Abuse Taker — A part/alters whose role is to endure abuse or traumatic experiences so other parts do not have to.

Action Systems — Evolutionary survival systems that organize behavior (e.g., attachment, defense, caregiving, exploration), often used in structural dissociation models.

Addiction — A chronic pattern of compulsive substance use or behavior (e.g., gambling) despite harm, typically involving cravings and cycles of relapse/remission.

Age Slider / Age Sliding — A part whose experienced age shifts (younger or older) depending on context, emotion, or triggers.

Alter (also: part, headmate, self-state) — A dissociated self-state within a system with its own perspective, affect, and (often) memory network; may have distinct age/gender/roles/skills.

Amnesia — Partial or complete gaps in memory beyond ordinary forgetting. See also: dissociative amnesia; time loss; blackout.

Amnestic Barriers — Dissociative separations between memory/self-state networks that limit access to information across parts.

ANP (Apparently Normal Part) — In structural dissociation, a part oriented toward daily life and avoidance of trauma-related material; may show “negative PTSD” features (avoidance, numbing, detachment).

APA (American Psychiatric Association) — Organization that publishes the DSM.

Attachment Trauma Activation — When attachment dynamics (often in therapy) trigger parts, switching, or dissociative defenses.

B

Betrayal Trauma — Trauma involving violation by a trusted caregiver/person/institution relied on for safety or survival; associated with dissociation, secrecy, and “betrayal blindness.”

Big — Community term for an adult part (typically 18+).

Blackout — A period in which a part has no awareness of what occurred while another part was controlling the body; often experienced as time loss.

Blending / “Blendy” — Overlap of parts’ emotions, thoughts, identity, or influence such that boundaries feel unclear; may be stabilizing (shared access) or destabilizing (confusion/flooding).

Blurred Boundaries / “Blurry” — Community terms for reduced differentiation between parts (e.g., “I’m fronting but don’t know who I am”).

Body Switching Sensations — Felt shifts in posture, voice, perception, motor patterns, or physiology associated with switching or co-fronting.

BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) — A disorder marked by instability in relationships, identity, affect, and impulse control, with possible dissociation under stress; may overlap phenomenologically with dissociation but is distinct from DID.

Borderline Personality Organization — A psychodynamic term describing identity diffusion and affect/relational instability; contrasted with structural dissociation where identity fragmentation is more compartmentalized.

BP (Bipolar Disorder) — Mood disorder involving episodes of depression and mania/hypomania (not the same as DID).

C

Caretaker / Nurturer — A part whose role is to soothe, protect, or care for younger/vulnerable parts (and sometimes external others).

CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) — Therapy focused on connections between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors; often used for anxiety/depression and stabilization skills.

Co-conscious / Co-consciousness (“co-con”) — Awareness shared between two or more parts; parts may observe, share thoughts/emotions, or jointly track the external world.

Co-fronting — A form of co-consciousness where two or more parts share executive control of the body to varying degrees.

Co-hosting — Community term for two or more parts who regularly share primary responsibility for daily life/executive functioning.

Comorbidity — The co-occurrence of two or more conditions that can interact while remaining distinct diagnoses.

Complex Internal World Structure — An elaborate inner world with distinct areas (sometimes “layers”) that may be separated by amnestic barriers; more commonly described in highly complex systems.

Complex PTSD (C-PTSD / DESNOS) — Chronic trauma impacts including emotion regulation problems, relational disturbance, negative self-concept, and dissociation; may involve parts-like experiences without meeting DID criteria.

Containment — A stabilization skill that imaginally “stores” distressing material safely (e.g., EMDR container, waiting room) to prevent flooding.

Cooperation — Parts coordinating intentionally toward shared goals (safety, daily functioning, treatment).

Core / Original — Community terms for a “first” self; controversial because many systems do not experience a single original identity as distinct from other parts.

Cross-gender — A part whose gender differs from the body’s sex assigned at birth.

D

DA (Dissociative Amnesia) — See dissociative amnesia.

DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) — Skills-based therapy emphasizing mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness; often useful in stabilization.

DD (Dissociative Disorder) — Umbrella term for dissociative disorders (DID, OSDD, DPDR, dissociative amnesia, etc.).

DDNOS (Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified) — Older DSM-IV term roughly replaced by OSDD in DSM-5.

Depersonalization — Feeling detached from one’s self, body, or mental processes (e.g., “I’m watching myself from outside”).

Derealization — Feeling the external world is unreal, distant, foggy, or dreamlike.

DPDR (Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder) — Recurrent depersonalization and/or derealization with intact reality testing.

Destabilization — Loss of functioning or increased symptoms due to stress, trauma work, or system conflict (e.g., increased switching, flooding, shutdown).

DSM / DSM-5 — Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition is DSM-5), published by the APA.

Dissociation — A disruption in integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, or behavior (can be protective or impairing).

Dissociative Amnesia — Inability to recall important autobiographical information inconsistent with ordinary forgetting; can be localized, selective, systematized, or generalized.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) — Presence of distinct self-states with discontinuity in self/agency and recurrent amnesia or marked compartmentalization.

Dormant Part — A part that is currently inactive or inaccessible (may reappear with triggers or treatment progress).

Doubt Spiral — Intensifying self-doubt about diagnosis, memories, or parts that can increase anxiety, dissociation, and instability.

Dual Awareness — The ability to stay oriented to present safety while contacting traumatic material (“then-and-now” awareness).

E

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) — Trauma therapy using bilateral stimulation during processing; requires careful stabilization when dissociation is significant.

Emotional Amnesia — Remembering events without access to the associated emotions (or vice versa: feeling without narrative memory).

Emotional/Memory Bleedthrough — Experiencing emotions, images, urges, or memories that feel “not mine,” often due to passive influence or reduced barriers.

Emotional Flooding — Overwhelming affect activation (often EP-driven) that exceeds window of tolerance and impairs functioning.

EP (Emotional Part) — In structural dissociation, a trauma-related part holding traumatic memory networks and defensive responses; associated with “positive PTSD” features (intrusions, hyperarousal).

Exile — IFS term for a vulnerable part holding pain, fear, shame, grief, or trauma.

Exposure Therapy — Gradual, controlled exposure to feared stimuli to reduce avoidance (used carefully when dissociation is present).

F

Factitious Disorder — Intentional production or exaggeration of symptoms to adopt the sick role (not primarily for external gain).

False Memory Syndrome / FMSF — A controversial, non-diagnostic concept promoted by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (dissolved 2019); often discussed in the context of recovered-memory controversies.

Final Fusion — A stable state where all parts are fused into one identity with enduring lowered dissociative barriers; not required for recovery.

Firefighter — IFS term for a part that rapidly acts to reduce distress (often impulsive, avoidant, or numbing strategies).

Flashback — Re-experiencing trauma-related material (sensory, emotional, somatic, or narrative) in the present.

Flooding Risk — The risk that trauma activation will exceed coping capacity, causing shutdown, switching, self-harm urges, or crisis.

Fragment — A less differentiated part often organized around a single function, emotion, memory, or task.

Front / Fronting — The part currently in executive control and interacting with the external world.

Front Stuck — Community term for difficulty switching away from the current fronting part (often in stress, fatigue, or safety concerns).

Fronter(s) — Parts who frequently front and handle daily life; may include host/co-hosts.

Functional Multiplicity — A recovery goal emphasizing stable cooperation and shared functioning without requiring full fusion.

Fusion — Two or more parts permanently merging into one identity (may occur gradually and voluntarily, but not “forced”).

G

Gatekeeper — A part that manages switching, access to front, memory access, or internal-world access; may overlap with ISH roles.

Grounding — Orienting to present reality and safety using sensory cues, movement, self-talk, and context reminders.

Grounding Techniques — Specific grounding strategies to reduce dissociation/anxiety/flashbacks (e.g., 5-4-3-2-1 senses, temperature change, naming time/place).

H

Headspace / Inner World / Internal World — Subjective internal landscape where parts may interact; can be symbolic and not universal.

Host — The part most consistently responsible for daily life; may or may not be the “original.”

Hosting / “Out” — Community terms essentially meaning fronting/executive control.

Hypervigilance — Persistent scanning for threat and readiness to react; common in PTSD/trauma-related parts.

Hypnotherapy — Therapy using trance/focused attention; can increase suggestibility and is approached cautiously in DID due to flooding/false memory risk.

I

Iatrogenic — Caused by medical/therapeutic intervention; sometimes claimed (controversially) in debates about DID etiology.

ICD-11 — International Classification of Diseases (11th edition), published by WHO; includes Partial DID diagnosis.

Identity Confusion — Uncertainty about “who I am right now,” values, preferences, or sense of self; may reflect blending, passive influence, or switching.

Inner Voices — Internal communication perceived as voices/thoughts from parts; differs from psychosis when reality testing is intact.

Inside — Community term for being in the inner world (not fronting).

Insider — Community synonym for alter/part.

Integrate / Integration — Increased sharing, cooperation, and reduced dissociative barriers across parts; can include (but isn’t identical to) fusion.

Integration Work — Treatment phase/process emphasizing coherence, collaboration, shared narrative, and (if desired) fusion.

Internal Attachment Repair — Building secure, caring relationships among parts and reducing phobias of inner experience.

Internal Communication — Dialogue or information exchange among parts (direct or indirect).

Internal Compassion — An attitude of curiosity and care toward parts (reduces polarization and shame).

Internal Conference — Community term for intentional internal meeting/coordination among parts.

Internal Conflict — Parts having competing goals (e.g., safety vs attachment, disclosure vs secrecy).

Internal Self Helper (ISH) — A part with broad knowledge of the system and a stabilizing/organizing role; may advise and coordinate.

Introject — A part shaped by an external figure (real or fictional), often mirroring traits, beliefs, voice, or appearance; may include abuser introjects.

ISSTD — International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation.

ISTSS — International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

L

Layer (Inner World) — A section of inner world separated by barriers such that some parts cannot access it.

Level — Community term sometimes used like “layer,” sometimes like “subsystem”; definitions vary.

Little — A child part (often under ~8, sometimes broader).

Lost Time / Time Loss — A period that cannot be accounted for due to amnesia while another part was active; may be unnoticed initially.

M

Main — Community term for the most frequently fronting part (often host, but not always).

Malingering — Intentional feigning/exaggeration of symptoms for external gain (money, drugs, avoiding work/legal consequences).

Manager — IFS term for a controlling/protective part that maintains functioning and prevents vulnerability.

Masking — Concealing dissociation/parts presentation to appear consistent, “normal,” or safe socially.

Median System — Community term typically meaning a system with less distinct separation between parts (definition varies widely online).

Memory Holder — A part that contains memories (often traumatic, sometimes positive or attachment-related) that other parts can’t access.

Memory Sharing — Increasing access to each other’s memories and experiences across parts.

Middle — Community term for a pre-teen/older child part (often ~8–12).

MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder) — Older diagnosis name for DID.

Multiple / “Multie” — Community term for a person with more than one self-state/alter in one body.

N

Neglect — Failure to meet a child’s physical, emotional, educational, or medical needs; may be chronic, covert, and highly dissociogenic.

NIS (Neutral Identity State) — Older/alternative term sometimes used similarly to ANP.

Non-human Part — A part experiencing itself as non-human (animal/mythic/other); may reflect symbolism, coping, developmental context, or specific trauma meaning.

NPC (Internal World “NPC”) — Community term for inner-world entities that are not alters and cannot front (not a clinical term; varies by community).

O

OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) — Disorder involving obsessions and compulsions; can co-occur with dissociation but is distinct.

OSDD (Other Specified Dissociative Disorder) — Clinically significant dissociation that doesn’t meet full criteria for DID (commonly OSDD-1 variants).

OSDDID — Community umbrella shorthand for DID + OSDD presentations (not a clinical diagnosis).

Otherkin (system context) — Community term for non-human-identified parts; borrowed from non-clinical identity communities.

P

Partial DID (pDID) — ICD-11 diagnosis: a dominant personality state with intrusions from dissociated self-states; often less pervasive switching than DID.

Parts Disappearing — Subjective experience that parts are inaccessible/quiet; may be protective withdrawal, reduced co-consciousness, or increased barriers under stress.

Passive Influence — Intrusions from a non-fronting part into thoughts, emotions, urges, perceptions, skills, or behavior.

Persecutor — A part using harsh, shaming, or harmful strategies (often internalized abuse) aimed at “protection” through control, punishment, or sabotage.

Phase-Oriented Treatment — Standard DID model: (1) stabilization/safety, (2) trauma processing, (3) integration/rehabilitation.

Phobia of Inner Experience — Avoidance/fear of trauma memories, emotions, bodily sensations, or parts.

Phobia — A disproportionate fear response to specific objects/situations; can be targeted with exposure-based approaches.

PNES (Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures) — Seizure-like episodes arising from psychological distress (a functional neurological symptom).

Polyfragmentation / Polyfragmented DID (pf-DID) — A highly complex presentation often involving many parts and subsystems, frequent splitting, and strong compartmentalization; definitions vary and “alter count” alone is not a reliable criterion.

Post-Traumatic Growth — Positive change after trauma (meaning-making, resilience, relational depth), not implying trauma was “worth it.”

Primary Structural Dissociation — One ANP + one EP (often classic PTSD presentations).

Programmed/Controlled Parts — Community/clinical term sometimes used in organized/ritual abuse contexts for parts conditioned to carry beliefs/behaviors; handle cautiously and avoid leading assumptions.

Protector — A part focused on safety (may manage threat, prevent attachment, take abuse, or use strong strategies to stop vulnerability).

Proxy Switching — Community term; often refers to influencing another’s switching or indirectly triggering switching (definitions vary).

Psychosis vs Dissociation — In dissociation, reality testing is usually intact even if inner voices and identity shifts occur; in psychosis, delusions/hallucinations reflect impaired reality testing.

Psychotherapy / Talk Therapy — Umbrella for therapy approaches using dialogue (CBT, DBT, interpersonal, family therapy, etc.).

PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) — Trauma disorder with intrusion, avoidance, negative mood/cognition changes, and hyperarousal; may include dissociative subtype.

pwDID — “Person/people with DID” (community abbreviation).

R

RA / SRA (Religious Abuse / Satanic Ritual Abuse) — Abuse involving religious/ritual elements; SRA is historically tied to moral panic and controversial memory practices. “Ritual abuse” does not necessarily imply Satanic content.

Rapid Switching — Frequent switches over short time spans.

Recovered Memory Therapy — 1980s–90s practices aimed at uncovering hidden trauma memories (often suggestion-heavy); associated with risk of memory contamination.

Religious Abuse — Abuse involving religious coercion, institutional harm, or spiritualized control (e.g., forced exorcism, medical neglect, conversion practices).

Repressed/Dissociated Memories — Trauma memories that are inaccessible to some parts/awareness and may be actively avoided due to symptom activation.

Resourcing — Building internal/external supports that increase stability and widen window of tolerance.

Revictimization — Increased risk of subsequent interpersonal trauma after earlier trauma exposure.

Ritual Abuse — Abuse carried out in a ritualized/organized manner (not synonymous with SRA).

S

SA/CSA/CoCSA — Sexual abuse / childhood sexual abuse / child-on-child sexual abuse.

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders — Psychotic disorders involving delusions/hallucinations/disorganized thought; differential diagnosis is crucial when voices/identity issues are present.

Secondary Structural Dissociation — One ANP + multiple EPs (often complex PTSD/OSDD-like patterns).

Secret Keeper — A part whose role is to keep knowledge (often abuse-related) compartmentalized from the rest of the system.

Self-Care — Behaviors supporting health, functioning, and recovery.

Self-Harm Parts — Parts that express distress through self-injury urges or behaviors.

Self-Leadership — IFS concept: steady, compassionate “Self” presence that can lead parts.

Shell Alter — Community term for a minimally elaborated identity used for functioning (term debated; can pathologize).

Shutdown / Collapse — Hypoarousal/freeze response leading to numbness, immobility, disconnection, or loss of executive function.

Singleton / Singlet — Community term for someone who experiences a single identity/self-state (not a clinical term).

Sociocognitive Model — View that DID arises largely from social influence/suggestion; contrasted with traumagenic models. (The debate exists; careful, non-polarizing wording is best clinically.)

Somatic Flashbacks — Trauma re-experiencing primarily in bodily sensations without narrative memory.

Somatic Symptom Disorder — Significant distress/impairment related to physical symptoms with strong psychological components.

Somatoform Dissociation — Dissociation expressed through bodily symptoms (e.g., anesthesia, motor changes, PNES).

Split / Splitting — Formation of a new part in response to overwhelming stress when existing parts cannot integrate/process the experience.

Stabilization — Building safety, skills, routines, and internal cooperation to prevent flooding and improve functioning.

Structural Dissociation (theory) — Model describing dissociative division of the personality into ANPs and EPs due to trauma and impaired integration.

Sub-system / Subsystem — A group of parts with stronger internal communication within the group and limited communication with the broader system; may have distinct internal-world areas.

Suicidal Parts — Parts oriented toward escape/relief through death; require careful safety planning and internal negotiation.

Switch / Switching — Change in executive control (which part is primarily in control); may be triggered, consensual, forced, rapid, or gradual.

Switchy — Feeling as if a switch is about to occur (often includes dizziness, blurring, pressure, confusion).

System — The collective of parts within one body.

System Accountability — Community/clinical idea that the system is responsible for safety and behavior across parts (without shaming parts).

System Mapping — Identifying parts, roles, relationships, triggers, and patterns to support treatment.

System Stabilization — Consistent functioning through cooperation, skill use, and reduced internal conflict.

T

Teen — A teenage part (commonly ~13–18; sometimes broader).

Tertiary Structural Dissociation — Multiple ANPs and multiple EPs (classic DID configuration in the model).

Therapy Interference — Internal processes/parts that disrupt therapy (missed sessions, blocking memory, flooding, sabotage), usually protective in intent.

Time Distortion — Subjective speeding/slowing/warping of time during dissociation.

Titration — Processing trauma material in small, manageable doses to prevent flooding.

Trauma Processing — Working directly with traumatic memory networks (after stabilization), using approaches like EMDR, modified exposure, narrative work, etc.

Traumagenic — Traumatic in origin; commonly used to describe DID as arising from chronic developmental trauma.

Trigger — A cue that activates trauma responses (intrusions, arousal changes, dissociation) and/or switching.

U–W

UDD (Unspecified Dissociative Disorder) — Diagnosis used when dissociative symptoms are significant but don’t yet fit a specific category (common in acute/ER settings).

WHO (World Health Organization) — Publishes ICD-11.

Window of Tolerance — Optimal arousal zone where emotions can be felt and processed without hyperarousal (panic/flooding) or hypoarousal (shutdown/dissociation).