FAQ

Back

...So I'm Plural.

I experience Dissociative Identity Disorder and identify as plural. There are a bunch of individuals sharing space in my head, and we work together to function as a system. If you're meeting me at work or at a large gathering, you wouldn't know about this. But when I'm not spending spoons on putting on a good social performance I forget large chunks of day to day life, I space out pretty badly when asked to switch contexts, and my personality changes based on which alter is fronting at the time. Everything else on this page is just details about what that all means.

So we know this is a lot to take in. The first time we met a system it was hard for us to parse their experiences. We hope this answers some of your most common questions. We also link out to some of our favorite videos and resources on the DID experience.

The short version

✅We are the Arcade System, or the Arcades. Naming a system is a community tradition that helps to separate our identity from the trauma that made us into a multiple.

✅When talking about our system, we use we/us pronouns to indicate that we're talking about the system as a whole.

✅The members of the system take turns "fronting," or controlling the body

✅If you are willing, it is polite to ask who is in front when we meet up - it lets us know that you are willing to see and respect the system members as individuals

✅System members don't always have access to every experience we've ever had together, so please consider that when we talk. The current fronter may respond with "I wasn't there for that," which means they can't access the memory of that event. They may need a moment to ask around in the system to remember what you're talking about. ask someone inside to shair their memory.

Why DID?

Dissociative Identity Disorder is a last-ditch defense mechanism used by children growing up within inescapable and overwhelming trauma. A child given no other escape route to an overwhelming stressor may choose to separate the trauma behind amnesiac barriers so that they can continue to function. Over time, these segregated parts grow, learn, and change alongside the "host" personality, adopting different identities, genders, likes, dislikes, and goals. (And if you want to know what happened to us, specifically, please don't ask. We don't like sharing that, and thinking about it may trigger PTSD flashbacks.)

Why the Arcades?

Arcades were the safest and happiest place we would go to while growing up, so we decided to name our collective after them. The multiple community created the system naming tradition to separate the system - the group of alters in a DID brain - from the stigma and trauma of what made the system exist. It also helps us to define ourselves in a more deliberate way than "Austen, who has voices in their head."

"...so you're Austen and the alters, right?"

Not quite. No one in the system is named Austen, but we all respond to that name. (Think of it like an API, or a catch-all term for the system.) We used to have a system member who went by Austen but they changed their name out of respect of the system.

By way of explanation, we don't want folks to see any one of us as the "real" one. There is no original, no main alter, and each alter exists for a reason. We are a team, and we succeed when we work as a leaderless cooperative.

"What should I do if you dissociate?"

Dissociation often presents as confusion, an inability to talk, and a trance-like state for us. We probably have to talk to folks inside and find out who needs what. If you know of a quiet place where we can go to collect ourselves, please let us know. We usually use grounding tools like fidget toys, strong scents, and grounding exercises to interrupt dissociation.

"I have a question but don't want to offend / ask stupid questions / make you uncomfortable-"

Please, please ask us! This gets covered in one of The Alexandrite System's videos we link below but when you ask questions it lets us know that 1) you want to engage with the system as a system and 2) you aren't just dismissing this as a weird... thing we're doing for a laugh. This is a big part of who we are now; last thing we want you to feel about our system is that it's too bizarre or too difficult to engage with.

...Besides, we're trans. belive us when we say that you can't come close to asking the most embarrassing or terrible question we've ever heard.