Misconceptions
DID/OSDD is an illness
Being a system is absolutely not an illness! It is a disorder, it even says it in the title of the disorders. Dissociative Identity Disorder, Otherwise Specified Dissociative Disorder.
Oh you have DID? So it's like the movie split?
No! Not at all! Split was an incredibly inaccurate representation of DID, especially because it demonizes the disorder itself as well as having persecutors. It also makes it seem like it's supernatural. DID is not supernatural in the slightest. DID is a trauma disorder. People with DID (and other dissociative disorders!) are more likely to be the victim than the abuser!
Persecutors are evil
No, persecutors are not evil. Persecutor alters are misguided protectors. When they are harmful to people, inside the system or outside, they think they are being helpful, when in reality, they aren't.
Oh, you have introjects, you must be fake then.
Introjects are not indictive of faking at all. In fact, a large number of introjects in one system can point to being neurodivergent, or even more specifically, autistic. Having a few introjects is even normal for allistic and neurotypical systems, but a system with a lot of introjects, especially all from one source is a sign of fixating on something during a traumatic or heavily stressful period of time.
Okay, but DSMP introjects are for sure fake.
Did you read anything I said in the last paragraph? Source does not define the realness of an introject. The source being problematic does not define the realness of an introject. The popularity of a source does not define the realness of an introject.
All alters are extremely different. You guys are super similar.
Every system is different and how much variety there is in personality completely depends on what was/is needed to survive. Some systems may have incredibly similar alters because they need to be able to mask, other systems may have completely different alters so the brain has an easier time dissociating events from person. Alters can be very similar, or they can be very different.
Alters need to disagree and argue! You clearly don't do that, so you're faking.
I'm sure every system has small disagreements here and there, but nowhere in the DSM-5 does it say you need to argue or have conflict with your alters. Actually, it seems to be more common to not argue. After all, the disorder forms because your brain is trying to survive trauma, it would make sense that if your parts are aware of each other and they aren't persecutors, they would be trying to work together.
You have barely any alters/You have way too many alters
There is no such thing as “too many” or “not enough alters, there is no statement in the DSM on how many alters you can have. That being said, OSDD-1a is a type of system with very similar parts. They often have very small systems because of the lack of diversity in their alters. Polyfragmented systems are a thing, too, on the opposite end. A polyfragmented system is a system with a very high count of alters. You can read more in <#1001201878945767445>.
Aside from those 2 examples, I can't emphasize enough: all systems are different. Trauma plays a huge part into alter count, the brain deciding "we need an alter for this thing!" plays a big part, how sensitive a person is to trauma/stress plays a part, and in neurodivergent, especially autistic and/or adhd systems, special interests and hyperfixations during traumatic and/or stressful situations can play huge parts in what kind of alters split and how many split.
DID Forms when you’re an adult, you can’t get it as a child, right?
No! DID, and OSDD-1 are developed during childhood! Some people are completely unaware of their system until later in life, and some can be aware even during childhood. Alters are present during childhood in all cases, but may hide themselves until the body is in a safer environment, which could be when they are in their 20's, 30's, 40's and so on. You can discover your system at any given time.
Isn't this just roleplay?
No! Being a system is not roleplay. The difference between being a system and roleplaying is incredibly obvious. Being a system is not a choice, it is not fun, and it is not acting. Alters are their own people with feelings, names, pronouns, ages, opinions, appearances, etc, whereas roleplay is playing as a character for fun, it is acting.
I would love to be a system, it seems so fun having friends/fictional characters in your head!
There is so much wrong with this statement. There are so many issues with being a system. Some systems end up having arguments all the time, it's not always "oh, we're best friends!" Some systems have such heavy amnesia they forget weeks or months. Some systems don't have introjects anyways, so the fictional character statement isn't even entirely true. And most importantly, all systems are formed from trauma. Being a system means you were traumatized as a young child. Being a system is not fun or quirky or cool or having friends in your head.
How does that new alter understand everything?? Don't alters know nothing when they form?
I honestly don't understand why this is such a common belief. No, alters don't have to be completely oblivious to the world around them or their own system or how their system works. If anything, they would probably understand all that stuff quickly because of the need to mask, since that's how CDDs work.
You're all seperate people so you all have a seperate conscious, right?
No, that's complete misinfo. Alter is short for alternate state of consciousness, not alternate consciousness. A different state of consciousness is just a different perspective of consciousness if that makes any sense. Everyone has one consciousness, but you can divide it up into separate areas of focus. For example, talking to someone while doing something else like drawing or driving or eating-- so that's sort of what an alter is!