Terminology

There are a lot of terms used on this site which you might not be familiar with. I'm going to attempt to define them for you now. Red links go to other pages. Orange links go within this terminology page. Visited links turn gray.

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Age Slider - Person in a system whose age changes. One day they might be eight, and the next they might be 23.

Alter - Term given for a person in a multiple system. Is considered to be very derogatory by some empowered multiples.

Being Out - The experience of being the one in the body at the time. The person who is out may or may not be co-conscious with others in the body who are near the front.

Blurring - when one's identity feels uncertain because of the potential of others in the system being close to the front. May occur during co-consciousness.

Channelling - Allowing a spirit or other entity to speak through a person. People who channel may or may not be multiple, but there are certainly crossovers between multiplicity and channelling.

Claudia - (noun) - Term given to children in a system who have the mentality of adults. They might say they are are 7 or 8 years old, and yet have been that age for decades, with enough life experience to make them adults mentally.

CO-conscious - The state where two or more people in a multiple system have a telepathic link with each other, and are able to share some things or everything, almost as if they were one person.

Co-present - The experience of more than one person fronting at once; more than one person forward or out at the same time, without necessarily being able to know what other people fronting are thinking.

Collective - See System.

Core - Term used for the person assumed to be "original" or "real" one. It is not difficult to understand, therefore, why many multiples find this term offensive - particularly systems which started out multiple, rather than one splitting into many. Often singlets assume that the host is the core.

Dissociative Identity Disorder - A diagnosis given to multiples in therapy. It does not fit multiples who have gotten past the disorder phase, and learned to work together. The definition itself suggests there is only one "real" person who's deluded into thinking he or she is many.

DSM-IV - Stands for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th edition. It is within this manual that the diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder can be found. Empowered Multiples have dropped the diagnostic label, as it no longer suits us.

Earth world - Term some multiples use to describe the world they share with those not in their body. It is the world that we share with you, as opposed to our other world.

Empowered Multiples - There is still a lot of debate of what this term means, exactly. Basically, it's a term given to multiples who have moved out of the survivor and/or victim stance, and into a more self-sufficient and empowered way of living. Empowered multiples are systems who see
multiplicity as good and beneficial as opposed to a "disorder".

FMS - Abbreviation for False Memory Syndrome.

False Memory Syndrome - The belief that memories recovered during hypnosis in therapy are false. People who believe in False Memory Syndrome tend to believe that multiples are not real. This belief is based on the assumption that all multiples claim abuse histories, that all multiples are in therapy, and that all multiples have had their memories recovered via hypnosis. There are plenty of sites which debunk False Memory Syndrome, which isn't even a real syndrome in the DSM-IV.

Fluffy - Derogatory term used to describe multiples who need to be heavily protected from the outside world using spoilers and trigger warnings.

Fronting - Being at the front; act of being out in the body. E.g.."John was out in the earth world, so he was fronting."

Group - See System.

Host - 1. Term given to the person who is at the front the most. It is considered derogatory by many in the empowered multiple community. 2. In the otherkin community, host is the term used for multiples in general. Rather than using the term to imply one person who leads the show, it means the entire collective. If you get confused at the usage by a group of multiples you encounter, ask them for clarification.

Household - See System.

Inner World - See Other World. Some people see "inner world" as inaccurate, because it implies something that is imaginary or only in one's mind rather than an alternate reality. Hence the reason many multiples are calling it an other world rather than an inner one.

Integration - A controversial act where all the people in a multiple system merge into one. This is a heated issue in the community, but most feel it should be a unanimous decision of everyone in a particular system whether or not to integrate or stay separate.

Introject - A person, real or ficticious, from the earth world which is internalized by the multiple system and becomes a part of their world. May or may not have as much substance as the other people in the system. The term is seen as derogatory by some in the empowered multiple community.

Lil - Slang for 'little'. A person under the age of 13 in a system. Most feel this term to be derogatory, and would rather refer to their children as kids.

Little - See lil.

Losing Time - The experience of being inside while someone else was out, and missing the chunk of time that they were there. Losing time can also occur when a person in the system is out, but cannot retain memories of events.

Merge - See integration.

Mid-Continuum - Being somewhere on the spectrum between multiple and singlet. Since many people feel the idea of a continuum to be inaccurate, many are seeking a new term instead of mid-continuum.

MPD/DID - Abbreviation for Multiple Personality Disorder/Dissociative Identity Disorder. The diagnosis found in the DSM-IV for multiplicity. Since it does not accurately describe the experience of being an empowered multiple, the community has decided to drop this label.

Multiple - Two or more people who use the same body; The experience of sharing the body with others. May or may not be associated with losing time, hearing voices, having an other world.

Multiplicity - The state of being multiple.

Multiple Personality Disorder - See Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Natural Multiples - Multiples which developed naturally without being created by abuse and/or trauma.

Otherkin - People in a multiple system who are not human. Often they are walk-ins, claiming to be older than the body in which they reside, and having physical traits very different from the body itself. Multiples are often hosts to otherkin.

Other World - Also known as an "inner world". This is the alternate reality where people in multiple systems go when they are not out in the body.

Outsider - Person outside of the multiple system.

Personality - A word used to describe a person in a multiple system. It is no longer used in the empowered multiple community in that capacity. It is now used as something a person in a system has. E.g.. "Daimon of the Anachronic Army has a dark personality."

Possession - When the body is controlled by some entity or person who did not originate in the body. Often seen as demons, these walk-ins are frequently just people within the multiple system who are unwanted - either by someone in the multiple system itself, or by outsiders.

Singlet - A person who does not share their body with anyone else; someone who is not in a multiple system. Many find this term derogatory, so the term singletype was suggested as an alternative.

Singleton - See singlet.

Singletype - The more polite term for a person who is alone in their body. See singlet.

Snarfplat - See singlet. A facetious name for singlets which caught on.

Split - The act of one or more people in a multiple system creating a new person, either on purpose or by accident. Considered by some in the empowered community to be derogatory.

Spoiler - Putting *s in place of vowels of a word. E.g.. G*d instead of God. This is used on survivor lists and forums to avoid offending or triggering others there. The Dark Personalities community does not use these.

Survivor - Person who has been through abuse and/or trauma. When used in a derogatory fashion, refers to a person who is trapped in the past and unable to get on with their life.

Survivor Multiple - A multiple system where one or many people in the system have survived abuse and/or trauma. Empowered multiples may or may not have been through abuse, but they do not identify themselves solely by what they have been through.

System - An alternate term for a multiple. The following are also alternates to the term multiple: tribe, household, group, collective, house, clan.

Switching - The act of one person in a multiple system going inside the system, while another one comes to the front.

Tribe - See System.

Trigger Warning - A warning placed in the title of an email or post to let possible readers know that the content might trigger them.

Trigger - An object, scent, sound, touch or experience which causes something to happen in the system. It could either cause a certain person to come to the front, or it could cause the person at the front to react a certain way, possibly going into anxiety attacks. However, memories that are stimulated by a trigger can be bad or good.

UIL - Abbreviation for "using I loosely". It is used when a post or conversation uses the pronouns "I" or "me" throughout, since switching pronouns from I to we might get a little confusing.

Walk-in - A person in a multiple system which came from outside the body. This might be the result of channelling, possession, or unexplained phenomena. Often otherkin in a system are walk-ins.

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If you can think of some terms we might have missed, email us and let us know!