<-- -->

Free Web Hosting : Free Hosting : Troubled Teens : Report Abuse
Glossary
Multiple: The state of having more than one person/soul/spirit etc sharing one body. Sometimes also called Plural.
Plural: The state of having more than one person sharing one body. Sometimes also called Multiple, although the term Plural is often broader in scope and also includes people who are Midcontinuum, or otherwise don't consider themselves Multiple, but are not Singletons either.
Mid-Continuum: Somewhere on the scale between Multiple and Singleton. Neither one nor the other, but something in between, or having the qualities of both. Check out this website.
Singleton: Having only one person/soul/spirit etc in the body.
System: A term sometimes used to refer to the group of people that share a body. Some Multiples refer to it as a Household, Collective, Group, or by some other term.
Insider: The preferred term for an alter; a person inside the system.
Alter: The medical/psychiatric term for a person inside the system. It comes from a shortening of "Alternate Personality", which implies that those in a system are not real people, therefore this term is not popular among Empowered Multiples.
Fronting: An Insider who has control of the body is said to be Fronting.
Switching: When an Insider takes Front, or assumes control of the body from another insider, they are said to be Switching.
Switchy: An adjective referring to a period of rapid or prolonged switching.
Core Personality: According to medical/psychiatric terminology, the Core personality is the original "body-owner". The one who was born in the body.
Host: According to medical/psychiatric terminology, the Host is the alter which has the greatest amount of control over the body; the one which fronts most often. However, among some Multiple communities, particularly Otherkin, this term also can be used in place of "Multiple"; as in "I am a Host" meaning "I am Multiple". It can also mean the system as a whole (a host=a collective or group).
Walk-in: An external spirit which has entered the body, with or without evicting the original body-owner.
Otherkin "Otherkin" are those whose soul/spirit (and maybe also their body) is not human, or not entirely human. The term Otherkin is usually used to refer to those entities normally regarded as "mythological", such as elves, faeries, dragons etc. There is some overlap between Multiples and Otherkin; many Multiple systems have insiders who are not human.
Co-Conscious: Insiders who are co-conscious share an awareness of each-other's experiences and memories. Sometimes called co-awareness.
Co-Awareness: Insiders who are co-aware share an awareness of each-other's experiences and memories. Sometimes called co-consciousness.
Empowerment: Multiples who are Empowered reject the victim-mentality. They regard Multiplicity as something positive, rather than as a disorder. Empowered Multiples are, or strive to be, functional in their daily lives.
Survivor: Originally this was a positive term used by those who had experienced Trauma but who ceased to regard themselves as Victims. In practise, some of those who call themselves Survivors may still hang on to that Victim mentality.
Integration: The goal of most therapists treating Multiples, is to Integrate the various alters into one whole single personality. Many Empowered Multiples do not want to be Integrated.
Purpled: An adjective describing the sensation of temporary integration. While a system is Purpled, it is not possible to sense individuals within the system, only a feeling of group-gestalt. The term was coined by Dandelion.
Losing Time: This happens when an Insider forgets to inform the others about what they did while they were fronting. When someone else takes front, they are unaware of what the first person did and they have the sensation of "lost time". It happens more with systems that are less co-conscious.
Other/Inner World: In some systems this is the place where insiders go when they are not Fronting.
Littles: Insiders who are very young are sometimes called "Littles". Some Multiples feel this to be derogatory, and prefer their younger insiders to be called "kids" or "children".
Age-slider: An Insider whose age changes by means other than normal aging.
Gender-shifter: An Insider whose gender changes.
Trigger: An event or experience which causes a reaction, which may include involuntary switching, a certain Insider taking Front, or a certain insider to react in a certain way. In practical use this term is nearly always used to refer to negative reactions such as panic attacks.
Trigger Warning: In internet communication, a Trigger warning is a warning at the top of a post that gives a warning if the subject-matter is frequently triggering, such as a post about abuse experiences. Survivor-based forums generally require trigger warnings in posts while Empowered forums don't. See also Splats and Spoilers.
Splats: Asterisks used to blank out certain letters in certain potentially triggering words, such as ab*s* for abuse. Theoretically this reduces the chance of someone being triggered, and is usually required in Survivor-based forums but not in Empowered forums. See also Trigger Warning and Spoilers.
Spoilers: A block of blank lines in front of a post that may be triggering. Theoretically this prevents easily triggered people from reading it by accident. Spoilers are usually required on Survivor forums but nor on Empowered Forums, unless you are talking about the latest movie or episodes of Buffy! See also Trigger Warning and Splats.
Soul-bonding: A Soul-bonder, like a Mid-continuum, is in a sense neither Multiple nor Singleton. Soul-bonders acknowledge other entities, or people, or aspects of people, which may be experienced internally or externally. A good website on Soulbonding can be found here, if you can stand the popups. This is not to be confused with Soul-bonding as used by the Otherkin community, in which the term refers to an especially deep and powerful relationship between two people that often spans many lifetimes.