#functional multiplicity

[reimeichan]

Stages of DID recovery

Stage 1: my brain is so quiet. I feel nothing. hear nothing. remember nothing. it's just... nothing.

Stage 2: HOLY FUCK THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE HERE SHUT SHUT UP SHUT UP STOP THINKING THERE'S TOO MUCH THINKING

Stage 3: we're now in sync, everything is in peace, we understand each other, sometimes we need to talk but it's fine it's not as chaotic-

Stage 4: HOLY FUCK I'M FEELING AND THINKING EVERYTHING FROM EVERYONE THERE IS NOTHING STOPPING THESE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS FROM EXISTING THIS IS TOO MUCH SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UPPPPP

Stage 5: actually this is normal and fine. we're good.

[kaboom--bitch]

Treating your headmates like separate people isn't worsening your condition by default by the way. Treating them with respect isn't making you dissociate more. Final fusion is a fine thing to try and achieve, but people need to understand that functional multiplicity is a thing you can work to achieve in therapy too. Please stop pushing the idea that you need to treat your headmates like a disorder or curse in order to heal. You can be happily multiple if you want that.

[thrivingwhilemultiple]

Who I was changed regularly, faces coming and going without warning; I was so many, too many, thus I wound up being nobody. Nothing stayed static — I never stayed static — there was no starting point. We were a jumbled, erratic galaxy, a constantly-shifting kaleidoscope of constellations, incapable of being neatly filed into a list.

[draconicred]

Hey, system originals and hosts--or whatever word you'd use. And anyone else who needs to hear it.

It's ok if you want to put your headmates first, before even IRL connections you have. It's not wrong. You're not "cringe". You're not evil or selfish or "worsening your condition" by default. You share your body with your headmates. Whether you view them as parts of your'self' or not, you share a singular form you all have to coexist inside of. People outside your body shouldn't get a say as to what you do with it.

It's ok if you want to do things for them that you wouldn't otherwise do with your life. It's ok if you need to make compromises together about what path you wanna take, and change up some life plans until you can all agree or at least be okay with them. It's ok if the closest connections to anyone you have are those within your own body. It's ok to not want to be close to people unless they accept everyone in your system.

You're not anti-recovery. You're not "giving up" your body to some evil parasite. You're not "throwing your life away because of an illness". You're not bad if you "make everything about your system" because those people are a part of your life as much as any other friend or partner or coworker, you should be able to talk about them.

If you want to make decisions about your body as a collective, please do. You can live a happy and fulfilling life, connected closely with your headmates and all being happy together. It doesn't have to be a struggle 24/7. There will be good days, there will be bad. You won't always agree easily. Things can be difficult, but you aren't wrong for wanting your system to be as big of a part in your life as you yourself are.

[lgbtransgirl]

After being traumatized and having to be around my abusers for the first 18 years of my life with heavy disassociation and amnesia walls, functional multiplicity feels weird as fuck.

Most of our alters that had specific roles just are hanging around here now. Switching is much easier and can sometimes be done willfully if one of us wants to do something or spend time with our boyfriend and/or partner. Amnesia barriers are almost 100% gone. All of our dormant alters have become active again.

But even with all of that, we are still separate people with our own preferences, wants, needs, etc. Eventually we all got along to the point where all six of us just said fuck it, super polyamory time and now we're all dating each other and both of our partners.

Healing is awesome. Functional multiplicity, final fusion, independent multiplicity, it is all possible. If you're a system reading this, you will be okay. You'll get there one step at a time, I believe in you.

[guardianssystem]

Hello systems, plurals, and multiples of all kinds!

We're looking for some interesting resources, information, and links to add to our document!

This doesn't have to be just scientific studies/research on endogenic and non-traumagenic systems!

We're looking for anything system-related of any kind that you find interesting. An article, some history, a blog post, a book, a study, an FAQ. Traumagenic, endogenic, willogenic, Tulpamancy, spiritual, psychological. Functional/healthy multiplicity, dissociation, disordered and non-disordered plurality, trauma, other disorders, alter/system types.

Dictionaries are great! Guides are great too! Explanations, videos, plural media recommendations (books/movies/shows/games), apps, a list of links that somebody else had made, anything.

If you think you have something to share, but it might be a bit too off-topic, share it anyway! Maybe there's a place for it somewhere :)

The document will still be focused on endogenic research and some information for the most part. But you never know what might help :)

Feel free to share around!

[hiiragi7]

Fully Fused Multiplicity - Simultaneously One and Many

I refer to myself nowadays as a fully fused multiple - an identity that may seem somewhat contradictory, given how often functional multiplicity and final fusion are talked about as one-or-the-other.

Upon reaching final fusion, I came to the realization that the difference between functional multiplicity and final fusion is not and never was this unfathomable gap, that final fusion was not a bridge you crossed once and could never go back to multiple except through force (further traumatization, recovery falling apart, an inability to cope), but rather they are two sides of the same coin, fluid and overlapping and even inseperable from one another. The terms themselves quite honestly don't feel adequate to describe quite how this feels, and I fear they give people a rather binary view on the endless possibilities for recovery, seeing as I had this view before myself.

In my years in plural and system spaces, it was always "are you aiming for functional multiplicity or final fusion?", and so despite my own thoughts on plurality as a framework (if you view yourself as plural/multiple, you're plural/multiple), I somehow found myself surprised to learn the options for recovery as a multiple were never actually this narrow to begin with, and that the two are nowhere near mutually exclusive.

I am functionally multiple and fully fused; I am both, simultaneously, always. I have come to know each as a shift in view, both of which are needed. My parts are perspectives with which to explore life from many different angles. ( @reimeichan 's "Different Readers of the Same Book" frames this elegantly, and this idea has embedded itself in me ever since.)

Both as one and as many, it is a way of knowing myself on the deepest and most intimate level. Final fusion is a radical form of self-love, an absolute acceptance and celebration of everything that I am, and this has dramatically altered the way in which my parts express and how we come together into an overall self. Simultaneously, my parts are a relationship, one that can only be recognized as uniquely multiple in nature and yet has evolved in such a way that becomes difficult to describe using the language I had used before as an unfused multiple. I am undeniably a multiple and I am fully and completely fused.

The fluidity in which I find myself in is incredibly freeing, my self-expression made up of love letters to my parts. My parts are gradients of watercolor on a canvas flowing in and out of each other, only subjective distinction remains between any one of us, myself is the larger painting encompassing everything. All parts of me create a self so unapologetically full of color, the love found there as necessary as breathing. I have come to view even the painful parts as an expression of love.

I find my headcount these days to be infinitely shifting, all at once I am one and I am many. How I visualize myself, how many I am, it all moves with me. Alongside subtle changes in my emotions, my thoughts, my perspective, myself shifts from moment to moment in a way that just feels right. This is me, all of me. This is the love we have created.

[cafedragons]

Thoughts on Previous "Final Fusion"

Heads up at a brief sui mention, nothing graphic nor detailed.

Hi, sysblr! I've had a lot of these thoughts for a while. I fully fused in sometime around May-August of 2024.

It fell apart around February-March 2025 after a series of unexpected life events and the unfortunate beginning of post-viral trigeminal neuralgia.

Literally, it peeled apart. Dissociative barriers between parts increased a little bit, and we split three new alters. Overall, we mainly have four: Theo, Sunburst, Relic, and a half-fragment guy who we're trying to elaborate a little more for stability.

Theo is the closest to our "fused whole" self, made up of Max, Mocha, Toby, Virtue, Jukebox, and Cirrus. Sometimes, they function as "multiple", but they're mostly fully integrated.

Sunburst, Relic, and the fragment guy were all new. Sunburst and Relic split as compliments or foils, while the fragment is still just kind of hanging out. There's not severe blackout amnesia like there was before recovery, even between them and Theo. It's mostly greyout and emotional amnesia, and it's not hugely distressing 99% of the time.

The main difference in our system now as opposed to before "final fusion" is that we actually function quite a bit better this way than as one whole. As I mentioned before, I recently developed trigeminal neuralgia. I already had chronic pain that was tough to manage due to a condition since birth, but I'd had that for so long it mostly didn't bother me. TN is a whole different beast. It is the worst pain I have ever experienced, second to nothing, and it incapacitates me entirely when it flares. I cannot move, speak, or eat when it's at its worst. I can only lay down and sob until I eventually am too exhausted to be awake.

We all need breaks to handle it. Without that level of dissociation, I don't think I'd be alive (genuinely, the pain is bad enough that I've made an attempt on my life). No medications I can have are very helpful, and I can't take the ones that might be helpful without aggravating my other conditions and risking a sharp decline in usable vision (of which I have very little), so dissociating into the void is... kind of the best I have. I can handle the pain in short bursts since I'm slowly sort of getting used to it, but I need to tap out every once in a while because it really starts weighing on my mental state. (This doesn't apply when it's in full swing. At that point, consider me dead to the world because even painkillers at the hospital do absolutely nothing. Those points are somewhat uncommon as long as I'm careful not to touch my face too much or get too stressed.)

Finding this point in my life was a fine balancing act. I don't want to suffer from my pre-recovered DID like I did in the past. (Thankfully, I don't! None of my parts are scary to me anymore since... all of us have been all of them and I don't have the awful night terrors or flashbacks I used to deal with.) At the same time, I don't want to be fully fused again. It quite literally hurt too bad to be alive and I doubt I'll seek FF again unless some sort of breakthrough treatment gets inserted directly into my body.

All this to say... final fusion isn't always final, nor is it the best path for everyone. There are a lot of factors to consider. Your recovery is your own, and nobody else's business.

(At the same time, if you start demonizing final fusion in my notes, I will block you and also kick you into orbit. Final fusion is beautiful and valid even if it's not for you.)

[sysmedsaresexist]

Hot Take

Functional multiplicity and final fusion aren't really all that different in practice and experience, and you should all stop overthinking it

Worrying, fussing, and arguing is only going to stress you out, and we all know what stress does to systems

Relax and stop policing and scaring others, especially if you're not currently experiencing either

Slow down, take things one day a time, recognize and accept that your goals can change, that you collectively have more of a say in what happens than you think, and consider, maybe they're surprisingly similar experiences that are rewarding in ultimately similar ways

[system-of-a-feather]

Visualizing Different Forms of Late Stage Recovery DID / Full Integration

[Note: This is a repost from this post without the long essay attached to it for rebloggability]

We were thinking about it and kind of came to think of a potential visual for Functional Multiplicity VS Final Fusion and the kind of inbetween within the two

We are middle right.

Top Left:

DID prior to any significant amount of processing and recovery; parts are pretty separate from one another with little permeability between parts; some parts are made up of multiple colors

Top Right:

DID during recovery; some parts fuse and meld together to make new parts, others develop some permeability between parts while still maintaining their separation, communication and co-fronting is easy for these parts and they may have a temporary fused state where the areas overlap

Middle Left:

One form of Full Integration; Functional Multiplicity; All parts are connected through permeable barriers and parts are mostly functioning independently of one another. Some parts may be semi-fused or have temporary fused states for parts they are well integrated with, but they also can retain in their individual states as well.

Middle Right:

One form of Full Integration; Functional Multiplicity and Final Fusion Simultaenously; there is a central and overarching “fused whole” that exists in the center of the system where all parts are blended together to the point it is impractical to label which is which; some parts are not fully blended in with the fused whole and thus it is possible to go into areas of the whole where each part is operating independently; its important to note though that a lot of the time, these parts are still holding parts of their adjacent parts and each section tends to have colors from more than their “original” self

Bottom Left:

One form of Full Integration; Full and Final Fusion; what some consider ideal and a more traditional idea of “final fusion” where all parts are fully and perfectly balanced and integrated with one another to create a solid singular identity

[multiplicity-positivity]

This might be a controversial topic, so if you do not wish to answer due to discomfort/for your own safety then that is completely valid 👍 Feel free to dismiss this ask if so.

• As someone whose system had (unintentionally) final fused roughly half a year ago, is it still appropriate for me to use the term "system" or refer to myself as plural (we/us)?

Frankly, I'm sort of bummed out that we had final-fused, even if our systemhood was a sign that I was severely hurt. I was genuinely willing to go for functional multiplicity and even accepted the fact that I may just be a system for life.

Context: A situation that happened around last year's Valentines had distressed me so bad that I ended up splitting and became plural for a good few months, with us having a total of 6 headmates before they faded and eventually final fused around mid-2024.

Our fusion was not intentional by any means, it just happened gradually during summer break when I was no longer seeing the guy that I was involved with during the situation (who was also the catalyst for my plurality, mind you).

My friends who are also systems mentioned that the unintentional final fusion might just be a sign of healing, so there's that.

I'm unsure how often final fusions are discussed in the community, moreso if there's anyone out there who are final fused (intentionally or not). So if any soul out there feels outcasted due to being final fused, especially if unintentional: Hey, I'm here 🫶 Your experience is valid and it has happened before.

Certainly. You are more than welcome to call yourself a system even after fusion, and you still belong in plural and system spaces, without a doubt. We mean this with ever fiber of our being. You belong here. And your presence here adds to the special and beautiful diversity of the plural community. It is your life, your experience, and you get to choose the language to define yourself which feels right for you. If this means calling yourself a system, plural, or using we/us pronouns, please continue to do so. Please don't feel like fusion has to be a bad or negative thing, that it will cut you off from the spaces and language that are affirming or beneficial for you.

It is true that the topic of fusion is often feared or avoided within system spaces. We have been asked to trigger tag fusion on this blog, and have seen the ways many systems talk about fusion in our community. But, make no mistake, fusion is nothing to be feared! It is a beautiful sign of recovery and healing. Whether intentional or unintentional, final fusion often means that you have done the grueling work necessary to come together with your collective, and that you are ready to live with your experiences, memories, and emotions as one, whole, multifaceted individual. It truly is an amazing recovery path worth celebrating, and needs to be destigmatized in our spaces.

Personally, we feel like functional multiplicity and final fusion may not be all that different from each other. All the parts still remain, all the aspects of every alter's identities are still there. One may be a healed person with multiple facets, while the other is a healed multifacted person. Both may look like each other at different points. And both fused individuals and functional multiples belong in plural spaces as long as they wish to be here. We seriously mean this. Fused systems and plurals, even if they no longer identify as multiple, are absolutely still welcome in the plural community, and their unique perspectives need to be uplifted and cherished in our spaces.

On Tumblr, we know of @reimeichan @hiiragi7 @subsystems and @system-of-a-feather (hope it's alright to @ you all) who are all systems who have achieved this level of recovery. Their experiences and writings may be of some use to you (we certainly know they have been incredibly beneficial for us!). We think that any system, CDD or not, recovered or not, would do well to learn about the different experiences of recovered CDD systems, and what recovery and fusion could potentially look like.

And to you, anon, and others, please know that we welcome discussion of final fusion and full integration on this blog. Recovery is a daunting and difficult process, especially without any sort of community behind you or when you feel like you're having to go through it along or just with your therapist. We don't want final fusion to be considered controversial here. It's not. It is a wonderful and amazing thing which we would love to see talked about more often. Those who have recovered, who are recovering, should never feel like their own recovery path will cut them off from their friends and the spaces which help them feel seen and accepted. Acceptance should never have the caveat of "you must recover in this specific way in order to be wanted."

You are wanted here. You are welcome on this blog, in system spaces, and in the plural community. You are welcome to use whatever language you wish to describe your own experiences. And we are wishing you the very best with whatever your future holds.

[plurapony]

So the path of healing that involves final fusion, often misrepresented as "alter death", was something that terrified our previous host. He was always very adamant that we would always achieve functional multiplicity, with as little fusion as possible.

You see our parts mean a lot to us, we all have roles to play to ensure the overall wellbeing of our collective self. There's a lot of us that hold symptoms of our comorbid disorders, our traumatic memories are distributed to those of us that can handle it, our small parts preserve our childhood innocence, we have parts that are tasked with small things to help us overall, we have parts that act as housekeepers for the system, we have caretakers that look after us in the different ways, protectors to protect us and the list goes on - every single part us plays a role and we are all equally important.

See our previous host was scared of final fusion because he believed he would be losing that, and he would be all on his own. but our previous host was wrong. You see we've been using our collective name more and basing our identity around our collective self instead of the individual part that's fronting. and whilst that's been a small change it made us realize something.

If we are all our collective self and are best when we function together, then maybe final fusion really wouldn't be such a negative thing. We may still achieve functional multiplicity, we may achieve final fusion but whatever the outcome is it'll be great as long as the bond we share continues and no matter what - we will always be together.

[IMAGE ID: ponyville is a (pro) endo free zone break dni and get blocked loser! END ID]

[reimeichan]

I know that when people say that DID has no cure, that those of us with DID will always have a DID brain and may even split again in the future, they're trying to be realistic about recovery goals and maybe even acknowledge that those of us who have reached Final Fusion or Functional Multiplicity are still part of the DID community. However, I've recently been finding those kinds of statements to sound.... defeatist, actually. There's oftentimes an underlying feeling of "what's the point of trying so hard if I'm just going to have DID forever?" or "no matter what I do there will always be the possibility for me to relapse", and as such I've started to see these phrases as being almost anti-recovery.

I agree, there is no cure for DID that we know of. We cannot change the fundamental way our brain works. However, that's not the same as saying there's no way to get better with DID, or saying there's no treatment for DID, or there's no way to live a happy, fulfilling life with DID. It takes a lot of work, yes, but it's absolutely possible to learn how to live with both dissociation and trauma to the point they have very little if any negative impact on your life. That's what expanding your coping toolbox is for. And learning emotional regulation. And trauma processing. I may never live the same life as someone who never developed DID or has the same traumas as me, but that doesn't mean I'll be unhappy and miserable and fighting against my own brain every day of my life. Instead, I've learned to work with my brain and with my disorders, and in the process I've learned how to not just survive day to day but thrive. I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings me. I'm hopeful.

And I think that's really what my feelings on those phrases boils down to. They feel like they lack hope and end up making me feel like working on recovery isn't worth it. But I know that's wrong, for myself at least. It's definitely worth it to keep walking forward one step at a time. Where I am now and where I was before are two very different places, even if some days it's hard for me to see those differences and acknowledge that. And there's so much more for me to look forward to as well.

So, here's to healing and recovery and thriving with DID.

[fragmentedfae-userboxes]

[thrivingwhilemultiple]

"Why did you get off the bus?" "I don't know. I knew it wasn't my stop."

Life isn't about control. We can't control what it throws at us; we can't control emotions or outcomes; we can't control our recovery timeline. I can't control other Motley members any more than we can just "get over" decades of trauma.

We don't control, we communicate. Cooperate. Become curious and compassionate. We observe, ask questions, listen to understand; we call out for what we need and offer what we can give; we reflect upon past behaviors to unlock the mystery of why.

Why did I say that? Why did I react that way? Why did I avoid that for so long? Why can't I focus? Why do I keep forgetting?

...Why did I get off the bus?

"Why did you get off the bus?"

[greens-spilled-tea]

Good lord I saw a post along the lines of "if you've hit final fusion you're still disordered because you can still potentially split" and while I understand what they're trying to say it's just such a bad argument, especially since it was said within the context of how "non-disordered systems don't exist".

When the disorder is no longer causing distress or impairment, is it a disorder anymore? Yes, I still have a DID brain. My brain is likely never going to be the same as that of someone who has never developed DID. There is no "cure" for this. At the same time, saying that I'm still "disordered" feels wrong in the grand scheme of things. I've heard of people who have achieved final fusion or functional multiplicity who had their diagnosis removed from their chart because they no longer fit the diagnostic criteria for said disorder.

Also, saying I can still split even after reaching final fusion and using THAT as some sort of a gotcha to prove that I'm still disordered is so harmful. Yes I still split sometimes, in fact I still split quite a bit! But those of us who have reached final fusion have learned how to cope and manage our symptoms enough to be able to handle that without them necessarily fucking up our lives. Also, *gestures towards functional multiplicity* when you reach a level of symptom management even with dissociated parts where you can thrive and the symptoms are causing little to no issues in your life anymore, you literally don't fit the criteria for the disorder anymore and that doesn't mean you're cured, it just means you're no longer disordered. There is a difference between the two! This is why I love using the phrase "in remission" because that's very much what's going on here.

Anyways I'm just rambling and tired and angry.