#introject heavy

[luxlitemidnight]

Introjects (and really most non-intentional headmates) form in systems form due to one of three reasons.

They are something the system wants, needs, or is.

This isn't a conscious process, to be clear. It's handled by whatever background processes makes new headmates. Often it can be difficult to tell why an introject formed when you're in the same system, especially if you are in a dissociative system. Now, let's break down those categories.

Wants:

Wants includes things the system wants to be, or aspires to be. They introject a character with traits that they want to embody. For example, introjecting your favorite teacher because you admire their patience and WANT to be patient like them. Or maybe the thing the system wants is to have their favorite character in their brain. This often overlaps with needs.

Needs:

Not all introjects are something the system wants to be. But sometimes they are something the system needs to be. For example, a protector introject forming from the need to protect the system. You may also want those traits, but not necessarily. Commonly persecutors are this, being something the system had repressed but needs to express (substance abuse, anger, self-injury, etc).

Is:

Lastly, an introject could represent or embody something the system already is. This is often someone the system sees themselves in and relates to heavily. This could be story, behavior, appearance, or anything else the system sees as significant. For example, a system that has gone through neglect trauma may introject a character that has also gone through neglect trauma. They see themselves in the character, so they become the character. This can overlap with kins. In my opinion this is the most common category.

I'm not a scientist, just someone who loves plurality and has hung out with a lot of systems. But I hope those of you who have ever questioned "why THAT guy?!?" find this helpful :)

[weasel-333]

I see people saying having a lot of introjects is an endo thing. It is NOT.

Being an introject heavy system is normal and it has nothing to do with "endogenic systems".

It's not because some endos think being a system is all about having your favorite characters as alters to hang out with that you have to invalidate actual systems who happen to have many introjects.

They don't control it. If they have those introjects, it means they need it.

It's not because you don't share the same experience that theirs is invalid.

This is not a criteria to fakeclaim systems.

It's just another proof of how harmful endos can be.

[introjectheavy-cultureis]

introject heavy culture is struggling when we get completely brainmade headmates because we're used to them having at least a bit prepackaged identity

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[plurapony]

all about introjects!

INTRODUCTION & DISCLAIMER: This post has been on the back burner for months, but was inspired by recent incorrect information spreading regarding introjects (i.e. 9/10 introjects are factives of abusers) This will be a long post so strap in! Each subtopic will be divided into sections for easy viewing.

Section 1: Clarification On What "Introjects" Are.

When I talk about introjects I am talking about 3 specific types of introjects:

Standard Introjects These are the most common type of introject. Most fictive/factives fit into this category as a Standard Introject simply introject few or many personality traits/quirks from something pre-existing.

Concept Introjects These are introjects that are founded on a concept. For us they usually happen when gaining an introject that we are unfamiliar of the source - so the traits that are introjected are assumptions we made.

Grounded Introjects These are introjects that aren't really introjects at all. They have their own unique personality traits and qualities but have their identity tied to a pre-existing character in order to be grounded to reality.

There are some gray areas and some parts that will not fit into these categories, and that's okay. There are some parts who will present as a Standard Introject but refuse to identify with the label of "Introjects". It's important to remember that if a part wants to identify as an introject that decision is ultimately up to them and them only.

Section 2: Introject Rarity/Prevalence Outside DID

Introjects aren't rare. Many people like to act like introjects are a super rare phenomenon and therefore all introject heavy systems must be lying or faking - but that's not the case. Simply put? Introjects are drawing their identity from a pre-existing source.

It's not limited to DID either! Sometimes people want to base their identity off a character they like (have you ever seen the people who spend thousands on surgeries to look like a celebrity?) and there's nothing wrong with that. Other disorders that present with identity issues also have introjection such as autism and BPD. It's just not that much of a big deal! It can happen and there's nothing wrong with it when it happens.

If you're interested in learning more: here's a Wikipedia article about (non DID specific) introjection!

Section 3: Types of Introject Sources

When looking at the discussion of introjects online there are two types of statements I see often - "Most introjects are of abusers" & "Most introjects should be from childhood/of childhood media"

I've extensively looked online and I cannot find any verifiable statistics regarding the prevalence of the types of introject sources, so I'm going to go off a purely anecdotal and logical lens.

For us personally? Of all our introjects approximately 5% are of past abusers. It's important to note that even if you know a system you will not know whether they have introjects of abusers! Most of our parts who are introjects from abusers feel incredibly ashamed by it and have distanced themselves from their source. It's very difficult for them to have their identity tied to such horrible people and it's a secret they prefer to keep. I don't really understand that view that the most common introject are of abusers, there may be a need to introject for protection/dealing with trauma but abusers are not going to have "admirable traits" and at a certain point there isn't going to be a need for the brain to introject more of them.

Childhood introjects! Now this is something I like to talk about! Oddly enough, many of our introjects from childhood have showed up later in our recovery process as they held trauma we were not able to handle at the start of our recovery. It makes sense logically that if you are heavily prone to introjection in adulthood, you probably were heavily prone to introjection in childhood and visa versa! And that's the part that most people don't understand, they will argue that most introjects should be from childhood and neglect the fact that it makes sense logically that someone who had many introjects as a child will also have many introjects as an adult.

Section 4: Hyperfixations & Introjects

This is one of the possibly most misunderstood part of introjects. You cannot have introjects from a hyperfixation ALONE - due to the fact that all splits are going to be negatively induced. But if you are experiencing stress and trauma while you have a hyperfixation? Of course it's possible.

Let me break it down for you and explain how a hyperfixation takes over your brain. You find this new thing (show, game, etc) and it's something you really enjoy. So for the next two weeks every waking moment you spend interacting with the hyperfixation. You go to sleep thinking about your hyperfixation, you wake up excited to interact with your hyperfixation. You disengage completely with the outside world and escape into this hyperfixation. It controls every aspect of your life and you just have to comply with the hyperfixation in order to get your happy brain chemicals.

So... Why is it such a strange concept to gain an introject during that time? It's in your brain 24/7 for an extended period of time, why would it be odd for the hyperfixation to influence your split?

Thank you for reading if you made it this far!!! I've been meaning to make this post for SOO long!! I hope you learnt something and if you didn't, I hope my words resonated with you! 🩷

[your-pal-nebula]

Plurality weird as hell yesterday Silver seriously stopped fronting so she could go up to her bedroom (in the headspace) and rank the hotness of ReBoot 1994 characters with Cori like we don't literally have six ReBoot fictives

[washedoutwings]

singlets will never understand the fear that runs through us whenever we decide to start engaging in more media because WHAT IF WE GET ANOTHER INTROJECT

WHAT IF WE GET MULTIPLE

WHATBIF THEYRE ASSHOLES

HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[system-role-flags]

Introject heavy flag (system with lots of introjects)?

🌈Introject Heavy System Flag🍭

A flag for system that have mostly Introjects

🩷

[sovsys-afterhours]

I think we overcompensate a lot.

We're so worried that we're somehow accidentally faking / so frequently in denial, that we try to make ourselves feel more valid by "forcing" a lot of things that, in our weird roundabout logic, seem more "system-y" when not only does that make us feel even worse about system stuff, but it also just makes us feel bad about ourselves in general.

We've engraved this bad habit of forcing accents or mannerisms (particularly in us introjects) to make us feel better- more like a system- when all it does is backfire.

I think this vicious cycle manifested when we started to try and unmask our multiplicity, an entirely out-of-hand overcorrection that only really serves to hurt us.

It's really frustrating, and kind of sad... especially because we're so used to this "mask of unmasking" that we don't know how to just "be ourselves."

We realize this same unhealthy behavior over and over again, but it's just so insanely hard to shake that even after promising to ourselves countless times that we'll just relax, let this weird gaurd down and exist as us; we always come back to the "safety" of our broken mask.

We're so tired of it, but we don't know how to make it stop.

[systemserendipity]

Headspace Mapping!

In our headspace (The Lands of Bly), we have two planets.

The Overworld is larger and more Earth-like. The Heaviside is smaller but also more magical/supernatural.

[systemblr]

shout out to all the alters we vaguely know we have but don’t have full-fledged personalities & have never fronted so will stay shrouded in mystery for months and months until we meet them

[statesys]

; giggling I js spent like 20 minutes making a system group photo w our sources and hehevehebeg CRYING we're like a walking crackfic this is amazing 😭

ㅤ- ( the pfps are our brainmades )

- myles ( he/rot )

[introjectheavy-cultureis]

Introject heavy culture is having a rlly weird closet bc everyone wanted their own source outfits ad we dont have enough room for everyone's individual tastes so we just gotta hope and pray we can make compromises sometimes

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[plurapony]

Introjects are SO much more than "I'm Just that Character!"

Introjects, whether fictive or factive, all have a role they contribute to the system, they have a reason why they exist. Sometimes that is being source connected and an exact copy of their source! BUT THAT ISN'T ALWAYS THE CASE!!!!

To demonstrate what I'm talking about I want you all to meet Shy, Flora and Petalfluff. All three are introjects of the character Fluttershy from My Little Pony. But all three are very very different and the ways they have introjected from Fluttershy is different.

Shy introjects mainly Fluttershy's shy and innocent qualities. He himself scares very easily and his role in the system is to be a childlike part.

Flora introjects Fluttershy's love for animals as well as her assertiveness. Flora does not have any qualities of being shy - to the point where sometimes she says it's like she's introjected from Mean Fluttershy. Because of her fierceness, Flora is a protector in the system.

Petalfluff introjects the well roundness of Fluttershy's character, the assertiveness when she needs to but also the timidness. The most important part of what Petalfluff introjects is Fluttershy's ability to be kind and see the best in the world. She's hopeful and encourages us to always take the route of kindness. Petalfluff's role in the system is housekeeper.

Introjects rely on perception, and as you can see for a multi-faceted character or person there can be multiple different perceptions. Introjects themselves are multi-faceted and there's so much more under the surface than what a lot of people think.

The brain is simply taking some, or all, traits from a pre-existing character or person in an event of stress or trauma in order to benefit the well-being of the overall system. If you are an introject and are super source connected! That's so cool, a bunch of our introjects are also source connected! Just know that isn't always the case :)

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

[the-astral-clump]

sometimes your head is full of blorbos

[abyss-boxes]

[TEXT ID 1: “This systems host is an introject”]

[TEXT ID 2: “This system splits frequently”]

[TEXT ID 3: “This system has lots of introjects”]

[TEXT ID 4: “This system has a lot of introjects”]

[TEXT ID 5: “This system had a lot of introjects”]

[TEXT ID 6: “This system has a lot of introjects, it doesn’t make them any less valid”]

[TEXT ID 7: “This system has a lot of introjects, but it doesn’t make them any less valid”]

Part one HERE! Enjoy!!

REBLOGS OVER LIKES

Credit appreciated but not required!!