about my goals and site purpose
what do you believe?
i feel very strongly about the humanisation of those considered mentally ill and our rights to respect, understanding, and effective medical treatment.
i believe psychiatric diagnosis (and other systems and cultures that lead to the introjection or coercive application of psychopathological labels) should be engaged with critically, and that in particular there should be a greater recognition that psychiatric diagnoses are socially constructed and deeply flawed as a method of conveying patterns in the human experience.
almost all of my commentary is concerned with the depiction of DID. as such, i have personal strong opinions on what DID, specifically, 'is'.
i believe, first and foremost, that us who have been studied under this label are human beings that deserve respect, autonomy, and access to care.
while those of us whose experiences qualify us for DID diagnosis are, fundamentally (by merit of its criteria), suffering and/or disabled by its characteristic symptoms and our traumatic experiences in an incredibly isolating way, i also believe that the symptoms we experience are not uncommon in isolation, and are also completely understandable, rational, and inextricably human responses to our histories, like any other. i believe that, because of this, almost anybody can 'relate' to and empathise with elements and principles of our experience, and that they should, as a way to combat the 'othering' of mentally ill people that often leads to stigma, invisibility, and abuse.
beyond DID although related to its social perception, i also believe in the de-pathologisation of multiplicity, including raising awareness that expressing, experiencing, or seeing yourself as a system of multiple selves or sub-selves is not inherently disordered.
i believe applying a 'multiple' model to your own internal workings is a valid vehicle for self-expression and understanding, regardless of your history, and that if you find it helpful there is no reason not to. i think all humans are wonderful and complex, and beyond issues of epistemic injustice, i believe that making the sheer range of experiences that may be conveyed under the 'multiple' label somehow exclusive to individuals that qualify for DID diagnosis is:
- reductive to the complexity of every human's personality (wherein 'singlet' identity is inaccurately typed as a static, colourless, and shallow existence),
- ignores and delegitimises worldwide cultural diversity in concepts of the Self in favour of Anglophone, individualist, and colonialist narratives and ideologies that are enforced by psychiatric institutions,
- wilfully flattens the nuanced intersection of complex dissociative experiences and each individual's subjective sense-making, thus stripping individuals of agency and power by pathologising their manners of self-expression and -concept,
- and also alienates people with DID or that suffer from complex dissociation, making it out that a manner of identifying often adopted by us is somehow fundamentally different to how anybody else exists, when it is not.
or, to put it simply, i believe complex dissociation as a neurobiological and unconscious process is distinct from multiplicity as a manner of sense-making, and that — as a population that consistently would have our agency stripped from us, from our developmental years, to enforced psychiatric judgements, to our subjective perception that we are not ourselves — decoupling the two is vital for moving from unhumanisation, diagnostic determinism, and reification, and may instead be a vital step towards empowering and better understanding people under the DID label.
all these beliefs and areas of criticism i operate under inform my advocacy and fuel the work i create and share with others.
why do you do what you do on your site?
i'm more than aware that a certain mysticism and pervasive 'otherness' surrounds the idea of DID and those who have it.
the consequence of this reputation is:
- a widespread reification of DID's diagnostic category wherein it is considered a discrete way of being that defines a class of individuals, making us vulnerable to stereotyping and disempowerment,
- an en-masse misunderstanding of what experiences the DID diagnosis may actually signify, and of what the experiences of people diagnosed with DID may really be
- pervasive public ignorance of the legitimacy of complex dissociative and 'multiple' experiences as understandable, grounded, acceptable, and human
- a lack of respectful, accessible and effective care for people whose struggles and experiences resemble this psychopathological presentation,
- and a certain abusive fetish in some for sensationalised ideas around the multiple personality subject that dehumanises and exploits us.
i think demystifying DID — making the topic less exclusive, making the topic less jargon-esque, encouraging humanisation and inclusivity and thus identification with the experiences of individuals under the label — is vital for lowering the bar for discussing and evaluating what we are shown and told about the condition for as long as it continues to exist. i think open dialogue about what we understand and how we come to understand others is crucial for combatting the sense of spectacle that surrounds DID symptoms, and encourages progressive, humanising research and resources to be made to help and support those who suffer from complex dissociation, or that identify as 'multiple' in some way.
through my work, i hope to deconstruct and challenge how DID is signified, to illuminate the tropes and meanings that muddy its depiction, to analyse how its wider social understandings have developed, and consider what elements and perspectives on this human experience rarely sees light. i hope to help others approach DID and its depiction with a greater understanding of the social and medical contexts of the diagnosis, and be able to hold its portrayals against the human experiences of those who exist under this label.
i want to help us under the DID label be seen, humanised, respected, and understood. and while i'm no psychiatric expert, no influential public figure, i hope i can do some good.
-- Last Updated (26/05/2026).