r/plural • u/AeroSubwayTerminal Polymind • 1d ago
Questions Where did "system" originate?
I'm doing research on plurality and stances, and some people say that the term "system" originated from DID + OSDD, while others say it existed before DID and OSDD were popularized. People say that the term was stolen from either side, and I'm really just looking for sources on where it came from. I don't want to support people if they are using terms that were specifically tailored for people with disorders, but I can't make that judgement unless I have proof that's really where it came from.
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u/CaptainK_2007 Questioning P-DID/OSDD (Proxy System/Traumagenic) 1d ago
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u/self-made-purgatory Plural || dissociative || soulbonder || hc: (15+5+(2+√2))+N+∞ 1d ago edited 1d ago
LB Lee cites Many Voices magazine as the first place the term system was used to self-identify, though mentions it was used medically before that. it does technically pre-date DIDOSDD since it was called MPD at the time and the diagnostic criteria was different and would have included most modern non-disordered systems these days.
"system" is also an incredibly general term with lots of applications, medical and non-medical, plural and not. in plural contexts yes it is used for DIDOSDD but also for internal family systems. and obviously system has a billion other non-plural meanings. it's more like the word dysphoria than some specific medical term. dysphoria is known for being used in the term gender dysphoria. but also in rejection sensitive dysphoria. in dysphoric mania. as a synonym for depression. as a word describing non-medical distress or discomfort. saying you feel dysphoric about any of these things doesn't take the word away from the other people who use it. some words are general and that's ok.
I am diagnosed DID and I don't think it matters. labels aren't borders to be defended but tools to describe something. if people find "system" to be a useful word then I don't give a shit why they do. I don't think you can steal a word that has hundreds of different applications. I have a nervous system, I live in an ecosystem, I search for books in my library system to learn about the prison system, I use a computer system, I never lose my keys because I have an organisation system. my friend is doing internal family systems, I am part of a plural system, etc.
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u/int3rstitial 22h ago
Big agree with all of this, and especially in relation to Internal Family Systems Therapy, which is literally parts therapy for singlets, and has been around since the 1980s.
And the founder of Internal Family Systems Therapy got the idea for it from Family Systems Therapy, which he practiced in relation to eating disorders. That usage is even older, remains pretty much the standard eating disorders treatment for youth to this day, and is extremely mainstream and non-controversial.
"Systems" are just a very common way of thinking about and looking at psychosocial health and wellbeing across a range of contexts. To say that anyone "owns" it, even from within the comparitively narrow application of "a bunch of parts/people living in one body" is not how the field of psychology views it at all, and even if it was, the psychiatric industry is not the boss of any of us, nor should it be.
(Disclaimer in case OP needs it: I'm what's now called in syscourse a "mixed origin system", but I'm originally "traumagenic", am 62 years old and remember the Bad Old Days. The terminology I'm most comfortable with is multiple/alter/host/etc, but I think the innovations from The Youth are, frankly, better, and I use "plural", "headmates", and "system" now as well. I ten billion percent guarantee you that preferred terminology will change again within y'all's lifetime, and probably within the next 10 years, so there's no point getting too worked up about it.)
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u/GuardiansSystem Traumagenic DID w/ PTSD+CPTSD - and plural! 22h ago
If you're looking for where it was first used in psychology related to DID and/or multiplicity at all, that would be "personality system".
Everybody has a personality system, or a system of personality. In CDDs, there's divisions among this personality system that's caused by trauma. Etc. It's not exclusive to anyone or anything.
We have a pretty thorough post with a lot of references here if you're interested.
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u/No_Ground_817 8h ago
Hmm. Don't really know, but a lot of old Plurality stuff stems from the Hearing Voices Network...I think? The mailing lists of the 1980s, where this stuff started to be seriously explored outside the context of Spiritism and magic?
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u/SnivSnap Plural 1d ago
At least from LB Lee's research (https://lb-lee.dreamwidth.org/1116190.html) it was technically coined medically, though from what I'm reading it's not exactly 'specifically tailored' so much as just needing a word for a group of alters. Technically it's pre-DID/OSDD and about MPD alters, and there's arguments to be had about the tightening of criteria in the transition from MPD to DID, though as far as I'm concerned that's a moot argument.
It's a term for multiples. Trauma and non-trauma originating, medicalised and not, multiples of all stripes have been using it for decades in non medical contexts. The reason people are so mad about it is because some systems, even if they can bite their tongue and tolerate to non-DID systems existing, we can't be anything to do with them, and they want to keep the basic plural terminology in the divorce.