Tw for sysmeds + syscourse, don't interact if these are triggering to you!! Note that while I do read and study mental-health related material, such as the DSM, people's experiences, etc, I am NOT A MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL. Do not come to me for anything other than opinions, base explanations, or things related to the community around certain things (such as that this post is about). I cannot diagnose you. I can inform on things that I have, offer my own experiences, help with research on things that I experience, etc., but I am not licensed to give a diagnosis. If things I say make you think that you have a similar condition, I suggest you look into it yourself, and if you can, speak to a professional <3 Also PLEASE tell me if I got anything wrong!! And feel free to add things in the comments, although I won't be putting them in the project <3 -------- So, this is a basic explanation on what sysmeds and anti-endos are, and why they are harmful to systems in general, INCLUDING non-endogenic systems. Discrimination within a community is harmful to all within the community. So, first up, let's explain general plurality/systems that cannot be diagnosed. A lot of people who experience plurality don't experience all of the symptoms needed for a diagnosis! Think of it like being hyperactive but not meeting the rest of the criteria for ADHD. Some examples are- you definitely have headmates, but it doesn't cause you distress or impairment. You all can work together without much therapy or a diagnosis needed. To my knowledge, the DSM-5-TR requires significant distress OR impairment. If you do not have either of those, you do not meet the qualifications for a diagnosis. You formed naturally, or from something unrelated to trauma. Sometimes plurality can form naturally, from factors that aren't related to trauma, or from other diagnoses. While the DSM-5-TR doesn't explicitly mandate trauma in the criteria, diagnostic manuals categorize these conditions as post-traumatic, and a clinician will not diagnose DID/OSDD if it isn't related to trauma. There are many more! These are only a few examples :] Now, onto sysmeds. Sysmeds (system medicalists) believe that multiplicity/plurality can only be rooted in a diagnosis, such as DID or OSDD in order to be valid. In most cases, they insist that if you do not meet the criteria for a diagnosis, your experiences are faked. In my experience, these people will feel the need to argue with you over what you experience, and demand a diagnosis be presented to them. In most cases they are misinformed, yet there are some people who still choose to believe this (for.. some.... Reason....). It's genuinely one of the stupidest things I've heard out of a living being's mouth, that because your experience isn't traumatic, or that it doesn't meet a certain list of rules, it is not real. This is incredibly false. If someone is experiencing something, they're experiencing it, even if it doesn't meet certain rules. Most of these others are heavily related to sysmeds Now, anti-endos Anti-endo people believe that if your headmates do not come from extreme trauma, you are tarnishing the community's reputation or faking. They also tend to overlap with sysmeds, with what I've seen. Now, while the official diagnosis is categorized as a trauma-based thing, as I've said, you can have certain occurrences without meeting all the criteria. This is very similar to sysmeds </3 I don't know what these guys are called, but there is a certain group of people who believes that fictives cannot occur at all, or in large groups. (A fictive is a word (I believe there are other terms aswell?) for a headmate who originates from fiction of some sort.) There's also those who believe if a fictive doesn't act like their source, they're also faking, which is very strange to me. Fictives are people, basically, and people grow and develop and change depending on the environment and this around them. Now! All of these are harmful to the community as a whole. These ideas cause people outside the community to have an even more polarized view to the community as a whole. They'll see someone talking about how /strange/ it is that someone has Spider-man in their system, and take that as fact, and start harassing anyone with any fictives, or who don't meet the diagnosis, which tends to involve into harassing the community as a whole. Fighting within a community also destroys what should be a safe space. --------- The human brain is such an interesting thing, the fact that it can create multiple people is amazing, and I believe that it should be celebrated rather than judged and insulted. Do people even like these little rants? I like making them.
