"Emancipation, Elaboration, and Covertness of Parts
Hi everyone,
This is just a (not-so) quick PSA to clear up confusion that I’ve recently seen a lot of in the DID/OSDD-1 community.
Parts can be very strongly emancipated (dissociated) but not be well elaborated. Having overt DID/OSDD-1 is not necessarily correlated with having very elaborated (developed) parts. Having covert DID/OSDD-1 is not necessarily correlated with having very poorly elaborated parts.
Emancipation refers to how dissociated a part is. See this post and its description of how parts differ in C-PTSD, BPD, OSDD-1, and DID; this paints a neat spectrum of weakly to strongly emancipated parts. Weakly emancipated parts can exist in C-PTSD and BPD. Individuals with these disorders may have trouble claiming ownership over their parts’ actions (e.g. “I know I did this, but I’d normally never do anything like that, and I don’t understand why I did it now”), and the parts may occasionally be associated with amnesia (e.g., someone with C-PTSD getting so badly triggered that they later can’t remember anything about what triggered them or the subsequent period of upset). However, the parts don’t have their own sense of self or an independent identity. They can’t act autonomously. The individual feels like they are acting out of control, not like someone different is in control.
Moderately emancipated parts, such as those found in OSDD-1, may have an independent sense of identity but no amnesia. Parts may look at the actions of other parts and feel “that wasn’t me, that was another part” in a subjectively literal sense even though they fully remember their body performing the actions in question. In contrast, OSDD-1a parts may be associated with amnesia but still feel like “me but not me” or like a mode of the individual; what differentiates these parts from C-PTSD and BPD parts is to an extent the degree of elaboration present. Finally, individuals with DID have at least one part that’s strongly emancipated enough to have its own sense of identity and amnesia. When not amnesiac for a part, those with OSDD-1 and DID may be able to watch the part’s activities but feel completely unable to stop or control anything happening. They may feel possessed. They may be able to have internal conversations with other parts. Parts may be aware that they’re part of a larger whole but still have trouble emotionally accepting that or may insist that they’re entirely separate entities. At the most extreme, parts may deny that what happens to the body happens to them (e.g., claiming that it’s okay if the body is hurt because they won’t be).
Elaboration is a different spectrum entirely. Elaboration refers to how developed a part is. Strong elaboration requires at least moderate emancipation, but a strongly emancipated part can still be only weakly elaborated. Someone with C-PTSD or BPD has only weakly elaborated parts that exist to contain different posttraumatic materials, strong emotions, or attachment drives (again, see this post). Someone with OSDD-1a has relatively more moderately elaborated parts. These parts may have their own ages, titles (e.g., “OCD Kevin” to borrow from a mod here!), skills and abilities (e.g., math or socializing), non-trauma related functions (e.g., work or taking care of family), or opinions (such as a work part and family part having conflicting views on work-life balance). Finally, someone with OSDD-1b or DID can have moderately or strongly elaborated parts. These parts may have their own names, preferences, internal appearances, and relationships. They may want to have a separate music playlist, insist on making recipes that they like but other parts hate, have their own favorite clothing, or display other signs that they contain more than just their basic function.
What’s important to remember is that elaboration is a spectrum, and someone can always have a mix of more and less elaborated parts. Those with OSDD-1 and DID still have basic EP that exist only as traumatic intrusions. Those with DID can still have fragments that exist only to do basic chores or express emotions. This is also where very emancipated but poorly elaborated parts come into play. A DID part that exists to hold anger may be very strongly emancipated. When they’re present, they may scream, swear, or break things. The rest of the system may be disconnected from anger entirely and may not only not understand the part’s actions, they may feel only shame, guilt, or disgust about any visible expressions of anger. They may feel entirely unable to claim the part’s actions as their own; they may even insist that they never feel or express anger and have complete amnesia for the time that the angry part is present. Yet the angry part may be poorly elaborated; it may not even have a name so much as a title (e.g., “the angry one,” “Rage,” “Angry [body’s name]”), let alone have independent preferences, opinions, or relationships. If a system has an internal world, the angry part might appear as a representation of its function (e.g., as a storm cloud or a swirling dark mass). It’s unlikely to want its own blog! And yet, none of that makes it any less emancipated from the other alters.
That said, again, at least a moderate degree of emancipation is necessary for elaboration. The basis for a part to become elaborated is the dissociation between that part and others. In order for a part to believe it’s a child, it must disown any knowledge of or connection to the body’s adult age. In order for a part to have its own preferences, other parts must disown those preferences. Parts in C-PTSD or BPD by definition are not very elaborated. The degree of elaboration present is also what differentiates OSDD-1a from DID.
Parts can become more emancipated and elaborated over time (in actuality) as they’re present in new situations or environments or (in a more forced, surface-level manner) if social or media influences lead the system to believe that parts should be more separate. On the other hand, parts become less emancipated as they integrate, and this can also lead to a loss of elaboration. When two parts integrate/fuse with each other, they may no longer feel like there’s any divide between them at all, and some points of elaboration (e.g., a name or internal appearance) may no longer be present. The goal of complete integration/fusion is to heal from all internal emancipation and elaboration so that the individual feels like a whole person with no meaningful disconnection between parts of their self. The goal of cooperative multiplicity, in contrast, is generally to reduce harmful emancipation (e.g., delusions of separation and dissociative amnesia) while retaining enough emancipation for alters to still feel like themselves and retain elaboratation.
How overt or covert a system is constitutes a third spectrum entirely. Overt DID/OSDD-1 systems are those that are visible to people who know what to look for. Covert DID/OSDD-1 systems are those that are very subtle, difficult to pick up, and may be missed even by most professionals. This does not just refer to how obvious or elaborated alters are. An overt system may have frequent black outs when they switch and display visible confusion about where they are, when it is, and what’s happening. An overt system may have child parts that, when triggered out, are visibly terrified and try to hide under furniture even if none of them ever announce themselves and could be mistaken for someone without DID/OSDD-1 reacting to a flashback. An overt system may have only poorly elaborated parts that are nonetheless obviously different in demeanor and deny memory of all of other parts’ activities. In contrast, a covert system could have very well elaborated alters that are nonetheless frequently co-conscious and work well together so that they present as a mostly consistent person to everyone except their therapist. The vast majority of DID/OSDD-1 systems are covert and may only be overt during periods of intense distress or dysfunction. Systems that are routinely more overt due to having obvious differences between alters may have a comorbid personality disorder driving this; alters openly acting as themselves is not typical for DID/OSDD-1.
Finally, the ability of outsiders to recognize alters is not necessarily related to the ability of the system to recognize alters. Very overt systems can still spend a lot of time unsure which parts are present (have intense identity confusion) but be overt due to severe inter-identity amnesia, blatant symptoms of PTSD, and wildly varying personality traits or abilities. Very covert systems can still have a good sense of which part is present because these parts are strongly emancipated and have a recognizable presence internally."
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Polyfragmented DID
