FAQ - "So how many are you?" - Long Version

 That's an awkward question. Yet incredibly common. It's one we answer variably depending on how members of the fronting constellation of the time feel about it, and the social environment we're being asked in. In various communities mental health, physical health, and others the act of waving around numbers can have some unintended negative effects. At the same time sharing numbers tactfully and mindfully can also have positive effects. Such as increasing awareness and knowledge of the statistics of certain risks, public health concerns, or social injustices & causes.

We share because we want people to understand and accept the vast diversity of human experience with as minimal prejudice as possible. We want to be accepted as-is. We're reticent because even in communities of people with multiplicity-of-mind there can be fierce and scathing debates that tear apart friendships and the communities themselves. Speaking solely from where personal experience and research has brought to us so far. Anecdotal Evidence and Empirical Evidence go to war on validity, group mentality, civil discourse, and compassionate behavior. We've seen many metaphorical self-cannibalizations about what is possible to the human experience. We've also seen organized persecution and doxxing based on the slightest difference in variation to the prescribed experience within certain diagnostic labels associated with multiplicity-of-mind. Evident in public campaigns that list allegations and individuals for malingering of a diagnosis.

How many and what type of alter a system can have been among these lists. So we try to balance the mind between being mindful of our safety in the regard to diagnostic persecution and gatekeeping and being open about who we are and our experiences. We believe in cases in which individuals had millions of parts/alters/selves and in cases where individuals had 2.

We also believe that we can't determine someone else's experiences to them. Telling someone that the experience they are having is 'impossible' and 'misinformation' feels like gaslighting and bullying. We might be able to help by suggesting terminology, problem solving skills, and coping methods related to someone's experience... Perhaps add some tidbits of information we've learned from peer support experiences. We might not agree with how someone chooses to define aspects of their internal and external life, but we certainly don't need to be an oppositional dickhead about it either. It's nice to be able to think things through ourself from a variety of perspectives. It's also really nice to be open minded and accepting of differences.

So "How many of you are there?"

We don't know.

I know, how anticlimactic for all those words. We've kept an electronic document since 2017 that's a dedicated numbered list of identified individuals. No matter how briefly they seemed to be around, or how little we know about them. Unless they expressly argued not to be added to the list they've been put down. Some are as simple as "The one who has memories of X-year".

So far that number is plenty over 100, and really is only the business of ourself & our doctor. If any of us share whatever number we last remember, please treat it with respect and care.