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The ShadowEchoes are a multiple system, which means that there are many people, or individual minds, living in one physical body. The body we share is female, 25 years old, and identifies as a "bisexual submissive". On the inside however, our ages, genders, sexual preferences, looks, and ethnicities vary. We have different likes and dislikes, hobbies, attitudes, and beliefs. We are individuals, not just aspects of one "core". Although, after living together for so many years some things have rubbed off on each other of course. Most of us are very close with each other and view each other as family and close friends. We are also highly co-conscious and capable of co-fronting. Often there are just a bunch of us "hanging around up front".
Our system origins are both traumatic and natural. We believe that some of the members of our system were split from abuse, while others are here naturally. Regardless of our origins, we are constantly working together to be a functional system. To us, being functional means cooperating, compromising, having system rules, doing our best to communicate with each other, and meeting our responsibilities in the real world. We don't believe that multiplicity is a disorder, or that we need to be healed or integrated. That's not to say that we don't have any problems in life or don't struggle sometimes. Just like any singleton might, some of the members of our system suffer from their own mental health related issues.
The bottom line:
We are real.
We are all individuals.
We are not just pieces of one person.
We are not disordered.
We are not broken.
We are anti-integration.
Here's a bit of an FAQ about multiplicity in our opinion.
"What is multiplicity?"
Simply put, it is the existance of more than one person in a physical body.
"Don't you mean Dissociative Identity Disorder(DID)/Multiple Personality Disorder(MPD)?"
No. We mean real people who are all individuals living in one body. According to the DSM-IV, Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, although 'DID' is a diagnosis found only in the United States while other countries continue to use 'MPD') is a disorder in which a single person has a delusion of having more than one personality in a single body. The term does not apply to us since we are not just figments of the imagination, nor are we disordered.
"What's a system? How many people are in systems? Are all systems the same?"
A system is a name for the group of people sharing one body. A system can range in size from two to hundreds or thousands. Anything is possible since all systems are unique. Other terms for system include collective, group, household, family, commune, etc.
"What causes multiplicity?"
Many systems have different opinions of how they came to be multiple. Some systems are born that way, others consider themselves splits, others consider themselves gateways to other worlds. In our case, we consider ourselves to be naturally multiple although some traumatic events in our life did help cause some splits. We believe that even in systems caused by (trauma) splitting, the systems become that way because there is already a pre-disposition to being multiple.
"So which one of you is the angry alter or the sad alter or the fill in the blank alter?"
First of all, we dislike the term "alter" and find it disrespectful since it implies that we're not real people, just an 'alternate personality' of someone else. Secondly, we're not two-dimensional - just like any other person, we each have our own personalities, our own individual likes and dislikes, and a full range of emotions.
"Who is the host/core/original?"
We don't have a host these days - instead we have a group of several main frontrunners. We also don't have a core or an original. This body doesn't belong to just one of us, it belongs to all of us equally.
"Do you all know what's going on with other system members?"
For the most part we do. Our system is co-conscious and we're also capable of co-fronting, which we do often. Sometimes for privacy and/or safety reasons, one person may black out the rest of the system for a little while. We also have a collective memory so that almost everyone can access almost all of the memories.
"How can I tell who is fronting? How can I tell if you switch?"
The best way to know for sure is to ask - and don't worry, we wouldn't consider it rude. In fact, we appreciate people asking who's fronting because it shows that they're making an effort to care who is who. Because we have to hide our multiplicity for the most part, most of the main frontrunners in the system are good at appearing to be one person and switching smoothly. Some of us have our own little quirks that set us apart from the others, but usually it just takes some time for outsiders to recognize the differences.
"What do I do if I want to talk to one person, but someone else is out?"
You can always politely ask if the person you want to talk to is around or leave a message. Please try to be considerate of the person who is fronting though - we find it rude and hurtful when people make us feel unwanted or of less importance that someone else in the system.
"Does it bother you if people call you by the wrong name(s)?"
It depends on the situation. All of us respond to the body name (even if not all of us like it), and will sometimes reply to other names. For the most part, if people know that we're multiple, we appreciate them making an effort to use our individual names and trying not to get us mixed up on purpose.
"Is there an inner imaginary world that you all go to? What're 'fronting' and 'co-fronting' like?"
Yes, we do have an "inner landscape" or a "headspace" as you might call it. Our inner world centers around a house that we all live in. Our front area is the living room, and a large window faces to the outside world. Anyone currently fronting or using the body sits in front of the window and interacts with the outside through it. More than one person can sit in front of the window (thereby co-fronting). People sitting back and relaxing in the rest of the living room can also look up to watch what's going on outside or shout out with their own input when they feel like it.
"Sounds terrible. You must want to be one person again, right?"
No, being multiple is not a bad thing - to us it's a good thing actually. We wouldn't choose to be a singleton and couldn't imagine losing each other. We function well as a group and enjoy eachother's company. We're all individuals, not pieces of a "core" personality - therefore we wouldn't be able to just merge back into "one person" (however, even if it were possible, we wouldn't want to integrate). We never were "one person" to begin with anyway, and even those of us who did split from someone else have developed into their own separate person over time.
"Wow, this all sounds awesome! Being multiple must be really cool! You're lucky!"
Unfortunately, being multiple isn't always easy. The biggest downside of being multiple is how singletons react to and regard multiples like us. Most singletons are not open-minded about this - they'll think we are making it up, are just crazy, are really just one person, need to be fixed, aren't capable of functioning, etc. It doesn't help that there have been many negative views of multiplicity in the media. Such stereotypes are what most singletons judge us by. Healthy multiplicity is rarely heard of because such systems go on in life unnoticed, functioning and not drawing attention to the fact that they're multiple. Sadly, many multiples have to hide who they are.
