#INTEGRATION

[afriblaq]

Separate and excelling

[diana-andraste]

Nude Montage, Ervin Marton, c. 1946-1956

[draconicpetrichor]

Different Ways Fusions Can Result

(This post is specifically about fusion in CDD systems. I am open to questions, but I am not open to people shaming others' chosen recovery paths. Keep that off this post, please!)

Integration is the process of breaking down dissociative barriers between alters. The alters fuse when they accept and integrate with each other to such a degree that they function as one. This can end up several different ways! I'd love to show you some, using my own system/alters to explain & conceptualize.

#1: The "New Guy" (with traits from both)

Jayden, a 17 year old verbal protector, and Glyph, an ageless dragon soother/protector, fused to make Marcus, who became our system's primary caretaker. The alters both balanced each other out, with Jayden's "chill unless pissed" mixing neatly with Glyph's strong need to keep things in order/safe to make one responsible, organized, and laid-back alter.

#2: The "Old Guy With An Update"

Gemini, our co-host, fused with a bunch of memory-holding fragments. Nothing fundamental about Gemini changed, but he did have access to more memories and some skills.

#3: The "New Guy" (that mostly seems like an old guy)

Echo, our nonhuman shadow being of a gatekeeper, fused with Zeke, an avenger and anger holder who was also the host of his subsystem. Echo kept the name Echo and mostly seems the same at first glance, but sometimes Zeke's bluntness and habitual swearing come through. Zeke has found a lot of peace and healing by fusing with Echo, and Echo gained the perspective of "hot" emotions.

#4: The "Lava Lamp"

Finn, a happiness/energy holder, and Jukebox, a trauma holder, fused to who became Jukebox 2.0. Sometimes, this new alter is a lot more like Finn or a lot more like Jukebox or a perfect mix of the two. The ratio varies and he is ever-shifting. Consistently, he loves dinosaurs, orange juice, and gummy bears.

Overall, fusion can look different for everybody, and it can even look different in the same system! Fusion is a very diverse experience.

While fusion is a good thing, sometimes people do need to grieve it, just like any other large change. That's okay and it doesn't make you a bad person, nor does it make you "anti-recovery". Big changes can be very hard.

In my opinion, the most important thing to keep in mind about fusion, for those who seek it, is being kind to yourself throughout the whole process.

Sometimes, fusions don't work out too well. Sometimes, two alters aren't a good match yet. Sometimes, it takes a few tries. Ultimately, it's up to you and your system how or if you go about it - there's no "wrong way". Just don't rush things, trust yourself, and take it easy. It'll all settle in the end, I promise!

[palatinewolfsblog]

"We were all humans until race disconnected us, religion separated us, politics divided us, wealth classified us." - U.N. Owen

[beepykay]

if I see people mix up fusion and integration one more time…

INTEGRATION IS WHEN YOU LOWER AMNESIC AND COMMUNICATION BARRIERS BETWEEN ALTERS THIS IS A GOOD THING AND YOU SHOULD BE WORKING TOWARDS THIS NO MATTER YOUR RECOVERY GOAL

FUSION IS WHEN 2+ PARTS BECOME ONE PART

THESE WORDS ARE NOT INTERCHANGEABLE THEY MEAN COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS

[blondebrainpowered]

Dorothy Counts made national news in September 1957, when at the age of 15, she became one of the first and, at the time, the only black student to enroll in the newly desegregated Harry Harding High School in Charlotte (North Carolina).

This came nearly three years after the Supreme Court ruled public school segregation unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education.

Counts was dropped off on her first day of school by her father, along with their family friend Edwin Thompkins.

As their car was blocked from going closer to the front entrance, Edwin offered to escort Counts to the front of the school while her father parked the car.

As she got out of the car to head down the hill, her father told her, “Hold your head high. You are inferior to no one.”

Source and more photos: Dorothy Counts: The teenager who challenged segregation, 1957

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge wasted no time in boasting after the adoption of his new law that will give Quebec its own model for national integration. He says the legislation will relegate Canadian multiculturalism to the “dustbin of history.”

Continue reading

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[flock-talk]

These two tried to properly play fight today which is the first time I’ve seen them really reciprocate that style of play!

It’s a bit hit and miss as you can see them take frequent breaks and politely tell eachother off when it gets a bit overwhelming. They did a great job of communicating without escalating and regulating themselves decently well for their first attempt at such a rigorous play style!

[dandyads]

Pepsi, 1969

[laika-of-the-stars]

We're finally getting therapy for our DID, and it's. Relieving, but also terrifying. I love our therapist, though, she comforted us when we told her how scared we were to lose one another via integration. She said something to the effect of "The goal isn't to make everyone into one big blob, it's to help them let go of their burdens and give you access to their gifts, their joys," and that. Is not a way we've heard it phrased before, so it was really comforting.

I'm still terrified of being the new host. I'm still terrified what healing means for us. I'm still terrified that we'll never love ourselves. I'm terrified that I'll remain unrecognizable to myself. I'm terrified. But I know we'll only continue to feel miserable if I don't do anything.

We've been having some hard switches today, so I hope next week gets here soon.

[subsystems]

Final Fusion Misinformation

You might have seen people saying something like this before: "studies find that final fusion only works 12.8% of the time." When I was pursuing final fusion, people in the community threw this 12.8% at me to try and discourage me from my desired recovery. After all, what's the point of pooling all of my time & energy into pursuing final fusion if it has such a low success rate?

Although I don't know where exactly this "low success rate" idea came from, most people I know explain that The Plural Association introduced it to them. This would make sense, because this nonprofit frequently states that final fusion has a 12.8% success rate on their webpage & resources. Here's some examples:

(Source)

(Source)

(Source)

Now, here's the thing:

This is at best a misquote & at worst purposeful misinformation.

The study that is linked here does not say that final fusion is only successful 12.8% of the time, or that only 12.8% of DID patients achieve final fusion.

In this study, a handful of DID clinicians are interviewed about their patients. It says that 39 patients terminated their therapy. 25.6% of those patients said that they reached a successful resolution in their therapy, they no longer needed it. 12.8% of those no longer needed therapy after full fusion, 12.8% no longer needed therapy but didn't fully fuse.

This is not a success rate. This does not say how many patients achieved final fusion. This is just a reason behind why some people left their therapy. The percentage is the same for people who did and did not achieve final fusion.

Here's the exact quote from the study:

(Source)

I have no idea how anyone can take a look at this and misconstrue the 12.8% to be about how successful final fusion is. It's possible it was just a misunderstanding, but I have trouble trusting that as The Plural Association has cited this study multiple times, including writing a whole article on it, yet continues to misconstrue final fusion as only being successful in 12.8% patients when that's just, blatantly, wrong.

Please reblog & spread this! Final fusion is horrifically stigmatized and fully fused systems are subjected to frequent harassment & misinformation about their recovery choices. It's not okay, and we should hold nonprofits like The Plural Association to better standards.

[afriblaq]

[sysmedsaresexist]

I love Peter Barach, he's so spicy~

I think if you take a look at the ISSTD treatment guidelines, you won’t find what [TPA] says to be there. The term “integration” refers to “better integrated functioning ,” not to “fusion” of all the alters into one.

Kluft argues that fusion leads to the most stable outcome of treatment—that’s his opinion, but the only data on that point comes from a series of people he treated himself. Fusion doesn’t always happen, and it’s also clear that some people with DID don’t want it.

[X]

[somewhere-dreaming-her1]

Integration is one of the most important things you can do as a lifelong learner. It’s not just about learning new things and jumping onto the next—it's about how you integrate everything you’ve learned into your life.

Learn to sit with it. To integrate, not just consume. Let’s pause, take a breath, and allow natural integration to happen.

Somewhere dreaming

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Busing became a contentious issue in the 1960s, but New York began it earlier. Here, teacher Marie Donnelly is in her classroom at P.S. 77 in Glendale, September 28, 1959. In her 40 years of teaching, never has Donnelly had so many African-American students in a class. The youngsters were bused to the school from Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, a predominantly black neighborhood where schools are overcrowded. P.S. 77, which had an enrollment of 368 all-white students, can handle 1,000 children comfortably. Parents in the Queens neighborhoods objected to influx, but the children themselves adjusted to one another without incident.

Photo: Associated Press