Losing followers because of our interactions and feel like we need to make ourselves completely clear on another thing.
I'm not the one good with words so bare with me.
A thread.

We've decided terms like 'faking' and 'lying' are inaccurate to what is being discussed. But we do think it is possible for people to misinterpret what they're experiencing, and that is a valid experience and something personal to our host, please hear us out. 2/

Note that we’re primarily concerned with disordered DID/OSDD systems with all of this, you’ll see why. As a child and young teen, the host was *completely convinced* she had schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder. She’d done the research, looked at herself and figured this must 3/

have been what was happening. DEEP down she *knew* that there were boxes she wasn’t ticking off, ways in which it didn’t quite fit, but because of the symptoms that she figured *had* to be correlated to these two conditions, she tried to make it fit anyway. 4/

Hearing voices, visual distortions and ‘losing touch’ with reality (going back into headspace and becoming aware of her surroundings); That *had* to be psychosis. Mood swings so sudden, severe and random that it was like she became a different person? That *had* to be bipolar 5/

disorder. She did tell people at this time that she believed she had these conditions, because they were all that made sense. No, she wasn’t *lying* or *faking*, but she *was* misinterpreting. We were on antipsychotics at 14 and they did no good at all. Why? Because she was 6/

wrong about having schizophrenia (and bipolar). The symptoms she was experiencing were actually DID; so, her *experiences* were real and valid, but she got the wrong *label*. Because of that, she got the wrong treatment, and that ended up being detrimental to our health. 7/

But y’know what? IT’S OKAY that she was wrong. She was doing the absolute best with the info she had. She wasn’t a liar or dumb or evil or anything else. She was just wrong, and that’s fine, because recognizing that allowed us to reach the point of being able to get the 8/

*right* label and therefore the *right* treatment. The issue isn’t whether or not the experiences are real or valid. They are. The issue is whether or not the *labelling* of the experiences is accurate, *for medical reasons*. If someone is experiencing psychosis and believing 9/

it is actually DID, that can be dangerous. I am not interested in this for the sake of gatekeeping or community. I am concerned about people going through the same things we did. I have no idea who that may be, and I’m not interested in knowing, nor saying “These people are 10/

misinterpreting, and these aren’t.” It’s a conversation that can ONLY be had ABOUT yourself TO yourself, in a tone that is patient, understanding, kind and objective, and your findings aren’t anyone else’s business. But this as a phenomenon that occurs is important to discuss 11/

because it DOES happen, it happened to us, and these experiences are ALSO valid and important. The possibility that someone may be misinterpreting what their experiences mean – NOT misinterpreting WHAT they experience, but the CAUSE of it – doesn’t mean that anyone who 12/

experiences any form of denial or non-traditional symptoms is in fact misinterpreting. The first step is validating your experiences; what happens to you happens to you – but the confusion comes around what it means and where it comes from. And if you do personally reflect in 13/

your own mind and come to find that what you’re experiencing may be something else, know that that’s OKAY. You’re not a liar, because you believed what you said. You dont NEED to be a system to be valid, do not put it on a pedestal as the only valid explanation of experiences 14/

Maybe it’s absolutely right for you; good, I’m glad! But sometimes it’s not, and that is VALID and SO important to talk about too. Don't shut out our experiences and the experiences of those who will end up stuck if they realise they were wrong. 15/15