Multiplicity (subculture)

Multiplicity, also called plurality or polypsychism, is an online subculture of people identifying as having multiple people occupying one mind and body.^[1]^[2]^[3] Each person may have their own thoughts, emotional reactions, preferences, behavior, memory and sense of self.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[1] Being plural, or identifying as multiple people in one body, is often seen as inherently "disordered". However, being Plural is not necessarily "disordered" because it is a violation of social norms. People generally do not consider themselves to be "disordered" because they are specifically plural.^[3]^[7]

Plurality is not entire Multiplicity because it is explicitly for people who identify with it, while Multiplicity is for people who do not identify with “the plural identity”^[8] More specifically, plurality is defined doxastically, while Multiplicity is defined phenomenologically.

It commonly covers:^[3]^[6]

People_p, in which the 'p' indicates part of a human who identifies as plural^[8]
Psychological conditions like dissociative identity disorder, however, it is not required.
Tulpas, materialized beings or thought-forms created through spiritual practice and intense concentration^[9]^[7]
Walk-ins, souls that have departed from their original body to inhabit or coinhabit another
Experiences or displays of multiple identities due to other or unspecified causes^[3]

Origins and related practices

Resources dedicated to multiplicity started to appear early in the internet's history.^[9] According to a member of the community interviewed by Vice Magazine, the multiplicity subculture and related vocabulary originated in mailing lists of the 1980s.^[3] Playing video games has also been cited as a context in which people engage with multiplicity.^[10]

Vice suggests that experiences similar to multiplicity were also found in Haitian Vodou, spirit possession and the Tibetan practice of tulpamancy.^[3] Nowadays, an online subculture dedicated to tulpamancy also exists, where practitioners willfully create and engage with tulpas which has been described as an online multiplicity space.^[9]

Characteristics

Multiplicity communities exist online through social media blogging sites like LiveJournal, Tumblr,^[11]^[12] and more recently, TikTok, Reddit, and YouTube.^[2]^[13] However, the Culture on each of the platforms are different. Composing their members are "systems" of multiple distinct identities or personalities in the same body. Those identities are often called "headmates", "systemmates", and sometimes "alters". Typically, each headmate has a different Identity.^[11]^[14]^[9] Some other jargon used within multiplicity communities includes:

"Fronter", the headmate currently controlling the body.
"Fronting", the act of controlling the body.^[3]
"Co-fronting", when two or more headmates are fronting simultaneously.
"Switching", when the fronting headmate switches out to another headmate.^[2]
"Plural" or "Plurality", other terms for multiplicity.^[15]
"Headspace" or "inner world", the concept of a mental space in which headmates interact together.^[11]^[3]
"Singlet", referring to a person that does not experience plurality.^[1]^[3]^[6]
"Traumagenic", a form of plurality caused by or rooted in psychological trauma.^[9]
"Endogenic", an Umbrella term for more than one form of plurality that has non-traumagenic roots.^[9]
"System Name", a name that incorporates every headmate in the system.

“Headmates” do not typically like to be called “alters” (a clinical term from DID) because they consider it dehumanizing.

According to Schechter and Christean, people in this community have a large overlap with Transgender^a This specific definition of trans headmates is a headmate who identifies with another gender that is not the AGAB of their body and Autistic people.

History

Christensen says that systems in this subculture have been moving to Person-first language. This indirectly caused Plurality to be adopted by the wider subculture. Plurality was coined as a Umbrella term for traumagenic and endogenic systems.^[16]

1980s

The Hearing Voices Network began operations in the U.K. and can be linked to Multiplicity ^[17]

1990s

A lot of philosophical literature for DID was written
Because of that, many online resources and communities were made for people_p

2010s

The Tulpamancy Community formed. They are a known form of plurality at this point.^[7]

Role as a support community

Participating in online multiplicity communities can remedy social isolation.^[1]^[13] Ribáry et al. found that for participants, adopting a plural identity helps them cope with identity disorders and that discovering the notion of multiplicity and participating in related communities "is helpful and therapeutic".^[1] According to The Plural Association (a Netherlands-based nonprofit founded to "empower Plurals, no matter the words or labels they use to define their unique and individual experiences"^[18]), "Denying the existence of separate experiences can be harmful and may not facilitate healing. Acknowledging and respecting the multiplicity-plurality of individuals with DID [Dissociative Identity Disorder] is essential for promoting understanding, acceptance, and support."^[19]

As a personality style

In personality research, the term plurality can also refer to personality style defined as "an individual's relatively consistent inclinations and preferences across contexts".^[20]

Stephen E. Braude and Rita Carter use a different definition of personality style, defining "personality style" as "personality" and proposing that a person may have multiple selves and not have any relatively consistent inclinations and preferences in personality. This may happen as an adaptation to a change of environment and role within a person's life and may be consciously adopted or encouraged, in a similar way to acting or role-playing.^[21] For example, a woman may adopt a kind, nurturing personality when dealing with her children but change to a more aggressive, forceful personality when going to work as a high-flying executive as her responsibilities change.^[22]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Ribáry, Gergő; Lajtai, László; Demetrovics, Zsolt; Maraz, Aniko (2017-06-13). "Multiplicity: An Explorative Interview Study on Personal Experiences of People with Multiple Selves". Frontiers in Psychology. 8: 938. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00938. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 5468408. PMID 28659840.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lucas, Jessica (6 July 2021). "Inside TikTok's booming dissociative identity disorder community". Input. Retrieved 2022-09-25.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Telfer, Tori (2015-05-11). "Are Multiple Personalities Always a Disorder?". Vice. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
^ cooper, mick (1996). "MODES OF EXISTENCE: TOWARDS A PHENOMENOLOGICAL POLYPSYCHISM" (PDF). Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis. 7 (2): 1.
^ Rowan, John, ed. (1999). The plural self: multiplicity in everyday life (1. publ ed.). London: Sage Publ. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-7619-6076-8.
^ ^a ^b ^c "What we can learn about respect and identity from 'plurals'". Aeon. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
^ ^a ^b ^c Isler, Jacob J. (2025-03-27). "Tulpas and Mental Health: A Study of Non-Traumagenic Plural Experiences". Research in Psychology and Behavioral Sciences. 5 (2): 36–44. doi:10.12691/rpbs-5-2-1. ISSN 2333-4371.
^ ^a ^b Schechter, Elizabeth (March 2024). "Introducing Plurals" (PDF). Journal of Cognition and Neuroethics. 9 (2).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Enacted Identities: Multiplicity, Plurality, and Tulpamancy". Psychology Today. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
^ "Multiplicity and Identity Mitigation in Video Games | Nightmare Mode [Archived]". Retrieved 2023-07-02.
^ ^a ^b ^c Riesman, Abraham (2019-03-29). "The Best Cartoonist You've Never Read Is Eight Different People". Vulture. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
^ ""Multiple Systems" versus Dissociative Identity Disorder: Life-Style or Mental Illness?" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-11-11.
^ ^a ^b Styx, Lo (2022-01-27). "Teens Are Using TikTok to Diagnose Themselves With Dissociative Identity Disorder". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
^ Parry, Sarah; Eve, Zarah; Myers, Gemma (2022-07-21). "Exploring the Utility and Personal Relevance of Co-Produced Multiplicity Resources with Young People". Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma. 15 (2): 427–439. doi:10.1007/s40653-021-00377-7. ISSN 1936-1521. PMC 9120276. PMID 35600531.
^ Stronghold (2023-04-18). "How they took the Multiple out of Multiplicity - Understanding the history". powertotheplurals.com. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
^ Christensen, Emily M. (2022-06-01). "The online community: DID and plurality". European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation. 6 (2): 100257. doi:10.1016/j.ejtd.2021.100257. ISSN 2468-7499.
^ Clarke, Lori F. (2016-12-20). "Embracing Polyphony: Voices, Improvisation, and the Hearing Voices Network". Intersectionalities: A Global Journal of Social Work Analysis, Research, Polity, and Practice. 5 (2): 1–11. doi:10.48336/IJATEC1628. ISSN 1925-1270.
^ Stronghold. "TPA Nonprofit". powertotheplurals.com. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
^ Stronghold (2023-04-18). "How they took the Multiple out of Multiplicity - Understanding the history". powertotheplurals.com. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
^ Eriksen, Karen & Kress, Victoria E. (2005). "A Developmental, Constructivist Model for Ethical Assessment (Which Includes Diagnosis, of Course)". Beyond the DSM Story: Ethical Quandaries, Challenges, and Best Practices. Thousand Oaks, CA: Page Publications. ISBN 0-7619-3032-9
^ Stephen E. Braude (1995), First Person Plural: Multiple Personality and the Philosophy of Mind, Rowman & Littlefield, p. 86, ISBN 9780847679966
^ Carter, Rita (March 2008). Multiplicity: The New Science of Personality, Identity, and the Self. Little, Brown. ISBN 9780316115384.