OSDD (Other Specified Dissociative Disorder)

What is OSDD?

OSDD is a dissociative disorder stemming from repititive or long term severe trauma (physical, medical, sexual, etc.) since very early childhood. This trauma affects a childs developing brain, especially their sense of identity. It earned it's name because it doesn't quite meet a specific criteria of dissociation disorders, symptoms are often clustered. This is why there are 4 types of OSDD, and the most commonly well known one, which is often mistakened for DID, is OSDD type 1 or OSDD1b.

What is it? What is the difference between OSDD and DID?

OSDD who discovered it?

OSDD's Origin

OSDD was officially adopted into the DSM-V criteria in 2013. There is no official person who found OSDD considering it was renamed OSDD after DDNOS, but there was a person named Rob Spring who wrote about the positive outcome of DDNOS which is now known as OSDD. It was renamed OSDD is because of the different levels of dissociation and trauma within the disorder.

What is a "system" in OSDD1a & OSDD1b?

A system, which is usually known to be found in DID patients, is described as a collection of alters within one body. An alter is an identity which is developed from severe trauma. Usually an alter will have their own name, birthday, age, personality, memories, etc. Though in OSDD1a an alter is not very detailed like that at all. They usually act identical or similar to the core original, which is the person born into the body. In OSDD1b however, alters can be greatly detailed and other times they are not. Sometimes alters don't even have a name! The "inner world" is where all the alters live, which is of course in the forebrain. Which is why it's called "fronting" when an alter takes control of the body. It is very important to keep in mind that no matter how greatly detailed or poorly detailed an alter is, they still have feelings and emotions. They still deserve to be treated the same way any other person would be treated; i.e the main host. There are different roles in alters in an OSDD1b system, this varies depending on the type of trauma the alter originated from. Also something to note; it is possible for alters to have a different mental illness from the core original. The different roles in a system is the hosts, co-hosts, protectors (note: there are different types protectors!), persecutors, caretakers. little/child alters, gatekeepers, introjects, fictives, disabled alters, and non-human alters (usually animals). A host is an alter who is usually fronted or always fronted. A co-host can usually be an ANP, someone who helps the host with daily life tasks (school, work, eating, rest, etc). There are different types protectors built to protect the body from different situations. Physical protectors front to protect the body from physical abuse or confrontation. Depending on how severe the situation is, they may become aggressive. Verbal protectors front to protect the body from verbal insults, they are built to take verbal insults or lash out and encounter verbal attacks. Emotional protectors will front to take emotional abuse or help and comfort other alters who have experienced emotional abuse. Persecutors often get very bad rep and are often judged harshly because of how the media percieves them. Some systems call persecutors "misguided protectors" because they are a type of protector, they just have a negative impact on the host and system unintentionally. But they are NOT evil. Caretakers take care of the system, they are also a type of protector. They are like the parental figure of the system, but because of their role they genuinely forget to take care of themselves since they are so busy taking care of everyone else in the system. So it is important to remind them that they need to take care of themselves as well. Littles or child alters are exactly what the name implies, children alters. They act similar to a biological child usually, but usually have a mature mindset. They usually present as the age abuse occured and hold the traumatic memories from that age. Which is why they're usually mature. Other times, even though they hold those memories, they are carefree. Gatekeepers are alters that have the ability to prevent unwated switches, can also be known as "the police of the system". They keep order in the system to prevent unwanted traumatic memories from "bleeding to other parts" of the system. Introjects are alters based off of people in the real world (our world). These people are usually someone who had a positive effect on the body. But can sometimed be a combination of traits the child saw in order to survive. Though sometimes, they will contain traits of an abuser from childhood. Fictives are based off of characters from TV shows, movies, films, games, etc. They are similar to introjects, are usually developed because of a positive impact they had on the body and are used to help with certain problems. They will still have their memories and personality from the media they came from. Disabled alters are alters that are physically disabled due to different types of trauma. They can be mute/non-verbal, deaf, blind, etc. This can happen due to abusers saying stuff like "you didn't see that" or "you didn't hear that". And non-human alters obviously do not identify as human, and are usually animals or "robots". The animal alters can develop due to being treated like they were dangerous or being treated like an animal. Robot alters are not actual robots, they just are convinced they are because they lack emotion or are unable to show emotion.

What are systems? Treatments for systems

Cases of OSDD

Case closed

There are not many known people with OSDD. But my partner has OSDD and him and one of his alters gave me some insight on their type of OSDD. They have an OSDD1b system.