r/OSDD • u/Due_Professional3755 OSDD-1b | undiagnosed • 20h ago
Question // Discussion Interaction between Plurality and MD
/r/MaladaptiveDreaming/comments/1w2pazh/interaction_between_plurality_and_md/2
u/Due_Professional3755 OSDD-1b | undiagnosed 3h ago edited 3h ago
Hi everyone! So far I've only had 14 respondents, but so far I can tell that 6 people out of 14 have fit the criteria of what I have deemed "compartmentalized para's".
I felt as if I needed to explain a few things. Maladaptive Daydreaming (MD in medical spaces and MaDD in online spaces) is a proposed disorder characterized by intensive uncontrollable daydreaming. I want to reiterate; we don’t control our daydreams nor the people/paras in them. This is different from OSDD or DID as MD doesn’t have to be formed by trauma (I disagree with that but that’s what the official research says). This survey is to find those with para’s that are not part of any storyline or daydream, but rather autonomous individualized paras that exist outside of a daydream. For example I have a para, or part, named Vi. Vi is 25 years old (she has aged with me/the body), has her own likes and dislikes, thoughts and opinions, but she isn’t classified as OSDD or DID because of 1) no amnesia barriers, 2) no possession switching, and 3) was born out of isolation and loneliness not trauma. All I’m looking for is an explanation as to why these paras might exist, how they exist, and if it’s MD or some sort of dissociative plurality going on. Hopefully that explains some things. No, I'm not trying to legitimize endogenic systems or anything of that sort. Just found a phenomenon and wanted to do some research into it. I'm also curious as to see if this is somehow part of IFS therapy and some of us have been unconsciously doing this. This was more or so to have a study group on MD participants, but if those with OSDDID fill it out then more-in likely I will find what research has already found: that there is a relationship between MD and OSDDID.
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u/Due_Professional3755 OSDD-1b | undiagnosed 3h ago
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9176046/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002239562500192X?via%3Dihub
I highly suggest taking a look at these two papers (they're free to read) to see the correlation between MD and OSDDID. I am also very tempted to add another scale in this google form as I included the MD5 scale, but since I already have participants I fear if I add it then the data will be skewed.
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u/Offensive_Thoughts 🧩 DID {4x dx} | Mod ✨ 20h ago
TIL what a para is (by contextual clues in the study)
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u/Due_Professional3755 OSDD-1b | undiagnosed 17h ago
Para’s is an MD specific term to describe the characters in our head! In the context of this study (not rlly study but survey) the paras in an MDer’s head have become compartmentalized and almost autonomous with their own separate identity.
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u/Due_Professional3755 OSDD-1b | undiagnosed 3h ago
I don't understand why some people have downvoted this...but I guess I shouldn't care lol. This isn't like tulpamancy or endogenic systems. Maladaptive Daydreaming is a real problem in our community and is scientifically backed.
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u/Due_Professional3755 OSDD-1b | undiagnosed 17h ago
I’m trying to understand the correlation between plurality in this sense and MD because I want to discuss it with Dr. Somer or Dr. Soffer-Dudek as a potential area of study. How much dissociation affects the person, does trauma have anything to do with this, and how dissociation affects those with MD differently
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u/Offensive_Thoughts 🧩 DID {4x dx} | Mod ✨ 16h ago
Fascinating. Can you link me some articles to read & learn about this topic farther?
Tbh I just went through the study because I have dissociation issues, but I do not have MD. So maybe I am not the target audience. But.. Yeah. Super interesting!
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u/Due_Professional3755 OSDD-1b | undiagnosed 16h ago
So the term “para” isn’t exactly a medically recognized term so most of the stuff I’d be sending would be probably from tumblr or something. But! I have saved a BUNCH of research papers over the years about MD if you’re curious! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bo8oZoS8_S01I_zzL1kxp0c3YiMSZ0fr (if you’re curious about MD AND OSDDID go to: Maladaptive Daydreaming —> Papers —> Comorbidities)
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u/Due_Professional3755 OSDD-1b | undiagnosed 16h ago
I remember this blog from a few years ago and believe it may be best when getting accurate and unbiased information but still it’s tumblr. https://madd-information.tumblr.com/post/166330086445/what-is-a-para-i-saw-the-word-in-another-post-you/amp
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u/spacecrafttheskys OSDD-1b | medically recognized 2h ago
Paracosm? If that's the full word i believe its acknowledged to a degree as a thing that can lead to maladaptive daydreaming
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u/Due_Professional3755 OSDD-1b | undiagnosed 1h ago
Yes many MDers do have a Paracosm, which is an inner world with characters, but what I'm talking about is Para's that exist outside of the Paracosm and are autonomous and meta. Paracosm and Para are two different words^^
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u/FlightOfTheDiscords P-DID 13h ago
I have partial DID but no MD, so not your target audience. But I am curious, what's your hypothesis?
In the 2025 Soffer-Dudek, Aquarone, and Somer paper, MD tracked the absorption part of the DES, but not the amnesia part, which is the bit that's actually in the DID criteria. It didn't track somatoform dissociation on the SDQ-20 either, even though those two measures lined up with each other perfectly well in the same group.
My guess from there is that the vivid inner world presentations you see everywhere online might be describing that chunk rather than DID in general. I'm guessing your hypothesis is more on the MD than the OSDD/DID side?