The Therapy Mockery Dictionary

The Therapy Mockery Dictionary

Alex and Hunter's Guide to Surviving Professional Incompetence

"Fragmenting" How they use it: What we call it when someone drops or breaks something.
"Oh no, I'm fragmenting again!" (while literally breaking a plate)
Real meaning: The harmful idea that plural people are "broken pieces" of one person instead of whole individuals sharing a body.

"Dissociating"
How they use it: Zoning out during boring meetings or when Chaz talks too long.
"Sorry, I was dissociating. Could you repeat that?"
Real meaning: A mental process where someone disconnects from their thoughts, feelings, or surroundings - often a trauma response, but also a normal way plural systems can shift awareness between headmates.

"Maladaptive"
How they use it: Anything mildly inconvenient or that doesn't go according to plan.
"This traffic is very maladaptive." / "The coffee machine is being maladaptive again."
Real meaning: Psychology term for coping mechanisms that cause more harm than help. Often wrongly applied to plurality itself, when the real issue is usually lack of support or understanding.

"Identity confusion"
How they use it: Unable to decide what to have for lunch.
"I'm experiencing severe identity confusion about this menu."
Real meaning: Uncertainty about who you are - which can happen in plural systems during switching or when headmates are still developing their sense of self, but isn't inherently pathological.

"Persecutor alter"
How they use it: Anyone being mildly annoying or teasing.
"Stop being such a persecutor alter." / "Alex is having a persecutor alter moment."
Real meaning: A headmate who seems hostile or aggressive, usually because they're trying to protect the system in ways that feel harmful. Often misunderstood - most "persecutors" are actually protectors whose methods need gentler guidance.

"Integration"
How they use it: When we actually agree on something.
"Wow, we achieved integration about dinner plans."
Real meaning: In therapy, often means forcing separate headmates to merge into one person. But healthy integration actually means improved communication and cooperation between headmates while maintaining their individuality.

"Therapeutic resistance"
How they use it: Not wanting to do anything productive.
"I'm showing therapeutic resistance to folding laundry."
Real meaning: When someone seems to reject or fight against therapy - but in plural systems, this often happens when treatment tries to eliminate headmates rather than help them work together.

"Internal family system chaos"
How they use it: When the apartment is messy.
"We need to address this internal family system chaos before Gloria visits."
Real meaning: IFS is actually one of the better therapy approaches for plural people - it recognizes that everyone has multiple internal "parts" and focuses on helping them cooperate rather than merge.

"Grounding techniques"
How they use it: Literal gardening. Also eating Gloria's food.
"I need some grounding techniques. Do we have any of Mama's empanadas left?"
Real meaning: Strategies to help someone feel present and connected to their body/surroundings, especially useful during dissociation or when switching between headmates feels disorienting.

"Malevolent presence"
How they use it: Term of endearment. Usually directed at Hunter when he steals the last coffee.
"You malevolent presence, I was saving that."
Real meaning: Dr. Brennan's opinion about Hunter - the kind of language that treats headmates as symptoms to eliminate rather than people deserving respect and understanding.

A Note from Alex and Hunter:
We turned our trauma into comedy because laughing together felt better than crying alone. The way professionals talk about us shapes how we're treated, how we see ourselves, and whether we get help or harm.

If you're plural, you deserve therapists who see you as people, not symptoms. If you're not plural, you deserve to understand what we actually experience instead of what textbooks claim we experience.

And if you're a mental health professional reading this - please, do better. We're not broken. We're not dangerous. We're not your intellectual curiosity project. We're just people trying to live and love and exist in bodies that house more than one consciousness.

You can read the Inside trilogy (and Newcomers) on Amazon today