January 2025

Percepts and concepts

The way we understand dissociative experiences is shaped by the interplay between percepts (raw experiences) and concepts (interpretive frameworks). DID is not the experience itself but a concept that organizes dissociative percepts within a cultural framework. Once adopted, concepts like DID shape how individuals perceive and recall their experiences, reinforcing a feedback loop. Drawing on ideas from William James and Ian Hacking, I explore how the diagnostic label of DID not only describes experiences but actively shapes them. Recognizing this allows for a more flexible, open-ended approach to dissociation beyond a singular framework.

conceptualization DID Hacking James philosophy

5 minutes

September 2024

Looping kinds and dynamic nominalism: the feedback loop of diagnostic labels and cultural influences in DID

The way dissociative identity disorder is conceptualized is heavily shaped by cultural influences, creating a feedback loop between diagnosis and experience. Drawing on Ian Hacking’s concepts of looping kinds and dynamic nominalism, I explore how diagnostic labels do not merely describe experiences but actively shape them. The classification of DID as an “identity disorder” reinforces a framework where individuals perceive their dissociative experiences through the lens of multiple identities, further entrenching the label’s influence. Additionally, the cultural practice of personifying alters is not an inherent feature of dissociation but a learned framework shaped by media, clinical expectations, and community narratives. Recognizing these feedback loops allows for a more critical and flexible approach to understanding dissociative experiences beyond rigid diagnostic categories.

culture DID dynamic nominalism Hacking identity looping kinds philosophy

10 minutes