Acronyms and Glossary | DID-Research.org

“As an undergraduate student in psychology, I was taught that multiple personalities were a very rare and bizarre disorder. That is all that I was taught on ... It soon became apparent that what I had been taught was simply not true. Not only was I meeting people with multiplicity; these individuals entering my life were normal human beings with much to offer. They were simply people who had endured more than their share of pain in this life and were struggling to make sense of it.”

― Deborah Bray Haddock, The Dissociative Identity Disorder Sourcebook

Acronyms

Glossary

Abuse - A repetitive or systematic pattern of behaviors in which an individual behaves in a violent, demeaning, hostile, or invasive manner towards another individual, usually with the intent of gaining or maintaining power and control. See also: emotional and verbal abuse; neglect; religious and ritual abuse; sexual abuse
Abuse Taker - An alter that exists to experience trauma so that other alters do not have to
Addiction - A disease that leads an individual to use substances or engage in other behaviors such as gambling despite consequences such as impairment in behavioral and emotional control, social and work related problems, and risks to one's health. Addiction is characterized by cycles of relapse and remission and by cravings
Age Slider - An alter that can present as different ages, sometimes within certain ranges or specific ages, sometimes with a different appearance, personality, job, or set of memories associated with each age
Alter - A dissociated part with its own age, gender, sexuality, perceived appearance, perceived source, perceived species, wants, needs, desires, opinions, memories, skills, abilities, and even psychological disorders and physiological reactions. See Apparently Normal Part and Emotional Part
Amnesia - A loss of memory that may be partial or complete. See also: dissociative amnesia
Anxiety Disorders - Disorders characterized by excessive and uncontrollable anxiety. DSM-5 anxiety disorders are separation anxiety disorder, selective mutism, specific phobia, social anxiety disorder (social phobia), panic disorder, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, substance/medication-induced anxiety disorder, anxiety disorder due to another medical condition, other specified anxiety disorder, and unspecified anxiety disorder
Apparently Normal Part (ANP) - An alter or part that, according to the theory of Structural Dissociation, displays negative posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (avoidance, dissociation, emotional numbing) and handles aspects of daily life. Usually avoidant of and fearful towards emotional parts. These have also been called neutral identity states (NIS). One ANP is present in posttraumatic stress disorder, simple dissociative disorders, complex-posttraumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, and other specified dissociative disorder. Multiple ANP are present in dissociative identity disorder
Betrayal Trauma - A type of trauma which involves a significant violation of trust or wellbeing by individuals or institutions that someone relies on for their survival. Child abuse is a type of betrayal trauma while natural disasters or assault by strangers are not (though apathetic or victim-blaming reactions to assault can be). Betrayal trauma is more likely to cause “betrayal blindness” or repressed memories than non-betrayal trauma is
Big - Term for an adult (age 18 or 21 and over) alter
Black out - When one or more alters are unaware of anything while one or more other alters use the body. This is often experienced as time loss but may or may not be noticed
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) - A disorder characterized by a fear of abandonment and frantic efforts to avoid such; unstable and intense relationships characterized by alternating idealization and devaluation of others; identity disturbances and an unstable view of self; harmful impulsivity; self harm or suicidal threats or gestures; emotional instability; chronic feelings of emptiness, loneliness, and boredom; inappropriate, intense, or difficult to control anger; stress related paranoid thoughts or dissociation. BPD is associated with both genetic and neurological abnormalities and childhood trauma
Caretaker - An alter that looks after younger, weaker, or more vulnerable alters or an external individual responsible for a child's well being
Co-consciousness - A state in which two or more alters are present in or using the body at once or are aware of the outside world at once. Alters may have varying degrees of control and may be aware of each other and each others’ thoughts to varying degrees. Often shortened to co-con and can be used as a descriptor of said state
Co-fronting - A specific type of co-consciousness in which two or more alters are in control of the body at the same time to varying degrees. Alters may be aware of each other or own each others’ actions to varying degrees
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - A type of therapy that focuses on improving the client’s present life through examining how their beliefs and thoughts are linked to and affecting their behavior and feelings. It helps clients to restructure their thoughts to be healthier and more realistic and their behavior to be more beneficial
Comorbidity - Refers to the presence of two or more chronic conditions in a patient. These conditions are referred to as comorbid conditions and often interact with each other to aggravate the others’ symptoms yet remain independent of each other
Complex-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) / Disorder of Extreme Stress (DESNOS) - Though not yet recognized in the DSM-5 except as PTSD with dissociative features, C-PTSD is a variation of PTSD that emphasizes difficulties with emotional regulation, dissociation, distorted self perception, distorted perception of and preoccupation with one’s perpetrator, disturbed relations with others, and a disturbance or loss of meaning. C-PTSD results from intense and chronic trauma such as captivity, prostitution, human trafficking, domestic violence, or child abuse
Conversion Disorder - A medical condition in which extreme stress results in neurological symptoms such as loss of the ability to walk, see, hear, speak, or feel or in the experience of seizures, fits, or hallucinations. Conversion disorder is a type of somatic symptom disorder. Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures are a type of conversion disorder
Coping Skills / Mechanisms - Actions that help one to handle daily life, one's symptoms, or one's traumatic history. Examples include meditation, mindfulness, distraction, art, or physical activity
Core - The original alter. The part that was born to the body or that began integrating before other parts began to form coherent identities. Not all systems have a core
Depersonalization / Derealization Disorder (DPDR) - A disorder characterized by episodes of derealization (feeling as if the world around oneself isn’t real) and / or depersonalization (feeling as if oneself or parts of oneself are not real, under one’s control, or connected)
Depressive Disorders - Disorders characterized by persistent or intense lows in emotions, energy, motivation, social interest, and hope. DSM-5 depressive disorders are disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia), premenstrual dysphoric disorder, substance/medication-induced depressive disorder, depressive disorder due to another medical condition, other specified depressive disorder, and unspecified depressive disorder
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) - The American Psychiatric Association’s guidebook of diagnostic labels and criteria that contains information regarding diagnostic features, associated features, prevalence, development and course, risk and prognostic features, culture-related diagnostic issues, gender-related diagnostic issues, suicide risk, functional consequences, differential diagnoses, and comorbidity. The 5th edition (DSM-5) was released in 2013; before this, the revised 4th edition (DSM-IV-TR) was in use
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) - A type of therapy that is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy that is particularly aimed at those with borderline personality disorder who are struggling with suicidal thoughts or actions. It focuses on the present and validates the client’s emotions while coaching them to change their emotional reactions
Disorganized Attachment - A type of insecure attachment in which confused and inconsistent attachment behavior results from parental unavailability, lack of affection, neglect, or abuse
Dissociation - An internal disconnect regarding one’s thoughts, feelings, memories, history, body, or actions or between one and one’s surroundings that manifests as a sense of unreality or as slowed, fuzzy, nonsensical, or disjointed thoughts, emotions, or actions
Dissociative Amnesia (DA) - A state of unawareness / forgetfulness that cannot be accounted for by ordinary memory processes. Alters can be amnesiac for each others’ activities (see time loss). As well, dissociative amnesia is a dissociative disorder that covers different degrees of psychogenic amnesia. Generalized amnesia regards a person’s entire life; systemized amnesia regards a specific category of information (such as all memories involving a certain location, person, or event); localized amnesia regards specific traumatic events; selective amnesia regards details of a traumatic event
Dissociative Disorder (DD) - A disorder characterized by a separation of consciousness from emotion, sensation, memory, personal history, sense of self, or sense of reality. Dissociative disorders include dissociative identity disorder, depersonalization / derealization disorder, dissociative amnesia, and other specified dissociative disorder as well as the blanket unspecified dissociative disorder category
Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (DDNOS) - See other specified dissociative disorder
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) - Previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder. Characterized by the presence of two or more dissociated self states (alters) that have the ability to take executive control and are associated with some degree of personal amnesia. Type of dissociative disorder
Emotional and Verbal Abuse - Abuse characterized by threats, insults, humiliation, intimidation, isolation, or stalking, by overly controlling, possessive, or monitoring behavior, or by emotional neglect, abandonment, or rejection. This type of abuse is often covert and can be hard to recognize, especially in the absence of explicit verbal degradation. Though emotional abuse accompanies sexual and physical abuse, it can happen independently of those abuses as well. Emotional abuse is the most common type of child abuse
Emotional Part (EP) - An alter or part that, according to the theory of Structural Dissociation, displays positive posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (flashbacks, hypervigilance, hyperarousal) due to containing traumatic memories and having learned traumatic responses. When active or intruding on apparently normal parts, the apparently normal part will experience positive posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. These have also been called trauma-related identity states (TIS). One EP is present in posttraumatic stress disorder and simple dissociative disorders. Multiple EP are present in complex-posttraumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, other specified dissociative disorder, and dissociative identity disorder
Exposure Therapy - A type of therapy in which gradual and controlled exposure to an averse stimuli is used to overcome phobias
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) - A type of therapy in which bilateral eye movements, audio tones, or tapping during imaginal exposure are used to help desensitize a client to a distressing or traumatic memory. This type of therapy is typically used to treat posttraumatic stress disorder
Factitious Disorder - A category of disorders in which someone deliberately produces, exaggerates, or fakes medical or mental health symptoms within themself (factitious disorder imposed on self, previously known as Munchausen Syndrome) or within another person (factitious disorder imposed on another, previously known as Munchausen by Proxy) because of a need to be seen as ill or injured, not for concrete financial or social gains (which would be malingering). Factitious disorders are related to somatic symptom disorder
False Memory Syndrome (FMS) - A supposed condition in which someone’s identity and relationships are centered around false memories of trauma. Neither the American Psychiatric Association nor the World Health Organization recognize this syndrome, and it has received much criticism from the scientific community. It was championed by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation
False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) - The organization that proposed and supported the idea of False Memory Syndrome. It was founded by Pamela and Peter Freyd after Peter was accused of childhood sexual abuse by his daughter, Jennifer Freyd. The FMSF functioned as a legal agent to defend those accused of child abuse until it dissolved on December 31, 2019
Family Therapy - A type of therapy in which the whole nuclear family is met with so that the relationships between individual members can be explored and so that communication between members can be improved. This type of therapy is helpful for when one family member’s mental, emotional, or behavioral problems are affecting the whole family, when there is a divorce or death in the family, or when someone in the family has a drug or alcohol addiction
Feeding and Eating Disorders - Disorders characterized by abnormal patterns of eating or insufficient or excessive caloric intake or retainment. DSM-5 feeding and eating disorders include pica, rumination disorder, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, other specified feeding and eating disorder, and unspecified feeding and eating disorder
Flashback - A dissociative experience during which an individual re-experiences, acts out, or reacts to past trauma or traumatic components in the present. May or may not be complete. A common feature of posttraumatic stress disorder
Fragment - An alter that is not fully differentiated and may represent a single function, memory, emotion, or idea
Front - When an alter is at front, they have switched to be aware of the outside world and are acting and interacting on a conscious level
Fronter(s) - An alter or group of alters that frequently use the body and are responsible for daily life. See host
Gatekeeper - An alter that controls switching, access to front, access to an internal world or certain areas of it, or access to certain alters or memories. May or may not also serve as an internal self helper
Grounding Techniques - Actions that help one to fight off dissociation, anxiety, flashbacks, or switching. These involve engaging one’s physical senses and reorienting in the present
Group Therapy - A type of therapy in which individuals with similar problems, disorders, or histories meet together with a therapist. This allows for support and advice to be shared in a way that helps to relieve feelings of isolation
Headspace - See internal / inner world
Host - The alter most commonly using the body. The most common fronter that is responsible for most aspects of daily life
Human Trafficking (HT) - Sex or labor trafficking of a domestic or international victim. Any commercial sex activity involving a minor is sex trafficking whether force, fraud, or coercion were used or not. Human trafficking is not smuggling, and borders do not have to be crossed
Hypervigilance - The experience of being tense, on the look out for threats, and prepared to react to perceived threats. May involve behavioral changes such as an increased startle reflex or paranoia. Symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder
Hypnotherapy - A type of therapy in which guided relaxation, intense concentration, and focused attention are used to achieve a trance state in which one’s awareness, openness, and susceptibility are heightened. Hypnotherapy can help a person to explore painful thoughts, memories, or feelings. However, using hypnosis for any memory related process runs the risk of “contaminating” real memories or creating false memories. Poorly administered hypnotherapy during “recovered memory therapy” of the 1980s and 1990s contributed to false memories of childhood abuse. Additionally, hypnotherapy is not ideal to treat dissociative identity disorder because of the risk of boundaries between alters being strengthened or the client being flooded with traumatic memories that they had previously been dissociated from
Iatrogenic - Caused by medical personnel or medication or originating during a medical examination, procedure, or long term treatment. Some argue that dissociative identity disorder is iatrogenic and results from suggestions made by therapists. This view is often paired with a sociocognitive view, though evidence suggests that the majority of cases of DID are traumagenic
Internal Self Helper (ISH) - An alter that holds vast amounts of knowledge about the system, alters, trauma, and / or internal workings. May or may not also be a gatekeeper
Internal / Inner World - An internal manifestation in which alters reside and can interact when not present in or using the body. Can range from a single room to an entire town or supposed world
International Classification of Diseases (ICD) - The World Health Organization’s guidebook of diagnostic labels and criteria with a focus on morbidity, prevalence, and reducing the burden of disease. The 11th edition (ICD-11) was released in 2019. The DSM is more widely used for mental health in Western countries due to being more detailed, though both manuals try to use the same codes and the ICD codes are the official HIPPA-compliant set
Interpersonal Therapy - A type of therapy that focuses on interpersonal relationships and how socialization and social losses can interact with and trigger mental illnesses
Introject - An alter that is based off of an abuser, family member, caretaker, or historical or fictional figure. Introjects may or may not see themselves as the individual that they represent
Labor Trafficking - “The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.” This definition is set by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act
Little - Term for a child (under age 8) alter
Malingering - To malinger is to deliberately produce, exaggerate, or fake medical or mental health symptoms for a primary gain such as disability payments, narcotic drugs, or medical absence from work
Memory Holder - An alter that holds memories that are usually traumatic in nature. However, memories are sometimes related to childhood innocence or a caring family that could not be seen in the same light if the memories were accessible at the same time as memories regarding abuse
Mental Disorder / Illness - Characterized by symptoms or patterns of thinking, feeling, or behaving that cause clinically significant distress or impairment
Middle - Term for an adolescent (ages 8-12) alter
Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) - See dissociative identity disorder
Neglect - Abuse characterized by a failure to provide for a child’s physical, mental, emotional, or social needs. Neglect might force a child to look after themselves, their siblings, or their parents
Non-human - An alter that presents as an animal or fantasy creature due to their formative environment, specific traumas, function or purpose, or disposition
Original (child) - See core
Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD) - A category used to contain dissociative presentations that do not fit the criteria for other dissociative disorders but can be specified. With the DSM-IV, this was known as dissociative disorder not otherwise specified (DDNOS). Most commonly, this refers to a presentation similar to dissociative identity disorder but lacking sufficiently differentiated parts or amnesia (OSDD-1)
Passive Influence - Refers to intrusions from an alter that is not currently using the body. Can be in the form of disowned thoughts, memories, emotions, urges, actions, skills, preferences, etc
Persecutor - An alter that holds self hatred or internalized abusive messages and purposefully acts out to harm the body, system, host, core, or other alters, to sabotage the system’s goals or healing, or to assist the system’s abuser(s). Might be an abusive introject
Personality Disorders - Disorders characterized by long-term, unhealthy, and inflexible patterns of thought and behavior. Cluster A personality disorders include paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders. Cluster B personality disorders include antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders. Cluster C personality disorders include avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders. Other personality disorders include personality change due to another medical condition, other specified personality disorder, and unspecified personality disorder
Phobia - An unproportionately extreme fear of an object or situation. A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder
Physical Abuse - Abuse characterized by physical harm or injury meant as a form of punishment, threat, or behavioral control and often done out of anger. Physical abuse is often disguised as physical discipline, but physical discipline can become physical abuse if it causes damage beyond what the child can handle based on their age or physical condition or when it is unpredictable and meant to instill fear
Polyfragmented DID - Refers to dissociative identity disorder systems that contain over 100 alters, many of which are likely to be fragments. Also sometimes indicates a system in which some alters have split from other alters
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - A disorder characterized by positive symptoms (flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance, aggression) and negative symptoms (avoidance, dissociation, emotional numbing, amnesia) that is caused by trauma and that lasts at least one month
Protector - An alter that protects the body, system, host, core, or specific other alters or groups of alters. They may protect by taking physical, verbal, emotional, or sexual abuse, by reacting offensively to abuse, or by working to prevent abuse
Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures (PNES) - Seizures that result from a manifestation of psychological distress instead of abnormal brain electrical discharges. A type of conversion disorder
Psychotherapy - A type of therapy that involves talking about one’s past in order to overcome one's current difficulties. The goal is to help the client to understand more about themself, improve their relationships, and boost their mood
Reactive Attachment Disorder - A type of trauma- and stressor-related disorder in which a child fails to seek or accept comfort from caregivers and displays social and emotional disturbance due to a lack of opportunities to develop selective attachment to caregivers
Recovered Memory Therapy - A type of therapy that was common during the 1980s and 1990s and which aimed to uncover supposedly repressed memories of childhood trauma as the cause of current problems in clients. Recovered memory therapy traditionally relied heavily on hypnosis and suggestion, and it was allegedly responsible for the creation of many false memories
Religious Abuse (RA) - Abuse with religious components or overtones, abuse perpetrated by a religious institution, or religious cult abuse. Common examples of religious abuse include medical neglect, child marriage, exorcism, genital mutilation, or conversion therapy for LGBT youth
Repressed Memories - Dissociated trauma memories that are ordinarily inaccessible to the consciousness mind or to specific alters and that are often actively avoided so as to avoid positive posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. See Dissociative Amnesia
Revictimization - Refers to the phenomenon in which victims of previous interpersonal trauma are at a greater risk of facing additional trauma
Ritual Abuse (RA) - Abuse done in a ritualistic manner. This might refer to religious abuse, to abuse done in a religious setting, or to organized abuse with ritualistic aspects. Ritual abuse does not exclusively refer to Satanic ritual abuse. Instead, ritual abuse might refer to sadistic abuse done in order to silence or discredit child victims or, in cases of human trafficking, in order to produce certain types of child pornography
Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) - Ritual abuse associated with Satanic cults, extreme sexual violence, torture, child abuse, and brainwashing. Studies suggest that while a few cults, trafficking rings, or lone abusers might engage in or mimic activities associated with Satanic ritual abuse in order to terrify victims into silence or to discredit their reports, Satanic Ritual Abuse is neither as widespread nor as extreme as many believed during the Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic of the 1980s and 1990s. Allegations of Satanic Ritual Abuse during this time were the result of poor therapeutic practice, media frenzy, exploitive self help books, and a reliance on suggestion-heavy hypnosis to uncover supposedly repressed memories of childhood abuse. Innocent people were accused of crimes that they never committed, and the false allegations were and are still used as an excuse to ignore and discredit legitimate accounts of child abuse, especially those involving repressed memories, dissociative identity disorder, or religious or ritualized abuse
Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders - Disorders characterized by delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, and disorganized thought, speech, and movement. DSM-5 schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders include schizotypal (personality) disorder, delusional disorder, brief psychotic disorder, schizophreniform disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, substance/medication-induced psychotic disorder, psychotic disorder due to another medical condition, catatonia associated with another mental disorder, catatonic disorder due to another medical condition, unspecified catatonia, other specified schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorder, and unspecified schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorder
Self Care - Taking care of one’s physical, mental, and emotional states and obligations to boost one’s health
Sex Trafficking - “The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act where such an act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age." A commercial sex act is defined as "the giving or receiving of anything of value (money, drugs, shelter, food, clothes, etc.) to any person in exchange for a sex act." These definitions are set by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act
Sexual Abuse - Abuse characterized by overt or covert molestation, rape, exposure to sexual behavior or materials, or unwanted or inappropriate sexual speech by an adult towards a minor or from one minor towards another minor
Sociocognitive - Caused by thought processes and social influences. Some argue that dissociative identity disorder (DID) is sociocognitive and results from media exposure and self diagnosis. This view is often paired with an iatrogenic view, though evidence suggests that the majority of cases of DID are traumagenic
Somatic Symptom Disorder - A medical condition in which bodily complaints result from mental illness. Related disorders include factitious disorder, hypochondrias (illness anxiety disorder), and conversion disorder
Splitting - To split is to create a new alter. A split is a new alter
Structural Dissociation - A theory behind the formation and function of posttraumatic stress disorder, simple dissociative disorders, complex-posttraumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, other specified dissociative disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. This theory centers around an inability to integrate traumatic memories and materials into one’s primary personality, sense of self, and self history that results in an overall inability to integrate parts. The resulting parts are either apparently normal parts or emotional parts
Subsystem - A system within a system. Either a unique group of alters within the overarching system that may or may not have communication with the main system or other systems or multiple alters presenting as one alter as if that alter has DID itself. May reside in a unique location inside and deal with specific trauma
Switch/Switching - To switch is to change which alter(s) is / are primarily in control of the body. Can be slow, rapid, planned, triggered, consensual, or forced
Switchy - The state of feeling as if one is about to switch
System - The entire collection of alters within one body
Talk Therapy - An umbrella of therapies including psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, interpersonal therapy, and family therapy. These therapies all involve verbal interaction between a client and their therapist
Teen - Term for a teenaged (ages 13-18 or 13-21) alter
Time loss - A period of time that one or more alters cannot account for due to one or more other alters having been active at the time. That this has occurred is not always noticeable to alters who may be amnesiac to their amnesia. Some alters that experience time loss may still be active in an internal world during this period
Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders - Disorders characterized by dysfunctional emotional and behavioral reactions to trauma and extreme stress. DSM-5 trauma- and stressor-related disorders include reactive attachment disorder, disinhibited social engagement disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, adjustment disorders, other specified trauma- and stressor-related disorder, and unspecified trauma- and stressor-related disorder
Traumagenic - Traumatic in origin. Dissociative identity disorder is traumagenic because it is caused by repeated childhood trauma. Posttraumatic stress disorder is another traumagenic disorder
Trigger - In regards to posttraumatic stress disorder, a trigger is a reminder of trauma that can cause an activation of symptoms, a flight, fight, or freeze response, dissociation, or panic. In regards to dissociative identity disorder, a trigger is anything that can function as a PTSD trigger or that can cause a switch. The latter may be experienced as positive or negative
Unspecified Dissociative Disorder (UDD) - A category used to contain dissociative presentations that cannot be defined or labeled or haven’t been fully explored and understood. It is often the diagnosis made in emergency care settings

This website uses cookies in order to analyze visitor trends. Identifying or personal information is not collected on this website, and the data collected is not sold to or shared with third party services. For more information on the data that this website collects and how to opt out, please visit the Privacy Policy page. Continued use of the website indicates agreement with this policy.

All content on this website is provided for the purpose of general information only. It is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment. Please consult a licensed professional before making any healthcare decisions or for guidance about potential mental health conditions.

This website was last updated 6/22/2024.

This page was last updated 11/30/2020.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License by Katherine Reuben.