Note that this page specifically addresses black and white perspectives: fully traumagenic and fully endogenic systems. Any mixed origins systems are only considered if explicitly mentioned in the text, and this should not be interpreted otherwise.
Also note that this page was entirely written just so I can explain our view on plurality. This is not in any way a professional debate.
Let's meet our 4 terms: Traumagenic, Endogenic, Disordered & Non-disordered
- Traumagenic is when ones' system(s) and or headmate(s) have an origin based in trauma
- Endogenic is when ones' system(s) and or headmate(s) have an origin that is based in anything but trauma
- Disordered is when a certain, unavoidable aspect of yourself has become a problem for yourself or those around you
- Non-disordered is when a certain, unavoidable aspect of yourself doesn't cause any dysfunctioning in day to day life. Like how neurodivergence isn't necessarily a disorder, though it will usually be comorbid/co-occurring with issues that would cause you to become disordered. Issues like how for example Autism isn't necessarily a disorder in itself, but co-occurring with things like processing excessive or loud sounds, and meltdowns.
In the most recent versions of the DSM and the ICD: DID, OSDD & P-DID are all described as dissociative disorders. The criteria for the disorders are, put simply:
- Be plural
- Have it be an issue to your functioning (Amnesia barriers, limited communication, distress, headmates causing harm to the body, etc)
In this case, both endogenic and traumagenic systems- whether mixed or not- can be diagnosed with DID, OSDD or depending on where you're from, P-DID.
And yes, it is much more common for traumagenic systems to be disordered, because trauma is such a huge factor to causing dysfunction in the first place. And in the case of endogenics, they just don't have that dysfunctional factor. It's very likely that most endogenic systems have 0 amnesia barriers, and great communication. And while yes, endogenic systems can have trauma: Since it wasn't the cause to their plurality, it probably will not affect their system's functioning to the same extent as it would've if the trauma also formed their system.
Trauma is such a huge aspect of dysfunction that traumagenic systems often just end up being disordered. And Endogenic systems don't have that same aspect that would cause dysfunction to such an extent, therefore they often just end up not being disordered in the first place. These two origins are on completely different sides of a spectrum.
This is also not accounting for mixed origins systems, who're most often caused by trauma with some endogenic headmates. It's much more common to be mixed origins rather than straight up endogenic, because it's much easier to get endogenic headmates rather than have an entire system form that way.