Project:Plural Research

This page is a listing for academic resources or research on plurality and associated topics. If you are seeing this page via the Discord bot, please click the link to view the full listing below.

Please note that this page offers no commentary, support or criticism on the resources listed here. It is simply a listing of research, nothing more. Use your own judgment.

Warning: Some of these documents present arguments against plurality; take caution when reading.

(To do: Actually vet these documents at some point and add individual warnings or remove them as needed)

Literature Reviews

 * Coons, P. (1983). A Comprehensive Bibliography of Literature Pertaining to Multiple Personality


 * Putnam, F. (1986). The clinical phenomenology of multiple personality disorder: Review of 100 recent cases


 * Kluft, R. (1999). An Overview of the Psychotherapy of Dissociative Identity Disorder

Historic Medical Perspectives
Note: a lot of these resources use terminology that is now outdated and may be considered offensive; this includes descriptors such as "personalities" and "hysteria".


 * Janet, P. (1889). L'automatisme psychologique ("Psychological Automatisms", original French version)


 * Binet, A. (1890). On Double Consciousness


 * Binet, A. (1892). Alterations of personality

Psychiatric Publications

 * referenced on: false memory
 * referenced on: false memory


 * referenced on: false memory
 * referenced on: false memory


 * referenced on: dissociative amnesia
 * referenced on: dissociative amnesia


 * referenced on: false memory
 * referenced on: false memory


 * referenced on: false memory
 * referenced on: false memory


 * referenced on: alter, switching, plurality
 * referenced on: alter, switching, plurality


 * referenced on: alter, consciousness, order effect, polyfragmented
 * referenced on: alter, consciousness, order effect, polyfragmented


 * referenced on: false memory
 * referenced on: false memory


 * referenced on: false memory
 * referenced on: false memory


 * referenced on: age regression
 * referenced on: age regression


 * referenced on: false memory
 * referenced on: false memory


 * referenced on: dissociative amnesia
 * referenced on: dissociative amnesia


 * referenced on: false memory
 * referenced on: false memory


 * referenced on: false memory
 * referenced on: false memory


 * referenced on: iatrogenic
 * referenced on: iatrogenic


 * referenced on: imposter syndrome
 * referenced on: imposter syndrome


 * referenced on: imposter syndrome
 * referenced on: imposter syndrome


 * referenced on: integration
 * referenced on: integration


 * referenced on: ISH
 * referenced on: ISH


 * referenced on: ISH
 * referenced on: ISH


 * referenced on: ISH
 * referenced on: ISH


 * referenced on: modular, polyfragmented
 * referenced on: modular, polyfragmented


 * referenced on: floater, shell
 * referenced on: floater, shell


 * referenced on: dissociation, alter
 * referenced on: dissociation, alter


 * referenced on: consciousness switching, order effect
 * referenced on: consciousness switching, order effect


 * referenced on: consciousness
 * referenced on: consciousness


 * referenced on: consciousness
 * referenced on: consciousness


 * referenced on: consciousness
 * referenced on: consciousness


 * referenced on: alter
 * referenced on: alter


 * referenced on: alter
 * referenced on: alter


 * referenced on: persecutor
 * referenced on: persecutor


 * referenced on: spinner, programming
 * referenced on: spinner, programming


 * referenced on: order effect
 * referenced on: order effect


 * referenced on: polyfragmented
 * referenced on: polyfragmented


 * referenced on: polyfragmented
 * referenced on: polyfragmented


 * referenced on: polyfragmented
 * referenced on: polyfragmented


 * referenced on: mpd
 * referenced on: mpd


 * referenced on: mpd
 * referenced on: mpd


 * referenced on: mpd
 * referenced on: mpd


 * referenced on: mpd
 * referenced on: mpd


 * referenced on: fictive
 * referenced on: fictive


 * referenced on: plurality
 * referenced on: plurality

General Plurality

 * Epidemiology of multiple personality disorder and dissociation, C.A. Ross, University of Manitoba, 1991


 * Intersectional Representation: LGBTQ+ and neurodiverse voices in transmedia fiction, Drak, Tynan, Ball State University December 2020


 * “Multiple Systems” versus Dissociative Identity Disorder: Life-Style or Mental Illness?, Sullivan, Megan; Lycoming College 2011 (CW: NSFW)


 * Multiplicity: An Explorative Interview Study on Personal Experiences of People with Multiple Selves, Gergő Ribáry, László Lajtai, Zsolt Demetrovics and Aniko Maraz, Department of Clinical Psychology and Addiction, Institute of Psychology 2017 (Warning: deliberate misgendering, pluralphobic vibe in narration)


 * Brown, D. (1999). Iatrogenic dissociative identity disorder—An evaluation of the scientific evidence (note: authors conclude that there is not sufficient evidence to suggest iatrogenesis as a larger phenomenon; see abstract)

Dissociative Disorders

 * Multiplex vs. multiple selves: Distinguishing dissociative disorders. The Monist, 82(4), 645-657, Hardcastle, V. G., & Flanagan, O. (1999)


 * A Phenomenological Inquiry into the Lived Experiences of Persons Diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, Hill, S. (2020)


 * Problem of “otherness” in dissociative disorder, Okano, K. (2019) (Warning: Author uses possibly offensive wording to interpret some people's testimonies.)


 * Dissociative Experience and Cultural Neuroscience: Narrative, Metaphor and Mechanism (Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry), Seligman, R. & Kirmayer, L. J. (2008)

Tulpas, Parogenic and Created Plurality

 * "Paranormalizing the Popular through the Tibetan Tulpa: Or what the next Dalai Lama, the X Files and Affect Theory (might) have in common" in Savage Minds, Joffe, Ben; Notes and Queries in Anthropology (U.S.A., Feb' 13, 2016).


 * THE ILLUSION OF INDEPENDENT AGENCY: DO ADULT FICTION WRITERS EXPERIENCE THEIR CHARACTERS AS HAVING MINDS OF THEIR OWN? MARJORIE TAYLOR, SARA D. HODGES, and ADELE KOHANYI., University of Oregon, Eugene 2003


 * The Imaginary Companions Created by Children and Adults." Play and Development: Evolutionary, Sociocultural and Functional Perspectives, Pg 227-249, 2007, Taylor, Marjorie; Mannering, Anne M.: Of Hobbles and Harvey


 * Imaginary Friends: Helpful or Harmful, Klivans, Laura, May 2016 (Warning: mention of a loved one leaving after the system came out as plural)


 * Tracking the Tulpa : Exploring the “Tibetan” Origins of a Contemporary Paranormal Idea. Nova Religio Mikles, Natasha L.; Laycock, Joseph P.; The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Vol. 19, No. 1, Pg 87-97, August 2015


 * Talking to Tulpas: Sentient Imaginary Friends, the Social Mind, and implications for Culture and Cognition Research, Samuel Veissière, 2014


 * Tulpas and Mental Health: A Study of Non-Traumagenic Plural Experiences, Isler, Jacob, Research in Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 2017


 * Varieties of Tulpa Experiences: Sentient Imaginary Friends, Embodied Joint Attention, and Hypnotic Sociality in a Wired World, Samuel Veissière, 2015