Holder

Holder:

Holders are headmates that can hold positive or negative emotions, trauma or other memories, traits, symptoms, or information. Holders can be protective in nature — keeping difficult materials away from other system members — but can also simply contain without a greater motive. Barriers present between system members (amnesiac or otherwise) make it possible for one headmate to contain specific emotions, memories, or traits.

Holders can also be fragments, especially when the materials held are their only role or way of elaboration.

Related Terms
The most well known type of holders are trauma holders, who keep emotions or memories related to trauma.

Experiencers are headmates who experience or front during certain events. The two terms are often used synonymously.

Emotional Parts (or EPs) in structural dissociation can be considered a holder in their own right.

A retinenstrata is a layer that holds memories.

Bleedover can occur if the traits or feelings held by one system member are no longer completely contained, and begin to impact other headmates.

For subterms of this archetype, see Category:Holder & Experiencer Subterms.