glossary of terms

Restoration in Christ Ministries seeks to bring into focus the spiritual dynamics that stifle the psychological process of healing from the dissociative disorders.

The field of dissociation is relatively new, and confusion about terminology exists on all sides. This website is an introduction to concepts and ideas that are still being developed (See Product Catalog).

To further this communication we have included some definitions of terms. Usage determines meaning and we are constantly updating and clarifying our terminology.

Because we are committed to the final authority of the Scriptures and seek to bring greater understanding and increased communication to the Christian community, including Christians in the mental health field, we use biblical concepts where appropriate together with terminology that will be understood by those with formal training.

ABREACTION—The recall of a traumatic memory in such vivid sensory and affective form that it seems like a re-experiencing of the event.   

ACCESS (verb)—To make direct or indirect contact with a programmed cult member through physical, electronic, or possibly spiritual means; may involve predetermined signals or programmed triggers.    

ACTING OUT—Demonstrating unhealthy, non-productive behavior related to one’s unresolved psychological issues.

AFFECT (noun)—A psychological term referring to emotions or the facial expression of emotions.   

ALTER—An abbreviated form of “alternate personality” or “alternate identity.”

ALTER-IDENTITY—A projection of the soul that is separated by dissociation from the Original Self or any of the Primary Parts; a preferred term to "alter-personality," though often used interchangeably. A divided part of the soul that may have a self perception drastically different from the Primary Parts.

ALTER-PERSONALITY— A part of the person's soul that is separated by dissociation from the Original Self or any of the Primary Parts; has a relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, thinking about, and relating to self, others, and the environment.

ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS—Any shift of the focus of one’s attention away from a clear connectedness to the immediate external environment.    

AMNESIA—The inability to recall significant events or other important information which is too extreme to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness; the absence of memory.   

Birth Identity—The Primary Part who was born (sometimes not the same as the one conceived in the womb).

BODY MEMORY—The re-experiencing of the pain or physical sensations of a past traumatic event or the re-appearance of physical bruises, marks, or wounds on the body from such an event.         

BLACKOUT—A loss of consciousness experienced by a particular identity while another identity is in executive control of the body.  

CELESTIAL BEING—A phrase taken from the New Internation Version of Jude 8-10 referring in a generic way to the higher level spiritual/angelic beings in a complex hierarchy; good and evil spiritual entities who are distinguished from the lower level demonic forces.

CO-CONSCIOUSNESS—The phenomenon of more than one identity sharing an awareness of external life at the same time; usually refers to the Host maintaining an awareness of events which transpire when other identities take executive control of the body.        

CONDITIONING—The process by which a consistent behavioral pattern is established in response to a given stimulus.  

CORE—The identity which represents the original, whole person conceived in the womb; carries the strongest sense of “self”; used synonymously with the preferred term “Original Self” (formerly called the “Original Person”); sometimes used to refer to the identity who, among all those currently participating in life, is most directly related to the “Original Self.”          

COVERT—Hidden, secret, undeclared or unrevealed.

CULT—An organized group of people devoted to beliefs and goals which are not held by the majority of society; often religious in nature; used in RCM materials to refer to any organized, covert perpetrator group.

CULTIST—Any perpetrator who is part of an organized group of people devoted to a specific covert agenda not shared by the general population.             

DARKNESS—Referring to Satan’s realm; usually associated with evil and deception.      

DECOMPENSATION—Loss of psychological or functional stability. 

DELIVERANCE—The process of freeing a person or identity (in DID) from demonization. 

DEMON—Lower level evil spiritual beings of uncertain origin frequently mentioned in Scripture as tormenting people in various ways (Mark 5); may be equated with "evil spirits."   

DEMONIZATION—The association of one or more specific demons with an individual (or part of a person—alter identity or Primary part) resulting in varying degrees of control or influence over the person.

Desynchronization

External: A disruption of the nonverbal communication bond between two people so they no longer share an emotional state or connection between the right hemispheres of those two separate persons.  

Internal: A disconnection from some or all of the personality functions in the prefrontal cortex within an individual, usually because of distress. (Dr. Jim Wilder). 

DISSOCIATE—To separate all or part of one’s consciousness from awareness of the physical environment; in DID, to split off part of one’s soul into a separate identity or to switch from one identity to another.

DISSOCIATION—A temporary or prolonged disruption in normal consciousness in which one’s sense of identity, memory, and/or perception of the environment may be altered or separated. This phenomenon lies on a continuum ranging from normal day-dreaming and “highway hypnosis” on one end to the formation of alternate-identities (DID) at the other end. 

DISSOCIATIVE—Having an increased propensity for dissociation, i.e., separating all or part of one’s consciousness from awareness of the physical environment; includes, but is not limited to, those with DID.     

DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER (DID)—The official term (since 1994) for what was formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder; the psychological phenomenon of having two or more distinct identities within a single person, each demonstrating a consistent perspective of, and pattern of relating to, self, others, and the environment, with at least two of them recurrently taking executive control of the person’s behavior.   

EXECUTIVE CONTROL—The ability to determine the actions of the body. 

FOOTHOLD—The legal ground that gives a demon the right to become associated with and influence a person or identity. This could be an oath, vow, pledge that was made; a ritual or sacrifice participated in; a generational inheritance; or a specific sin or pattern of sinful behavior established in a person’s life. 

FRAGMENT—An alter-identity with a limited life history and function that does not have a fully developed personality. 

FUSION—The merging of two alter-identities so that they become one. Technically this reversal of the dissociation process is differentiated from “integration” in that neither of the merging identities is the Original Self.

GENEALOGICAL MAP—A flow-chart showing the derivation of the alter-identities as they progressively split off from the Original Self or other identities.

GENERATIONAL SATANISM—Satanism which is propagated through succeeding generations.             

HOST—The presenter identity who is most often in executive control of the body. (This can change over the course of the individual’s life.)

IDENTITY—A person’s distinct sense of self; used in DID to refer to each divided part of the soul created by dissociation; is sometimes used interchangeably with “personality.” 

INNER SELF HELPER (ISH)—An alter-identity who is devoted to the good of the person and works to maintain internal stability and well-being; may provide helpful information to guide the therapist; rarely participates in external life. 

INNER WORLD—A seemingly internal realm of mental imagery, often representing the system map, where some identities may interact with each other when they are not participating in external life. This realm can apparently intersect with the spiritual realm, enabling “visual” interaction between alters and demons.       

INTEGRATION—The process of joining alter-identities back into the Original Self; a reversal of dissociation.

LAYER—A group of alters who are loosely related and aware of each other and may have participated in life together at one time. Multiple layers of alters usually exist in a system beneath the current group of presenters. In survivors of ritual abuse these are often strategically positioned to reinforce the programming and provide additional defenses against therapeutic intrusions. 

LITTLE ONE—A fragmented “piece” of the Primary Parts (often from the Original Self) hidden/stuck in a memory. Usually has not lived life outside the trauma. Called authentic children by Dr. Ed. Smith

LOSS OF TIME—The phenomenon of time passing for which the Host or a particular alter-identity is amnesic.      

MULTIPLE—A person with more than one identity who has been diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder.        

MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER (MPD)—The former title for the psychological diagnosis now known as “Dissociative Identity Disorder.”         

ORIGINAL SELF/PERSON—The person created at conception from which the first alter-identities were split; often used synonymously with “Core.”  The “heart” or essence of the self—who came into being at conception and who has the capacity to most strongly connect with God and others.

OCCULT—Hidden or secret; often involving evil, supernatural powers or a secret knowledge of them.   

“OUT"—Participating in external life.       

PERPETRATOR—A person who abuses another person.      

PERSONALITY—A relatively enduring pattern of perceiving and relating to self, others, and the environment. In DID it can refer to any identity exhibiting such a pattern.   

PRESENT (verb)—To emerge into external consciousness and take part in life.    

PRESENTER—An identity who consistently plays a role in normal daily living. 

PRESENTER SYSTEM—The group of identities that normally handles daily life for the person.

PRIMARY PARTS—The collective whole of all the parts of a person who are not Alter Identities (personalities).

PRIMARY SPLIT—A first generation separation from the Original Self; serves as a foundation of the alter system, programming and “maze” maps; very young in their self perception; similar to “Little Ones” but seem to have had more early life experience.

PRIMARY IDENTITIES—Have a close connection to the Original Self; are life-aware, can be any age, live life “behind” the alter identities, usually three in number (Denial, Confusion, Pain). Can also refer to any of several identities who carry the strongest investment in the Original Self’s beliefs and commitments as well as in the dissociative barriers necessary to maintain them; includes the Original Self and a limited number of directly related identities, usually including the Host.

PROGRAM—A predetermined response pattern deliberately established in a person’s mind to occur automatically when triggered by a specific stimulus.  

PROGRAMMING—The entire conglomerate of programs established in a person’s mind by a perpetrator group to direct behavior, thoughts, emotions, and/or the withholding of information; deliberately designed to establish partial or complete control over the individual.

RITUAL ABUSE—A systematic form of abuse having a predetermined purpose or agenda, usually involving the deliberate use of trauma, dissociation, and some form of mind control programming; includes what has been known as Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA).  

SATANIC CULT—An organized group of people with an established belief system involving the direct or indirect worship of Satan and/or demons and the seeking and exercising of occult powers.  

SATANIC RITUAL ABUSE (SRA)—Severe trauma/torture experienced at the hands of a Satanic cult to cause dissociation into multiple identities so that some of those identities can be indoctrinated, programmed, and demonized, bringing the individual significantly under the control of the cult and the kingdom of darkness, generally without the knowledge of the Host personality.

SHIFT—Similar to a “switch” but smoother and occurring between primary parts; usually recognizable only by speech content, perspective, or body language.

SPIRITUAL WARFARE—The utilization of spiritual principles which apply the authority of the name and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to counteract demonic activity.  

SPLIT—To form an alter-identity through dissociation.   

SURVIVOR—A person who has been severely abused; a preferred term to “victim.”

SWITCH—To change the executive control of the body from one alter-identity to another in a person with DID.

SYNCHRONIZATION

External: A connection between persons in a bonded relationship promoting mutual regulation of shared emotional states;

Internal: An internal connection that allows a united function for the personality centers of the brain and a return to joy from the negative emotional states (Dr. Jim Wilder).

SYSTEM—The entire group of alter-identities within an individual who has Dissociative Identity Disorder; can also be used of a sub-group of identities with a distinct authority structure which functions more or less independently within the whole

SYSTEM MAP—An internal depiction of the structural arrangement and operational dynamics of all the alter-identities in the system, providing a line of authority and a method of presentation or participation in life. The type of imagery used varies greatly (a house, a castle, a solar system, a carousel, a forest, etc.) and is usually distinct for every multiple.  

TALK THROUGH—The process by which a therapist (or other person) addresses alters who are not in control of the body or willing to acknowledge their presence but are able to listen to what is said.  

TRIGGER (noun)—A specific stimulus which causes a given response; usually one which is deliberately designed to activate an established program.     

TRIGGER (verb)—To cause a specific response, especially a consistent or programmed response.