Meanings
- uncountablemultiplicity slangThe belief that medically diagnosed dissociative disorder (especially dissociative identity disorder or other specified dissociative disorder type 1) or a history of psychological trauma are essential traits of multiplicity.
1 more example
The community tends to be wary of people who cite an interest in psychology as motivation for connecting with us, but I think the fact that you've helped to establish healthy multiplicity as a recognised phenomenon will offset that wariness a lot. You might experience pushback, however, from communities who believe that systemhood can only happen as a result of trauma (this belief is called sysmedicalism).
2024, Zarah Eve, anonymous quotee, “Systematic literature review and thematic synthesis” (chapter 3), in Exploring emerging multiplicity and psychosocial functioning: A constructivist grounded theory study (PhD thesis), Manchester Metropolitan University, page 70
Origin
From sys(tem) + medical + -ism, modelled after transmedicalism.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
sysmedicalism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sysmedicalism
“sysmedicalism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sysmedicalism. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sysmedicalism,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sysmedicalism.
Source: sysmedicalism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.