Official IRL Info Carrd²
Originally made by : The Snatcher ,
Mira , GENGAR , Funky Town & CrumbRemade by : Wild
Bcus i couldnt find the original anywhere (sob)
What is an IRL ?
"IRLs" are a common and episodic delusional occurence among individuals with psychotic disorders. As a subconscious, involuntary and dissociative coping skill for stress, anxiety, depression, overwhelming feelings and/or past trauma, the brain of an individual with a psychotic disorder may "latch", or form a deep connection with, the identity of a (commonly) fictional character or person.To the individual in question, they fully (in personality, identity, memories, experiences and more) become the character in question. In many episodic cases, their base reality, or "physical self", can be completely lost in the dissociation.An IRL may form from a character that makes the individual happy, a character they can relate to, a character that helps them come to terms with bad feelings or trauma, a character they wish they were like (in cases of body/gender dysphoria, personality/social issues, etc) or a character they're frequently exposed to.
How to treat someone who is an IRL
When addressing someone who is outwardly presenting with an IRL (whether with a discord bot, or just a simple reference to their source), it is best tomake an active effort to refer to them with their IRL name, and use source terms if they ask for such. It can be awkward at first, but using their "physical" name or referring to their "physical memories" can be harmful and cause psychologically damaging "jolts". (See the "Terms" page for definitions of quoted terms)Some psychotic individuals can be very sensitive to "reality checking", in which case its vitally necessary to avoid using medical terms such as "delusional", "psychotic", "fake identity", or anything similar.Keep firmly in mind that when the IRL identity is present (especially in a "hard-shift"), the individual is fully emmersed in the identity and has little to no grasp on their physical reality.
Experiences Explained
"I have a metaphor, it's like I live everyday in a world of black and white repetitiveness that's both overstimulating and understimulating at the same time. I expose myself to media that I enjoy, such as AHIT and it's AUs, in order to balance the stimulation and find happiness through losing myself in the fantastical worlds. When I get too lost there is when IRLs form.And for me, the IRLs are like the gas to the shifting flame. When the little shift triggers, like a familiar sight, face, color, sound, feeling or piece of media hit, the flame ignites and fills the world with such blinding color that I can't see the real one anymoreBut anxiety, trauma and stress can also ignite the gas similarly, because of the sharp, burning feelings, and can produce the same kinds of blinding memories, personalities, feelings and identities that other shift triggers can.Essentially, shifting for me is like a wave of blindness, or a violent replacement of what I know to be real. Jolting is when that comforting, colorful blindness gets suddenly ripped away, to leave me with a reality I wasn't prepared to know again. It tends to shatter me, and leave me feeling fake, and hopeless, and sometimes angry."
Submitted by : The Subcon Snatcher
More Coming Soon !
Terms To Know
Shift Terms
Shift - moving from one identity and/or reality to another, in all or some aspects (can be known as dissociating)Hard-Shift - occurs when an individual falls so deeply into a specific shift that they completely lose sight of their physical reality, and fade fully into their IRLs sourceSoft-Shift - Almost like a half shift, or simply a less intense shift; when an individual has some sort of remaining grasp on their physical reality, yet is at least partially identified with their source (in personality, memories, and/or identity)Physical Self - an individuals base/birth identity and realityDouble-Shift - shifted as two distinguishable IRL identities at once; commonly involves mixed source memories and mild to severe disorientationPoly-Shift - Like the above, but with more than two (or an unknown number) of individual IRLsBlurred-Shift - When an individual isn't sure of their source, but knows they aren't their physical selfJolting/Reality Jolt - may occur when an individual is reality checked (see the What Is section) or upon receiving intense stimuli; it is when an individual gets thrown so suddenly and harshly back into their physical reality that it causes intense emotional and physical distress, outbursts, and in some cases, self-injury. Avoid jolting a psychotic individual by being mindful of their shifts.Masking - When an individual experiencing a shift or a jolt intentionally hides or otherwise stifles the effects of the experience, often to protect themself from ridicule.
Source Terms
Source - The piece of media (or otherwise non-physical universe) from which an IRL forms fromLatching - The community term for when an IRL is picked up from its source, or when the individual starts to be more commonly shifted as a pre-existing oneShift Triggers - Something that triggers the individual to shift away from their own reality into an IRL; may be something directly from the source, or something that reminds them of source memories.Source Triggers - Things that negatively trigger the individual when they're shifted as a particular IRL; commonly something that reminds them of negative source memories.Sourcemate - Someone else with an IRL, Kin or Introject from the same source as an IRL (i.e., The Conductor from AHIT would be a sourcemate for an IRL of Snatcher)
Coined Tone Indicators
/nsm - not source memory (to use when a mentioned experience happened to the physical self)/sm - source memory (to use when an experience happened in source)/sref - source reference (when you make a reference to something in source)/so - source (can replace /sm and be used in other instances of describing source)/ns - not source (can replace /nsm and be used in other instances of describing physical self)
Unofficial Terms
Realities - refers to the IRL and the universe and memories that come with them. (i.e., "I've faded into MoonJumper's reality today")Crew - an individuals group of irls that they switch between over a period of time(Name)-verse - a smaller group of IRLs very similar in appearance, name, or memories
Learn More
External Resources
Quite tragically, there are few credible resources on these experiences. However, for more info on psychosis itself, Read here!
For Questions, Comments, Or Edits
If wishing to speak to the original site maker(s), unfortunately the link listed was non functional.
this carrd will be updated if/when those could possibly be found.
More To Be Added Soon, Probably !