WRITTEN BY BUTTERNUT / SHRIMP SYSTEM
Polyfragmentation specifically means “many fragments,” but is not limited to this definition. In fact, one of the biggest parts of being polyfragmented is having a complex system structure, which can include a complex innerworld with layers, an equally complex splitting pattern, at least one subsystem, and a history of trauma that can be chaotic and long lasting, or possibly trauma caused by multiple parties in a short period of time, such as ritualistic abuse or sadistic abuse. If all of that is a bit confusing, simply put, a polyfragmented system is a system with many fragments, and way more complex experiences than in regular DID.
There is a variety of reasons a polyfragmented system can form. It could be from RAMCOA (Ritualistic abuse, Mind control, and Organized abuse,) but polyfragmentation could also be caused and/or influenced by a few other things, including chaotic families, and/or abuse that starts young that continues on into adolescence and/or even adulthood.
Programmed systems (which you can learn more about in the RAMCOA section at your own discretion,) are polyfragmented systems who are formed by abusers who are aware of DID and use it to manipulate and control the victim.
A fragment is seen as "lesser" than a full alter. They usually are 2 dimensional and don’t have much of an identity. The lack of a fully fleshed out identity includes the fact that typically, fragments have one specific task as a job, unlike alters, who may take on multiple different tasks. For example, an alter who is not a fragment that is considered a caretaker may take on a broad variety of tasks, such as hygiene, chores, being supportive, etc. Whereas, a fragment alter who may fall under the caretaker umbrella may only have one of these specific tasks. One more important thing to mention about fragments is that they can occur in systems that are not polyfragmented. Polyfragmented means many fragments, not just fragments period.
In polyfragmented systems who compare their traumas and stressors to media, they may find that they split a lot of introjects due to complex splitting patterns.
Polyfragmented OSDD is something that is often believed cannot occur due to OSDD having lower amnesia than DID, as OSDD is categorized under secondary structural dissociation where DID is tertiary. The reason amnesia has any part in this is because polyfragmentation is usually only found in victims of trauma caused by multiple parties in a short period of time and/or chaotic, long lasting trauma. This causes more amnesia because of how much trauma had occurred to the victim and how long the traumas lasted. In OSDD, there is less amnesia due to how much the child relies on dissociation and/or the age the trauma(s) occured. In polyfragmented systems, the child relies on dissociation heavily. There has been some documentation of people with OSDD who display symptoms of being polyfragmented (you can find this in the Sources section), but that doesn't make them polyfragmented.