Post-henostic dissociative disorder

Post-henostic dissociative disorder (PHDD) is a condition most common in faster-than-light travel accidents. It is classified as a permanent occupational injury. It is caused by an error in the henostic process, that being the joining together of crew consciousness to circumvent the group non-locality problem.

During FTL travel, this conjoined consciousness is kept in a state of induced nonintegration, similar to dissociative identity disorder. This is done so that the psyches of the crew do not intermix and are thus easy to separate during psychotomy.

The degree of mixing between identities is measured through the ego emulsion index, where ψₑ = 0 means a heterogeneous miz of identities, and ψₑ = 1 means a completely homogeneous mixture. The EEI needs to be kept at 0 at all times during henosis, though a small increase (ψₑ ≤ 0.2) is generally manageable. An EEI above 0.2 will leave permanent side effects, and anything above 0.5 is irrecoverable.

PMDD is classified as a disability, and the ship manufacturer is legally held responsible for the accident and is mandated to provide compensation to the families of the affected. It is not to be confused with henostic shock, where subjects consciously experience ego unity, as that is independent of ego emulsion, but conscious crewmembers are a major factor in rising EEI.


 * 1) Signs and symptoms

PMDD is characterized by the presence of foreign psychological elements in a subject's psyche. These can be foreign memories that another crewmember experienced, as well as speech patterns, gestures, or other "quirks" unique to another crewmember, or even hobbies, interests, and even abilities that the subject would previously never have had, for instance extensive knowledge of a language or field of study.

Other symptoms include a partial or total loss of identity, feeling more as a mosaic than a person, body dysmorphia, "jet lag", social withdrawal, decreased emotional expression, and apathy, as well as "infection" from any other mental health issues other crewmembers may have. The field of psychoepidemiology studies the spread and behavior of mental disorders during neurological contact.