Dissociative Identity Disorder
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), also known as Multiple/split personalities, is a mental dissociative disorder where the patient experiences separate states of personality. It is caused by childhood trauma, generally before the age of eight. Most of the time, they are unaware that they have an alter ego living in their body. This is because the alter who performs the daily tasks, also called the host, is protected from their past trauma. For example, I was not aware of my alters until around the age of 16, when I first learned about the disorder and related to the symptoms. I still do not know what happened, but some of them do. I am able to go about my daily life without the pain caused by the trauma. That might sound selfish, but it is there so we as a whole, can live through life. We are all one team.