I agree as well. My T explained it like this. She said it's one brain. When trauma happened, my brain formed barriers so that I could still function outside of the trauma. This allowed me to survive the stuff going on, but still be able to carry on as if nothing had happened. That's what kept me sane and safe. As events happened in my life, more barriers were formed to hold what was going on for me at that time.

By some of the names T has told me about parts, I apparently imagined friends, distant family members and people I saw on TV taking the abuse (or needing to function) instead of me. I can see how people could imagine animals doing the same or protecting them, though I don't have any.

Regardless, it's all my brain and how my brain handled things to survive. When T talks about other parts of me, it doesn't feel like me but I do know that ultimately it is. It seems when some part does something good, I can't seem to accept that it's me, but when some part of me does something bad, my acceptance is full on. I think because I have been programmed to believe the bad so deeply.

Unfortunately for me, it doesn't work so well as an adult. I miss appointments, I end up lost sometimes. I can't be counted on sometimes, and that's hard. I want to be reliable and I want to be able to be counted on. DID gets in the way of my life today, but some days I am thankful that it happened to save me as a child.

This is a good discussion.