I struggle when I read threads like this. I don't even believe in the whole concept of a core. The latest research and theory about DID is that there is no core - alters are not created out of nowhere to protect a 'core' personality, they are dissociated parts of the whole, and each is as important to the whole as any other. The scientific understanding of the structure of dissociation has come so far over the last 20 years, and I eagerly await the day when the new theories and knowledge filter down into psychiatric and psychology training and literature... then noone will have to needlessly angst over thier inability to indentify their 'core', believing that if they can't they will never be able to be tested accurately or diagnosed correctly!