If you have DID, and if you are willing to share, I want to know specifics of how you were diagnosed, how you came to accept the diagnosis (if you denied it or not), and how you first started to realize that there were alters, how you came to name them or know their names. I also, and most importantly I guess, want to know if your diagnosis, and finding the names of the alters and all that process, made things worse for you? What changed before and after the diagnosis?

My therapist and I are exploring something similar though I don't think it's quite DID- I do lose time, but for the most part I think I remain pretty much what I guess you'd call co-conscious. Anyway I'm still in a phase of finding a correct diagnosis and really would like to hear other's experiences. I know with DID that it's not exactly as portrayed in the movies and that people with DID can actually appear to lead normal lives without anyone ever knowing that they switch alters. It seems to me like a scary diagnosis. Don't get me wrong, I believe it's real, it just worries me that a diagnosis would bring more attention to it and make the symptoms worse.

Anyway would love to hear your before/during/after diagnosis stories.

Thanks.

Oh and one more thing... how long were you in mental health treatment before finding the right diagnosis?