integration is like anything else here in the USA. some treatment providers prefer doing things one way and other prefer doing things another way. some providers define integration one way and others define it another way....

example

my present treatment providers believe in the wholeness approach meaning everything is unified... that integration is just the natural process of human being naturally combining things together....people do this every day with all kinds of things /situations with out realizing it...

a sandwich is the integration of bread and something to put in the middle of it.

Adding their finances is another example of integrating more than one bill together to find out how much you owe, buying more than one item together, music is the integration of vocals and instruments to form an enjoyable product....

theres even the integration on a cellular level where cells divide and combine to form plants, animals, human beings...

my point is my treatment providers beliefs are that integration is the whole process....entering therapy, working out your problems, as your problems get solved and learn tools to handle those problems the alters just naturally merge together to form one whole person once they and their jobs are no longer needed.

Another treatment provider I know here in the city believes integration is something that must happen in order for that person to be healed.

Another treatment provider I know here in the city believes a person chooses to integrate or not.

Another treatment provider I know here in the city believes there is no choosing, it just happens or it doesnt.

my point is your treatment providers look at it one way and others may look at the issue another way. it doesnt mean one way is right or wrong. it just means thats what they think will work best for you.

for me it wasnt a choice to integrate or not, as I gained stability and healing, learned how to take care of myself and my problems the alters and their jobs were no longer needed so they just merged with me to become one whole person again the way I was before the trauma that caused me to be DID. the pros is that now I am functioning like a normal human being with out alters taking control. I am the one in control of my life, job, family interactions....rather than ending up in the hospitals due to alters taking control and unsafe situations happening. Another pro is that I have two beautiful children I would not have if I was still DID. switching into alters is uncontrollable and unpredictable, a chaotic life I had hard enough time taking care of myself and keeping myself safe I would never bring a child into that mix of chaos, unpredictability and possible danger. I mean one second I would be at work the next trying to jump off a bridge to kill myself, one second I would be home and the next become aware in a bar.. back then my life wasnt my own and I wasnt able to control what went one. it was controlled by the alters taking over every time I encountered something triggering / or something I was not able to handle.