one thing you need to know about DID is that It doesnt just one day "develop" or come into being. its a slow process called abuse and dissociation with a very young child. here in NY any documented cases with treatment providers state the person was younger than 5 when the first mental split into host and alter happened and that was after going through ongoing extreme trauma....

lets put it in general terms everyone can understand...you know how you learn something a little at a time...maybe that thing is you can touch your nose with your tongue. the first time it happens its a surprise you dont know you can do that it just happens when someone tells you, you have something on your face after eating, you stick your tongue out to like the milk off your upper lip and your tongue flicked your nose. so you do it again, and again and again sometimes your tries work and sometimes they dont and as you continue to do that new trick it gets more and more progressive until you are able to cover your tip of your nose....

well dissociation to this extreme is like that a very young child is abused. they know they are being hurt, they cry and are in pain, they get abused again and again and again and each time they are abused their senses slowly desensitize to the abuse, the brain uses their natural dissociation skills to shut out the pain and abuse. somewhere during this process of the abuse and the brains natural reactions to this abuse working together for this under 5 yr old child. as this happens they hear other dissociative symptoms too .... maybe that under 5 yr old hears voices, maybe they feel spaced out, maybe they feel disconnected, maybe they feel far away, maybe they feel like they are floating or sinking....

once a person is the age where the DID is diagnosed they have had DID most if not all their life of what they can remember of their life. most do not remember that first time their mind split into two or more distinct/DID type alters until after they have had years and years and years of treatment and have uncovered /remembered all their abuse and usually when theres no more left to remember/work on with the alters integration happens because the host is now strong enough/healed.

why did I explain all that...so you can understand my answers to your questions.....

no my DID did not just suddenly come into being or in your terms "develop" as an adult the day I was diagnosed. the nearest my treatment providers and I can come to, to when my mind did its first split was possibly 3-4 yrs old. that was the youngest memory we got to before integration happened. whether there was any alters below that age frame we have no idea, I did have some alters that were non verbal, catatonic so there was no way to assess their ages nor what they could remember, they could have been younger or they could have been teen agers or any other age, non verbal and catatonia does not know any age limits. it happens to people of all ages for many different reasons and many different mental and physical health problems.

Another thing you need to know about DID is that dissociation is a reaction to things...to put it in terms that everyone can understand think of a time when someone said something to you that you did not like...what happened? you felt angry. you didnt plan that it just happened right. someone said something bad to you and your brain automatically made you feel angry.

thats how dissociation is something happens that the person can not handle and their brain automatically makes them feel dissociated (numb, spaced out what ever their dissociation reaction is.)

Another things about DID is that the alters with DID are a very special kind of alter. they have their own way of being, their own job, purpose, reason for being. they come out/take control of the body based on what their job,purpose, reason for being is...

so every time a person dissociates their alter that has the job, purpose reason for being is to handle that problem that caused the person to dissociate is the one that takes control of the body.

all together what does this look like.....

every time I got anxious what ever alters who's job it was to handle what ever was making me anxious would take control

every time I felt mad the alters who's job, purpose, reason for being was handling situations that made me mad would take control

every time I felt stressed out, tired or any number of feelings those alters who's job, purpose, reason for being was to handle those emotions took control...

even my intimate life had alters who's jobs, purpose reasons for being was to handle things like romance, love, sex....

since I was being sexually abused from very young childhood even the intimate alters were coming out since early childhood....

thats not saying I was aware that they were there and were coming out. I didnt know I had DID until young adulthood, it .......felt.......new to me when I discovered this one or that one but the ........reality of the disorder .....is/was they have been there since before I was 5 and taking over /coming out since before I was 5.