I am bipolar but there is something peculiar about me that I was wondering if some of you could give me some information about. Since I was pretty young I have had approximately 4 different people in my head that I would become depending on the situation. I didn't really notice very well until I was older. The transformation has always been more subtle in public with me suppressing certain features of these people as much as I can. Sometimes some of them seem to go away for a while, if I am especially distracted or if I dont encounter situations where they are needed but usually one in particular creeps back in, other times he begins to take control especially when I hear or see certain things, he loves fear it seems to make him thrive. There are also times when he takes over and I have to fight for control again. I was abused physically and emotionally until around the age of 18 or 19 I cant remember most of my childhood either because certain worse things happened, maybe that caused it.

My main questions are:

• whether anyone has alters that fight for control of you
• whether anyone alters that lay dormant until certain situations arise to the point to where you think they may be gone permanently.
• Would it be possible for the paranoia from a bipolar episode to trigger the emergence of an alter to cope with the perceived threat.
• Do you notice the switch each time? or do they happen on their own sometimes without you noticing.

If anyone can help me with anything I would really appreciate it. Thanks for reading all of this