i have had others/voices since i can remember, as a child too. some were strictly just a voice that would tell me things (one telling me i would do something when i got older which i did but had not remembered that voice telling me that), others were ones i actually got to know.

i wasn't aware of them for what they were until i was a teen. i did dissociate in childhood, but i don't know to what degree. i did know the difference between not real and real, and they WERE real to me. i started struggling with anxiety as a young child which progressed to severe depression, panic attacks, self harm, and the dissociation getting worse in my teen years.

i mentioned them here and there over the years, especially the last 10 years, but around 2007, they went basically silent when i had a lot of things change in my life (some things for the better). over the last few years, they have been there more subtly and have seemed to change, ones i knew seem to be gone/quiet, and i cannot talk to the one(s) i know of are there now. my head used to be loud ALL the time with noise, bits and pieces of conversations, voices, etc., so it was strange when it just went silent.

my time loss has never been 100% black outs (only for maybe a few seconds at some times) as i know (and they learned) it is not 'safe' to have them be more active around others...also because of the not being believed aspect..i do live alone now and can experience them 'closer' to taking over at times, but my time loss is more like just incredibly fuzzy times when i dissociate, not remembering a day or a few later and just having the general knowledge that i dissociated..so my experience differs compared to yours in that way because i don't have anyone close to me who has ever noticed it and i don't completely black out. sometimes when i see my psychiatrist, they will be around listening, watching, etc. or say a few things here and there, but i won't realize it until after because i'm a little detached when it happens.

i have questioned myself about it all, but it is the diagnosis, or at least on the spectrum of it, that seems to fit the best for me. i am just starting to talk to my psychiatrist about it after being with her for 10 years since i know she's probably the only one i will ever see that will allow me to talk about it and not just shove me on meds. it's a matter of trusting her more, i guess, for them to maybe talk to her..except even then, it's still through me and not 100% them.