Before I ask anything else, I think I should first explain how I understand the origin of dissociation and DID. I see dissociation/ DID as an automatic defense mechanism whose origins are in childhood. It is automatic, spontaneous, and occurs without the consious awareness of the person who expereinces it. When dissociation occurs at a time before a childs personality and separate essential sense of self have been been developed, it can lead to DID.

Both dissociation and DID are defense mechanisms , protective unconscious reactions to trauma that is so severe and threatening that it cannot be tolerated or accepted by the child's mind. This defense mechanism is then reenforced with a continuing need to protect oneself from further incidents of trauma or later in life when the memory of the original trauma is triggered by some association directly related to the trauma. Smells, touch—visceral things seem to be the most common triggers in my own experience.

Vocabulary and meaning different things with the same words can make our sharing messy.
I want to ask you about what you call co-consciousness. when you use this term are you referring to now being aware of what it was that your alters expereinced , that is, the initial traumas that automatically created them? Or is it something else? I read and wonder if some of you mean that more than one alter is present in your awareness at one time/specific moment?