This is my first post to the forum. I was looking for a way to participate so this is a great thread!

How did I find out about my alters and names?

I have been in counseling for almost 20 years. Almost through all of those counseling years I was dissociating and having panic and self defeating behaviors (I'm toning this down a lot). About a year and a half ago I had a huge change in my life and I couldn't function anymore. I went from meeting with my therapist once a week to needing to talk to him/email with him multiple times a day to function. I was telling him a lot about how I would shift inside, I called them "drives" and I couldn't stay in the same "drive" which was causing me to change huge things in my life but then I'd switch back and be so angry with myself, not understanding what was happening. It was really late one night and we were emailing back and forth and he just said to ask inside about what was happening and when I did I heard answers directed back at me. That was the beginning of my co-consciousness. It had never occurred to me that I could ask inside. I'd heard voices talking to me before but didn't understand their origins.

Most of my parts (I have difficulty calling anything alters) don't have names. I have given names so that if I'm talking about them I don't get confused. What I usually find is that the other parts have no need for a name or just get really pissed if someone calls me by my given name. We are not out to anyone except my therapist, so he's just careful in how he talks.

SORRY if the question has already been asked...
QUESTION: How many people in your life know you have parts/alters? Do you regret telling people if you have.