ES, I think you are referring to 'hidden' systems rather than those that are more open and 'florid'. I think it is generally accepted nowadays that the vast majority of DID systems are hidden, because that is their purpose, but initially books and films like 'Sybil' and 'The three faces of Eve' threw the psychiatric profession off the trail - they looked out for more florid presentations of multiplicity (and found few). It really is mostly a hidden condition.

AL - I don't think an alter 'covering a switch' necessarily needs to be dumped in the same basket as 'lying' or 'pretending' (and also, in your words, equated to knowing right from wrong). It really is just another way of a system doing what it is designed to do - protect itself.