The age of 5 thing sweety or 7 or whatever is like the age or time the child’s mind is fully integrated...becomes joined to form a singleton. We on the other hand, never had that luxury and hence are therefore forever prone to Dissociative tendencies.

Stupid trauma can happen like when the mother/child bond is broken or was never made...you won’t remeber this if this be the case. So for the rest of our life trauma, crisis, and abuse can create alters because memories are no longer able to be processed effectively....so it’s possible to do what you did....the alters didn’t emerge to later in life. You may have alters from previous times unknowns, dormant like....but the abuse is catastrophic and did the most damage.

So, like me, we didn’t have a chance since the git go....regardless when the abuse happened. I hope that helps some hon.

And oh, I’m terribly sorry that you experienced what you did when you did and that healings and peace can be yours.