I know its confusing moxie. lets see if this helps....

With the new standards put in place in 2013 treatment providers have to go by new definitions too.

here in the USA we have a therapy approach that recognizes that ....all.... human beings sometimes have time when they feel like a child. this is not the same as having DID alternate personalities. ..

example using something positive so as not to trigger... yesterday I was outside with my children playing in the snow. Suddenly I felt happy, carefree, no worries and reacting like I did as a child spontaneously grabbing handfuls of snow and throwing them up in the air. one of my children noticed and said "mommy your being a kid like us" I looked at him then did a quick check in with my body and mind and said back to my son "I sure am, its fun being a kid playing in the snow isnt it?"

What I did in that moment is called checking in with my inner child part, the child with in me that every human being has.

the difference in this kind of "parts" and my DID "parts" is...

1. with inner child work there is no loss of consciousness,
2. With inner child there was / is no memory loss, time loss,
3 With inner child my brain does not do the dissociative switch from being the aware state personality parts to the unconscious personality parts called Alternate personalities that are stored in the unconsciousness. (for more information on what Dissociative type Alternate personalities are see my thread called integration which explains this and more about my having DID, how my alters were created and more...

Integration )

With my DID dissociative type alters each alter had their own sense of agency of who and what they were, how much control they had, what their own purposes, jobs, reasons for being created were. they had continuity and consistency, in every aspect of my life, not just in the therapy room....

example my alter Rainy.

Rainy was created when I was abused in a mine shaft during a storm that included thunder and lightening. Her job and purpose was to handle things like getting me home, changed into dry clothing, warm by making hot beverage, wrap up in a blanket, and watch tv.

Any time no matter where I was, who I was with and what I was doing if a rain storm was happening I would have my dissociation symptoms of feeling numb spaced out and disconnected. In short I went through my brains physical dissociation process that I stated in my integration thread. this switched me from my aware non dissociation personality to Rainy my alternate personality. Rainy then did what her sense of agency (job, purpose, reason for being and so on)

Each time rainy was in control she had consistency and continuity where she could only do what was her sense of agency (what was stored in my unconscious as Rainy.) it didnt matter if I was in kindergarten or an adult, it didnt matter if I was at home or out at a movie or a musical show or out to dinner or at a party, at work.. an y time in my whole life time that there was a rain storm I would have my dissociation symptoms and Rainy would be in control to handle things.

When things were calmed down my brain automatically did its process to switching me back from the unconsciously stored personalities to the aware state personality.

Mind you I cant tell you if your parts are dissociative type with DID. Only you and your own treatment providers can say that...

but I can give you a tip on how to figure this part out....

since dissociative type alters begin in childhood all you need to do is look back on your life to see if this same part has been handling the same trigger, when the same things happen in your life...

example... my treatment provider used my medical records to document any times as a child that I may have been found wandering out in storms. My treatment providers used my school records for documentations that any time there was a rain storm I would be getting out of my seat, going to the window and then trying to go home. Did my high school records document that I skipped part of school days and when they documented that did those notations match up with the weather reports from those days (with internet public information is readily available and a very easy way that helped figure out many of my alters) As an adult are there times when out with friends and a storm happened and switched into Rainy and went home. ...

my point is if your part is a dissociative part instead of other kinds of parts you will be able to find out very quickly that there are millions of times in all aspects of your life when the same trigger caused the same pattern of the part taking control and handling that trigger for you.

example using your own post.... Tar. here in the USA tar is frequently used year around for fixing roads, roof tops and other uses too. plus its a very distinctive substance for the senses. look back on your life time to see if every time tar was being used in your towns from very early childhood to adult hood.

if this is a dissociative type alter you will notice the times you have dissociated, memory loss, time loss and so on, and when that alter was in control matches up with times when the town was fixing your roads, when people were fixing roof tops, paving their drive ways, or other times when tar was in use.

you can find out when your towns have done road work in your town hall records, old newspapers and any where else they notified the town that road work was going to be happening. like I said public records and the internet its very easy to discover anything now days.