Yes, that makes perfect sense to me. I feel I can be authentic when I am alone. By authentic I mean... I can own and act upon my own true feelings, thoughts and ideas, and feel like my external actions match the internal me. I have DID, so I guess that has some bearing on it, too. In the privacy of my own home, without external demands from either people or tasks that need attention, I can be whoever / however I AM in any given moment. (Is that what other people mean by their authentic self? I am not sure).

Being with other people is immensely stressful for me, and I have not yet learned away to do that and remain connected to myself, or even as myself (ie: without switching). When with others I seem to automatically abandon myself and become whatever is required of me. Working on this is one of my written goals of therapy. As it stands I avoid whatever external contact I can, because I hate losing myself. I *want* to be authentic. I want to feel real and connected to the 'real me' in ALL situations.

So yeah - I think I know what you mean.