Is any body else's primary not there core?

I struggle when I read threads like this. I don't even believe in the whole concept of a core. The latest research and theory about DID is that there is no core - alters are not created out of nowhere to protect a 'core' personality, they are dissociated parts of the whole, and each is as important to the whole as any other. The scientific understanding of the structure of dissociation has come so far over the last 20 years, and I eagerly await the day when the new theories and knowledge filter down into psychiatric and psychology training and literature... then noone will have to needlessly angst over thier inability to indentify their 'core', believing that if they can't they will never be able to be tested accurately or diagnosed correctly!

I thought that when you find your core, that person becomes the leader and moves everyone toward sharing with everyone else. I am still confused by how it all works.

The latest research and theory about DID is that there is no core - alters are not created out of nowhere to protect a 'core' personality, they are dissociated parts of the whole, and each is as important to the whole as any other.

i have a question...does anyone have a medical condition that some of the insiders do not have?

The question is off the subject of this post i know. i am not sure why the question came up for me. Please excuse this post.

Luse maybe I can help you understand the core concept.

A baby is born. mentally and physically that baby is one whole person.
At age two that same whole child gets abused by someone they know.
this child has to be around this abuser.
physical pains heal but mental pain doesnt always heal right away.

imagine having to be around / near / talk to / be nice to / mind your manners with /respect someone who has hit you, raped you, pulled your hair, and other horrors.

its sometimes easy for adults to bite their tongue or walk away from those that do wrong to them.

but this 2 yr old child has been taught you dont say no, you mind your elders, dont walk away when Im talking to you, dont be sassy...

now the child is in mental stress. this child is being physically and mentally abused and cannot get away from the abuser and cannot tell anyone whats going on either.

so the child dissociates. they mentally separate a part of their self. the side they dissociate away from their self is an alter and the rest is the core.

Another word for the "core" is called the "host" the person in which the alters live inside of.

As time goes on and more physical and mental abuse happens. the "core" (host) splits off more parts of their self.

the parts of their self that is split off is called the alters and the person in which all the alters live in is called the "core" or in some places called "the host"

sometimes the host (other wise called the core) dissociates so much that it is the alters that are taking care of every day life, and the host (core) dissociates their self into a daydream world where they feel safe.

now you have my alters Sunny, Rainy, Opal, Thistle, Red, Yellow and Green getting up in the morning, making breakfast, getting the family off to school and work, going to work, paying the bills, taking care of the children, watching tv,....

and the host (otherwise called the "core") is off in their mental dream world hidden from the outside the body world.

if the host (core) is hidden like this it can take yrs before any communication between the alters and the host can take place.

here on psych central we have many different people from many different locations from around the world.

some places use the term "core" to describe the person in which the alters live. Some places use the term "host" to describe the person in which the alters live. and some places like here in NY use the two terms interchangeably.

Everyone here on psych central is at different places in the healing too.

some people are in the denial stage.
some people are in the establish communication stage
some people are in the working together as a team stage
some people are in the discovering what their alters parts and their host(core) parts system is
and some people are in the integration stage.

the "core concept" is the same as your "parts of a whole concept". its just that people are using the wording from their own locations and from where they are along the healing path.

Actually Amanda, that is what people USED to believe about dissociation and DID. Current scientific theory has moved on from that and that old information is no longer part of the recommended treatment approach for DID.
Current theory is that in normal childhood development the personality is not integrated until around age 6 or 7, and abuse and /or trauma that occurs before that time does not create a split, but instead causes the failure of personality to integrate. In current scientific theory about Dissociative Identity Disorder there is not a core or birth personality that splits off to protect itself - there is one whole personality that fails to integrate its normal separate parts. With time and repetition of abuse, and without restorative integrative experiences these separate parts continue to separate and develop indepedently of one another. But the crucial difference is there is no 'core'. All parts are equally important aspects of the original developing self.
I eagerly await the day the new theories, ideas and corresponding treatment practices are widespread throughout the world. They are currently being used in Europe and Australisia, but for some reason the US lags behind and insists on clinging to the old beliefs. Why would that be?

This one is a good start, although it only touches on the structural theory of dissociation. I have to go out now, so I'll look up more later.
http://www.isst-d.org/jtd/2011AdultT...nesSummary.pdf

A quote from it:

Developmental models of DID posit that the disorder does not arise
from a previously mature, unified mind or core personality that becomes
shattered or fractured. Rather, DID results from a failure of normal developmental
integration, which is caused by overwhelming experiences and
disturbed caregiver–child interactions (including neglect and the failure
to respond) during critical early developmental periods. This, in turn,
leads some traumatized children to develop relatively discrete, personified

behavioral states or subsystems of their core personality.

Clairtytoo, it applies in the same way that it does according to the belief of one having a unified core personality that creates splits before the age of 6. This theory proposes that in normal development a child begins life with an unintegrated personality, and that their emotional states become integrated in the first six years of life through normalising experiences and 'typical' parental care. If this doesn't occur the emotional states fail to integrate (such as in borderline personality disorder) and in extreme cases, DID.
In the case of DID the emotional states continue to develop their own sense of identity and separateness and dissociation and further splitting becomes the primary response to further trauma, stress, and other life circumstances. Further splitting and creation of dissociated states can occur at any point in life and it isn't necessary for a person to have passed through a certain life stage to have alters of that age. Identity states (alters) can be of any age, any race, any gender: they can be animals, inanimate objects, 'supernatural beings' - anything. They are whatever the dissociating child needs them to be. Even typical integrated people may have aspects of themselves that behave and think more maturely in certain situations. The difference in people with DID is that these mature aspects of self take on a separate, older identity. What they are NOT is actual people. For instance, you don't actually have a 40 year old woman living in your body, although you (and probably she) would likely argue differently! I know my some of my alts absolutely and uncategorically denied that they were anything other than 100% real, actual beings. But they are not - they are dissociated identity states of the person that is me.