Differing DES Scores

I'm wondering about something. I've taken the test for DID online three times. The reason I took it that many times is because of my tendency to be in denial about having DID. What I noticed was that my scores varied each time I took the test. (I took the tests several months/to 1-2 years apart). So here's my question:

If a person has DID, how could they know for sure that they have DID... since they have different parts...couldn't different parts be taking the test each time?

My scores were 40.5, 42. and 49.

I kind of feel like that test (assuming we're talking about the same one) is so subjective that variation in scores would happen to everyone all the time just based on how far down the dot scale they feel is accurate at any given time.

first some info that may help the des you find online is not the tests they now use for diagnosing if a person has DID to answer your question how does someone know for sure... here in america treatment providers have a whole battery of tests they have people take called a psychiatric evaluation, the test has many many parts to it and takes many sessions to do so that the doctors can see the person under stress and how they are in relaxing normal situations too. then everything is compared and scored to give what the diagnosis is.

if you have been diagnosed, talk with your doctors, they can tell you how they came up with your having DID, tell you what all your different scores were, which ones should have been high and which ones should have been low but were not so added up to you having DID.

if you havent been formally diagnosed and going on your own self evaluation you might want to consider being formally diagnosed just for your own peace of mind and then you will actually know first hand the hows and whys a person gets diagnosed with DID.

back to the online version of DES. it doesnt take into consideration things like history, life style, meds, health problem, a face to face diagnostic evaluation with a psychiatrist. it just is you answering questions based on how you are at that very moment of taking the online test. because things change from day to day like how you are feeling, what you have eaten, what time you took any meds and so on the test is going to say different each time. I have taken the des online version many many times and each time I get a different score. one time even though the problems I was having was related to my physical situation of being pregnant it told me I was highly dissociative.

my suggestion is if you want to continue using the DES online version use it as a way to show where you happen to be at the moment of taking the tests, what things you want to focus on changing that day... example if you have answered you are feeling disconnected then focus that day on grounding. many times I come up with one answer... that today I need to focus on paying more attention to what people are telling me, or that I need to focus more on paying attention to what I am doing that day.

I’m taking a graduate class in psychology tests and measures right now. If I find any information about your question I’ll post it here. From what I know so far, it is normal for retest answers to fluctuate. Being a self-reported test, the changes over time may represent changes in your knowledge or opinions over time.

The way I know for sure about having DID is through the eyes of my best friend, my therapist (and a couple other people), and the information I’ve recorded in my journal entries over the years. Also, memories and, well, my parts talk to me.
Yes, I guess a different part could take the test each time...but, if you knew that happened, that would kinda prove it right there.
One of my parts wrote in our journal about my denial, and how sometimes I think I made them up—he said it’s amazing how much credit I give to my will, as though I’m even capable of orchestrating all this stuff happening in this brain and life just on a whim. His comment really stuck with me.

In relation to the DES I wouldn't be concerned about that amount of score variation at all. That isn't a diagnostic test, all it does it give an indication of a person having dissociative experiences.

But yeah sure, different alters will have different experiences of symptoms feeling thoughts about pretty much anything.
I audio record my therapy sessions and on one I was listening to an denial alter telling T about all the reasons why she can not could not does not have DID and her family never abused her blah blah blah blah. She was doing that for about 20 minutes while t was trying to get her to consider the point of view of the other insiders. That alter wasn't having a bar of it.
Then another part pushed forward (you could almost hear the tension and struggle for her to break through to come out) and was like "OMG, what the hell is she talking about, can I please just tell you about all the ways she is wrong?" For the rest of the session she rattled on about the abuse, the different parts, etc etc.
Anyway, that was all to illustrate the point that... yes it definitely make a difference as to which part is out front!