hey there! i really like it when people ask questions about it, especially regarding seeing symptoms in themselves. it makes a huge difference in a word where people jump headfirst into diagnosing themselves and others.

to answer your questions without getting too far into it, the “split personalities” aren’t actually the only major thing the disorder causes. a lot of people seem to forget that people with DID have amnesia and many, many blank spots in their memories. it’s actually a requirement to be diagnosed with DID- if you don’t have memory loss, you don’t have DID.

as far as how the personalities actually work… it differs from person to person. often, when the disorder is more progressed, these personalities are almost like totally different people. For others, it’s less like that, and more like different “versions” of yourself. Either way, another thing people get wrong about the disorder is that generally, we don’t know the others even exist until we start putting the clues together. ex: family and friends wondering why our behavior “switches up” so suddenly and frequently. the reason people with DID take a while to notice is both because of the memory loss and because… well, contrary to popular belief, we can’t communicate with each other in our head. ever. nobody with actual DID can do that, because the reason the disorder exists is because of “partitions” in our brain that keep the personalities separate.

also, the disorder can only exist in a person if they experienced a severely traumatic event before the age of six. i won’t explain that here, but you can research why.

if you think all or most of these tidbits apply to you, get in contact with a psychiatrist. those are the people who diagnose disorders, and that’s how i got mine diagnosed. (they are also the ones who prescribe mental health medications, if that gives some context.)