Alters Changing Stories

I was just curious, I know someone who has DID and maybe this is for someone who has a whole system of alters. But the person I know has recently started writing down alters she comes in contact with. I don't know all the terms but she has an alter that lets in new alters that they hear in the background and can bring them to the front so they can introduce themselves. Now she notices when she talks to them again and asks them about themselves that sometimes the story changes because she can look back at her notes. A lot of them have gone through a lot of bad stuff, but they don't really hold one exact experience.

I don't know, she feels like she is almost creating them, not making up the disorder and what happened to her, but that her brain is just making it up because she thinks that's what is supposed to happen. She also was recently diagnosed and she has told me that every time she talks to her therapist and she asks questions like is that the gatekeeper or is that a protector and she doesn't know, then that night one seems to pop up that takes the position. She's really confused and thinks she's just making it up. I did hear that once you talk about it in therapy that others seem to come to surface pretty easily, but she didn't think that they would pop up like a day or so after she talked about them.

I know this sounds confusing but I hope this makes sense.

No one here can tell you what is actually going on with your friend. We can tell you that what she reports is entirely possible. It is possible two ways. It could be real alters coming forward. It could also be a factitious disorder and she is responding to the therapist's suggestions.

From here we cannot say which is the case, legitimate DID system discovery or iatrogenic creation of alters in a person with a factitious disorder. We cannot say because we are not there to see what is happening in therapy sessions. It is possible that the therapist has already encountered these alters in prior sessions and the suggestions are merely establishing contact between these alters and your friend's presenting "host" alter.

As for stories changing, that tends to happen with everyone, whether there is DID involved or not. Are these stories about trauma? Amnesia for traumatic experiences is very common, and where there is amnesia there commonly also is confabulation. Confabulation is where someone makes up a story to fill in a memory gap and is then unable to distinguish between story and memory.

Time will tell.

Your role as a confidante is to listen and be accepting and non-judgemental. There is no need for you as a friend to decide any reported event is absolutely true or not true. Just keep in mind that it is better to be safe than sorry, and proceed cautiously.