Explosion of alters

When it was first suggested that we have DID/DDNOS, I thought there were just a few of us. Now, it seems like I’m coming across new alters all the time. We’re up to about twenty that I can name.
Is this normal? I mean, I knew there was a possibility of meeting more alters than I previously thought now that we’re opening up communication, but so many? Am I just imagining them? I still don’t even know why we are this way.

Pretty normal. I think I've heard the average is about 12-15. 17 in my wife's system so far.

I can totally empathize with you. Yes, our experience is very much like what you are describing. So much so yesterday at T's I again said somehow I have to be making this up in my head or something, because that truly feels like the only explanation. Our system awareness has went from there being just another one to about 15 this past month.

That's totally normal. They can be hiding anywhere. I remember one woman finding a "new" girl hiding under a madras in the inner world. She was completely flat when found, she'd been there for decades. That was symbolic and meant something, but I don't remember what anymore, and it's not my story to share anyway. Some can turn into objects, and pass as part of the wall for a long time before someone realizes they're alive. And that's after years in therapy.

However, there always is the right amount of you. No less or more.

I know we lack littles. I don't know if they are in Fourteen's system, or loose somewhere, but there's no one from 5 to 10 years old, and I think there should be.

Glad to know there are others who can empathize.
I wish I knew why there's so many of us.

Situation normal. When we first realized we were multiple, we met five of us. When we started our website a year later, we had 13 (hence the name MakersDozn).

After seven years, we'd found everybody, which averages out to finding six or seven a year. See our signature for a little more info.

Stressful? Yes. But people here understand and are supportive.

And to second what Floralie said, we tell people, "we have as many people as we need to have."

MDs

I just watched a document of a woman with about 2 500 parts in total. They were doing well, they went to court to get their main abuser (their father) to jail eventually, and were the first system ever to give a testimony as a multiple, and were taken seriously. They had physical proof as well, so it wasn't just word against word, but still, it was great they found a layer who believed them and their testimony was considered as valuable as anyone else's, although there were littles talking as themselves etc. This was in Australia I believe, at least the document was Australian.

We have about 30 of us atm, most of them in Fourteen's system, but he's part of the big picture too, so they all count. I think it depends on what you compare it with if it sounds a lot or not so much at all anyway. I guess we are considered to be polyfragmented, because of the structure of the system (subsystems inside subsystems inside subsystem), although number of parts is not that big.

I remember when Fourteen started to discover his DID and parts were all over, more and more of them rapidly. I haven't felt like that, parts of the bigger system are all known to me, some from decades ago, some for few years. But I do wonder too why we needed all them, our story is not that rough. It doesn't feel to be that rough atm, but there can be things I don't remember.

I think with bigger systems also there tends to be smaller group that is more active, and you don't have to deal with all 2 500 every day. It can be messy and take time to find a balance tho, but if you feel it's too much, don't worry about it. Even when parts aren't gonna go away, it doesn't mean they will all be there all the time, they will settle down when everyone founds their places.

We had a mess too when Lucas came. It changed the dynamics big time to have a new teen. But he is here to help, and things are more OK with him than without him. It comes down to understanding why they are there, and then letting them do what they do if it's beneficial, or helping them out if it's not.

That phase when they seem to be all over doesn't last so long, and it's all progress anyway.

SOHank wrote:Pretty normal. I think I've heard the average is about 12-15. 17 in my wife's system so far.

So is it that we have so many we don't know about when we find out and get diagnosed, or that they appear/are created later as life goes on?

Zor wrote:

SOHank wrote:Pretty normal. I think I've heard the average is about 12-15. 17 in my wife's system so far.

So is it that we have so many we don't know about when we find out and get diagnosed, or that they appear/are created later as life goes on?

Could be either or both, depending on the system. In our case it was the former.

MDs

Zor wrote:So is it that we have so many we don't know about when we find out and get diagnosed, or that they appear/are created later as life goes on?

Hey Zor,

Our understanding is that most of them already exist, but aren't always ready to reveal themselves right away. Like, they've been spending most of the life hiding, or being unaware and stuff.

So it takes time for everyone to come out of hiding and let everyone else see them.

Like for us, V1 knew of 3 or 4 parts when we first got self-aware, then a bunch more came out over the next few months. Then we were at 16 for a long time. Now in the last month or two we've started finding more, up to 19 now and there could be even more. The last 3 were totally unexpected / unknown until they appeared.

Tho, that's not to say there can't be completely new ones appear or get created or whatever, that can happen too.

Viola