can alters suddenly form later in life?

hi! so i'm a singlet trying to learn more about did + the subtypes so i can be aware of issues and how to care for my did friends and i was wondering if alters can be doormat (in a sense?) for most of your life before appearing later in your life? i'm talking about having the disorder from when it forms in early age but the system stuff showing up in teenage years or even adult? i can't find anything about this anywhere and it's been really messing with me.

Alters can form later in life through splitting during stressful events, and yes, some alters can lay dormant for years until they become known. When our system first knew we were a system, it took quite a while for everyone to finally show up. One of our alters had been dormant since we were six. One of our Littles had been stuck in the same memory until we were able to get to her and help her adjust to the present.

It sometimes takes a long time for an alter to be ready to come forward.

I hope this helps.
Vi

Yes, alters can stay dormant or be forgotten about for a long time.

DID forms in order to hide the pain and trauma. The alters containing most of the pain/trauma (or in the worse cases, ressources/happy memories that can make the everyday pain/trauma worse in comparison) can hide or be forgotten so that everyday life appears more bearable.

They resurface when the physical situation becomes more stable, when the person gathers more ressources to face the pain. A bit like "Hum hello, remember me? I'd like one healing please!" Or because something triggering happened and they resurface yelling "Not again! Not on my watch! Remember what happened last time?"

Like ViTheta said, it can take a lot of time before an alter or fragment (alter = a dissociated part with a distinct sense of self, fragment = a dissociated part withOUT a distinct sense of self) resurfaces. For me, it took one year after cutting ties with the last dangerous person in my social circle to become fully aware of DID. It took me one full year of being safer-than-usual in order to start removing the amnesia about DID. Other stuff keep popping up here and there but now, managing has become a habit and the pain is healed during my next therapist appointment. We make an efficient team now that we have all the tools in hand to manage.

Basically, yes because DID is a way the brain functions after extreme trauma. Through therapy and a thought out pre-planned method to deal with the stress, one can successfully deal with the event successfully and not create an alter. I've noticed though that the stress situations that come out of the blue are the alter creating whoppers...and the ones that you can see coming are generally manageable.

Our body had a stroke and when we recovered awareness of our surroundings a 'teen part' was fronting that had not been a regular host since our mother had passed from cancer. (back in early 90's). She got stuck at the front for several months before managing to re-establish communication with others inside.

I (jay) also found my self up front later along the recovery process I was also originally a teen host with huge chunks of memory missing from our mid 20's onwards... The first teen part and I have now integrated (i think) she no longer feels seperate from 'me' ....some others still remain separate and fully 'switch out' with me when they want to come out.

Some remain in background and act as advisors or 'passengers'.. we share memory of doing things 'together' but I still remain in control of the body. 'Kate' (a spirit entity) and I function in this way.

The ones that were hosts mostly in our late 20's/30's have split into fragments and disappeared 'inside' Our system has undergone a lot of changes in our 40's due to peri-menopause and the stroke. Some have aged a little some have 'grown up' from teen to adult.. we now only have one left who has remained a 'little' at age 6.