Alters come in pairs?

Why is it that when I discover a child alter, they have someone else show up with them?

I'm new to DID and getting to know my system. 4 came paired with 12b. 4 is "an innocent" and 12b blames her for what happened to her. Now I have a two year old and with her appearence came another one that blames her for her abuse.

I didn't think much about it with 4 and 12b, but with my new knowledge of the 2 year old I see the pattern.

Is this normal?

Also worth noting I have a 3 year old that I have known about for a while but she is alone- no one around to blame her. Nor does anyone blame the infant alter.

I'm confused and unable to find answers. Please help if you are able. Thanks.

It seems normal to me for alters to come in pairs. Everything in my boyfriend's mind is somehow a pair because the whole system works as a yin-yang. But talking literal pairs, Jack and Johnny used to be one person but split in half one night. Despite being self-proclaimed different ages, we consider Jack and Johnny to be twins because their personalities make them similar to physical world fraternal twins. Kiddo is also a younger split of Johnny (his real name is Chibi Johnny), which in some strange way makes them twin-like too. And Luke and HIM claim to both have been born into the physical body as the core, so that makes them twins too...

Gosh, it's so confusing, haha.

Alters are certainly often linked to other alters in some way but the short answer is, no, alters don't always come in pairs. It sometimes can seem that way because many alters are unstable and split before we even know them, others are simply filling a need in the system. If the system needs one type of personality but traits that oppose eachother and can't fit into one personality then two personalities will be created who are similar but will be on the other ends of the spectrum from eachother. Sorry if this sounds confusing, it's the best I can explain it.

my system tends to be arranged like a 'good' and 'bad' set... usually twins.
AND/OR
trauma holders always emerge with their protectors and or parents.
AND/OR
there's a counterpart for every alter. eg a little trauma holder girl who is very sad and cries all the time etc, who has either a brother or just another little friend who is completely trauma free and who is always happy and upbeat... its my brains way of counteracting the negative i guess. And i spose its why i have such a big system.

i dont know if its normal, but thats just how it goes for us. So your not alone with the whole pairs thing.

Mine are an even number; we (my T and I) are looking at which ones seem to pair up. I do not have any "good cop/bad cop" pairs, though, just some traits distributed among them.

DID is sometimes mysterious, but it surely isn't ever boring!!

Mine are arranged as good set/bad set, and who they are friends with. Protector with kids.(4 there), a couple pairs,then the perpetrator/victum set-up dynamic and the others I don't know about but will ban together when everyone is stressed and call a meeting(from what little I'm aware of now).

weeble wrote:my system tends to be arranged like a 'good' and 'bad' set... usually twins.
AND/OR
trauma holders always emerge with their protectors and or parents.
AND/OR
there's a counterpart for every alter. eg a little trauma holder girl who is very sad and cries all the time etc, who has either a brother or just another little friend who is completely trauma free and who is always happy and upbeat... its my brains way of counteracting the negative i guess. And i spose its why i have such a big system.

i dont know if its normal, but thats just how it goes for us. So your not alone with the whole pairs thing.

This makes sense. With Molly 4 and Jackie 12b, they both hold trauma but 12b both protects Molly and blames her. Kinda a big sister thing- no one can hit my sister but me.

With the two year old, I don't know who her pair is. Azel, my ISH, won't let me see. I am beginning to think it is a father introject.

I know of various systems where one or more littles have someone looking after or controlling them. I have a set of twins, one of whom was hurt and the other brought to cheer him up, keep him company. My infant core has an animal protector who is very tied to and protective of him specifically, even though that protector seems to have continued in the body during the time of the next host. Several of my alters, when compared, seem like yin and yang halves of a particular aspect but they didn't arise in the body that way and didn't have any special relationship before our DID and my alters "went internally public."