Hi Trust, finding out you have DID isn't always easy to accept, but I know that in my case it certainly did explain a lot of things!
Shutterbug, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this thread; it's been a busy week with long days for me. I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can.
Do doctors know what causes it? The leading theory among doctors is that severe, repeated childhood trauma (most often severe sexual abuse), including extreme childhood neglect, can cause a child's mind to separate (or dissociate) those memories/experiences from their normal awareness. The child "creates" other people to help her cope with the abuse (and/or can create someone to help protect or nurture her, etc.) and they get compartmentalized right along with the memories/experiences. Multiples become that way within the first 6 to 8 years of life. If you are not multiple by about that age, your not going to become one. That's the very short explanation.
What do I think? I think there are a lot of mulples that have that kind of history, sure.
Have there been 13 of us since birth? I don't know; I don't think so. We've had some mergings as well as some new people show up through-out the years. We're not sure of how many there are of us now, but it's around 13.
Are one or two of us more prominent? Sort of. There are a few of us (manybe 5) that we consider "front-runners," but anyone is allowed to take the front if there is something that they want to do out here.
How do our friends and family handle ever one? As far as family goes, only our sister can accept it. When we told her she said that our behavior in childhood finally made a lot of sense to her. To our friends, the multiplicity isn't a big deal. I guess it's just like having a friend who's gay or deaf or whatever.
Is it a guessing game to know who's talking when? People that we spend a lot of time around learn how to recognize who they are talking to. If they don't know, they can always ask.
Are we able to work? For the longest time we were not able to work bcause everything was extremely chaotic. We spent many years in hospitals: went through ECT, forced re-feedings, 4 stays in the burn center, psych hospitals, etc. At one point, we even had a psychologist that kept us very disfunctional so that he could continue to abuse us.
All that being said, yes, we are now able to work. Work is not difficult: we're responsible, we show up on time, work hard, we're knowledgeable, trustworthy and very reliable. We LOVE what we do. The only problem we have is that sometimes the little kids get very curious about some parts of our job that we don't want them to see. We have all agreed on some rules, but...you know how kids can be.
How old are we? Mostly kids, a few teens and 4 adults.
I don't mind anwsering questions. Just, please, don't assume that I speak for all people who are multiple. I'm telling you how it is for us and our system. I hope you find it helpful.