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The Core Personality and The Host
There is a difference
Those of us with dissociative identity disorder have many different aspects of ourselves that have been compartmentalized to hold traumatic memories at bay. One of these alters is known as the host, and they fulfill a vital part of the lives of multiples.
This article will open a conversation discussing the host alter in a multiple’s system.
Where Do Alters Come From
The theory of structural dissociation also connects trauma with the lack of an associated personality in children and adults, such as is found in dissociative identity disorder, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and many other disorders.
The structural dissociation theory shows how trauma, dissociation, and separations of the personality come in three levels: primary, secondary, and tertiary, each characterized by different dissociation levels.
Primary structural dissociation consists of one part (aka an emotional part or EP) focused on the trauma. Also, a different part of the system of selves is known as the apparently normal part or ANP, whose job is to focus on the activities of daily living. The ANP often avoids the EP and the trauma of the past while the EP still lives there.
