The clinician should also meet a given alter personality on at least three separate occasions to be able to assess differentiation, uniqueness, and stability. These preceding techniques are not requirements but recommendations to help reduce misdiagnosing patients, and in the end will help apply more sufficient therapy. Once the diagnosis is made the therapist must share it with the patient. The first identity that seeks treatment is rarely the original personality. Though the host is the initial personality that asks for help, the host commonly denies being a multiple.
Personalities have functions that are specified and limited.
At the time of their creation, their roles were well defined by the patient, depending on past experiences. For example, a person may develop a child alter due to sexual abuse as a child. At first the alter may only appear when that individual is confronted with a sexual relationship. As time passes, the alter becomes more complex and appears with any confrontation of the opposite sex. The number of alters can vary with certain factors.