DID is a real, true disorder.
it stems from severe childhood trauma and is often very distressing to the people who have it. it's hard for people w it to get treatment because
1. doctors may not believe them,
2. the media paints ppl with this disorder as dangerous, crazy, evil, weird, etc.,
3. it is not easily understood/a lack of proper knowledge
people who boast about it are more often than not faking it for attention. people who actually have it would be more self-conscious about it, if they're even aware of having multiple personalities. there are cases when the host may not even know they're suffering from such a thing - they might experience blackouts for extended periods of time when they switch alters and don't know what happened in that time they blanked out.
the disorder is a defense mechanism for the trauma they experienced as a child, so it's likely the host may not even be aware of the other alters.
a lack of understanding and proper knowledge is what may lead to more people claiming they have it when they don't, simply because they might not understand the severity of it and probably don't understand what it means to have "multiple personalities."
a lot of times people with DID are depicted in the media as monsters, scary, dangerous, or weird. split literally depicted a person with DID doing... whatever illegal nonsense was going on in that movie, and then turning into a literal monster. sorry, but that's bad rep. it really puts a stigma on DID. while its true that people can be unstable or have alters with violent impulses, that doesn't make them monsters.
there aren't many positive or accurate fictional representations of DID. there's sybil, the book/movie based on a true story of a woman with DID, but there's mixed sources on if its actually true or not. i never finished watching that movie (i really should get around to it tbh) though.
the best rep i've seen so far of DID was actually in ace attorney: spirit of justice. i won't go too into it to not spoil anything, but the character was confirmed to have DID, with the actual name of the disorder referenced in-game and playing a part in the case. i thought they were gonna make this character the murderer under the guise that a "hidden" fourth personality committed the murder, but was pleasantly surprised when this wasn't the case. ofc i can't speak for ppl w/ DID but it was one of the most respectful representations i'd heard of without it being the main thing of the story.
i probably shouldn't go on for too long
tl;dr yes it's a real thing 100%
