the trouble with trusting a *feeling* that a 'memory' is veridial is that the scientific studies have shown that *feelings* of veridicality aren't a reliable indicator of veridicality.

when there is independent corroboration then that helps... but then 'memories' that are vague and diffused can have independent corroboration just like ones that feel veridical do.

and both can be inaccurate.

the trouble with saying 'it just depends on whether you believe it to be true' is that sometimes people are taken to court when they are innocent.

there was a case of a person with DID and her therapist (via hypnosis) *uncovered* the 'memory' that she had cannibalised and eaten over 100 people when she was a child. then there are cases of satanic ritual abuse... and of ufo abduction... therapists have lost their lisence to practice over such things....

and the false memory foundation has been started as a consequence of people being wrongly charged (though i'm sure the false memory foundation harbors a number of people who have been rightly accused it is an important foundation for people who have been wrongly accused)

memory... is a constructive process. there isn't such a thing as memory (in the sense of accessing facts from the past) so much as there is the PRESENT ACTIVITY of remembering... and each *remembering* distorts things as we narrate to make sense...

i lament the fact that there are therapists out there who don't understand very much of the scientific data on memory and remembering.

i lament the fact that there are therapists out there who don't educate their clients on the nature of memory and remembering (as we find from the best current scientific theories on that)

due to that...

DID will remain a controversial diagnosis.

it is a shame.