If you don't feel completely confident and are struggling with denial, then please disregard my question. I don't want anyone to feel invalidated or to get stressed out thinking on it too much. This question is for people who have reached a point of feeling confident in their diagnosis. I am wondering specifically where that confidence eventually came from. Also, if you experienced strongly questioning the diagnosis, what made you question it?

Below is some background on why I'm asking, if it makes a difference to anyone.

After over a decade of mental health problems (starting at age 15), I have been through several professionals and labels, and I am still as confused and frustrated as I've ever been. Some of these labels have included depression, PTSD, panic attack disorder, bipolar disorder, etc. I have also theorized about me having a personality disorder (BPD, NPD or possibly even covert schizoid). But nothing fits quite right or for longer than 6 months at most throughout my history. I think I was the most accepting about the bipolar labels because mental illness runs heavily in my genes, including mood disorders and even schizophrenia in my family tree.

However the last therapist I saw was convinced that I had DID. To be completely honest I felt like that was completely ridiculous, and it really took me by surprise. Prior to seeing her I didn't even know that DID existed, and the more I read about it, the more I felt like it just couldn't be the case. I felt suspicious of my therapist, felt like she was trying to blame every symptom I had on disassociation or "alters" while I was trying to make a case that it was probably being caused by something else. My therapist treated me like I was just in denial, and it was an extremely flustering experience. I quit seeing her after about 6 months because I started to become very frustrated and angry with her.

My therapist's main reasons for her DID theory were
- History of childhood trauma
- Memory problems and gaps
- A whole slew of anxiety and hypervigilance issues

But I guess I started to just feel overwhelmed and like it was ridiculous when it came to some things. Like when it came to irrational, impulsive behaviors that I didn't understand, she blamed that on alters. When it came to hallucinations, she blamed that on flashbacks from fragments. Etc, etc. Plus, I don't really have different personalities with names, it's not like Matilda the French seamstress pops out or anything. When I found a forum (not this one) at the time for people with DID, everyone had lists of alters with names and everything, and I did not relate to any of that at all.