AmandaLouise, I love that in your particular part of the world the treatment providers know everything, AND they know exactly the same stuff. Unfortunately it is not that way in the other areas of the USA. While the diagnostic criteria for dissociative disorders are clear in the DSM-V there are a great many treatment providers in the USA who do not believe in them and have understandings that differ greatly from yours. When it comes to dissociative disorders I bet my current T wouldn't have an effing clue. It would be interesting to ask her actually, just to see what she would say on the topic. It is possible she would allude to DID being extremely rare (it is not) and most often caused by bad therapy (it is not). In that case would the advice be to believe what my treatment provider tells me? I would hope not!

I never, ever acquiesce to any provider of any sort as being a fount of knowledge, and especially so when it comes to my own physical or mental health. I am intelligent enough and curious enough to source my own information, deduce its credibility and come to my own understandings as to how that information relates to me. There is no treatment provider in the world who could tell me what my experiences mean for me.

So, back to the topic of reality testing here... we will have to agree to disagree.