I want to say more. Just ignore me if it isn't relevant.

Another challenge to believing the validity of the memories or memory fragments is that is what dissociation does. What are some of the key symptoms of dissociation? Depersonalization (I don't feel real) and derealization (the world doesn't feel real). In addition to that dissociated traumatic memories are often split up into discrete impressions of experiences - one part might feel the physical pain, another might hold the behavior, another might feel the sadness, another the rage, and yet another might hold the knowledge of the event but have no emotional or physical connection to it. When any one aspect of a memory is brought to consciousness on its own - for instance you might suddenly feel flooded with sadness but have no understanding of why; or you might get a sudden stab of pain but have no idea of what might be causing it - it doesn't feel real. The sense of realness can only be found in the total experience, when all of the fragments are experienced together.

So now there are two things - dissociated fragments of memory do not feel real, and even when dissociated memories are validated by external sources they still sometimes don't feel real.
And the third thing... dissociated fragments of self are real parts of the self. We don't know if what they hold is true or not. But we know that they hurt. We don't know if they have 'embellished' or 'created' or 'imagined' memories or not. But their pain affects us in very real ways. We kinda wish those dissociated parts would not exist or at least go away... but they do and they can't. z
I'm done now.