I started seeing professionals in my teenage years. I was diagnosed with things like generalized anxiety disorder for many years.

I don't blame the professionals for not picking up on it though. For one thing, I never stuck with any kind of treatment long enough to get to the bottom of things. Sometimes I quit after the first session.

Plus, honestly, I didn't know what I was experiencing was dissociation, I had never even heard the term before. And I didn't know what I was experiencing was anything out of the ordinary since that's how I had experienced life since as far back as I could remember. I didn't know what DID was, didn't know that's what was going on, it was all my "normal". There was no internet way back when I started seeing professionals, I didn't read medical books as a teenager. Actually I never went on my own to see someone at that young age, it was the school that forced it because of my behavior.

Even when I started therapy back 12 or so years ago, even with internet, I still hadn't heard the term dissociation, and I didn't even know what PTSD was. I started going for other issues in my life and was shocked to be diagnosed with PTSD and was disbelieving of the DID diagnosis. But the difference with professional help that time was I stuck with it and although I didn't use the most common words and phrases of what I was experiencing, the professional picked up on what was going on.

All that just to say I think much of it is when we describe what we're going through.

I do wish it had been picked up on many years ago though. I could have received help back then and my life could have been much different. But, it's really no different than expecting a professional to pick up on depression if a person doesn't describe what they're experiencing and wondering why they didn't pick up on it when they're feeling suicidal.