I’m (Trent) a fairly recently recognized system (I’ve had dissociative symptoms for as much of my life as I can remember and was diagnosed with DPDR a few years ago, and again recently when I switched to a new therapist who brushed off many of my symptoms), and I’m really nervous about starting over and bringing all of my symptoms to a new therapist with my previous bad experience.

This therapist specializes in DID and other dissociative disorders, and I was specifically looking for that, so that definitely eases my worry a little. She also already told me that she believes me, and asked if I have heard other people in my head asked about them and talked about my other main piece (Sam) by name and asked about him. This helps a lot. But I’m terrified I’ll say the wrong things, or things will come out wrong, or I’ll forget symptoms/things I experience.

I don’t know. My boyfriend is also a system (part of the reason I was able to recognize my symptoms as not just DPDR), and he is very helpful in calming my worries and helping me feel validated in my experiences. So is my girlfriend, who is not a system. But I still have such severe imposter syndrome, and I still worry so much that I won’t receive the diagnosis. Personally, diagnosis is very important to me, because I need it myself to feel like something is real, and it puts a name to what I’m experiencing. I understand that this is not everyone’s experience and not necessary for everyone, but this is my experience.

I guess I’m just wondering if any other systems experienced these thoughts when going into diagnosis, and how y’all navigated it.

Sorry for the long post. Lots of thoughts 😂