Good question and that is exactly the point. Dysphoria is not a feeling. It is a certainty about your identity whether you are on the extreme end of the binary or somewhere in the middle. It is a certainty because your brain functions differently. To describe dysphoria as a feeling is exactly the argument of the gender critical crowd that is used to deny the legitimacy of the trans experience. Feelings can be changed with the proper therapeutic modalities in their opinion. Feelings are an indicator of mental illness and can be cured in their opinion. This is quite simply incorrect.

In the same way that we now accept that gay people cannot be cured, the scientific community also accepts that the trans community cannot be cured either. It is not a psychological pathology but a biological brain difference.

I think much of the debate within the trans community is due to the fact that many late transitioners struggle their whole life with trying to understand who they really are and why they are different. Many of them spent decades as cross-dressers until they realized it was not a fetish that was their problem, it was that their body did not match their internal sense of identity. Confusion is an almost universal characteristic of those who are early in their investigation of themselves. It takes time to understand oneself and develop an authentic identity, often years. It may start as a feeling, but it becomes a certainty over time. It never goes away.

Let me give you an example. I was certain of who I was before I began my own evolution. However I did significant research and retained two therapists to be absolutely sure. After all I had lived most of my life as a presumably happy heterosexual male, why did I now think I was something different? I had to make sure I was not losing my mind. A variety of things confirmed my conclusion, but a big one, being a binary female, was my answer to this question. Do you fantasize about having your penis and testicles removed and replaced by a vagina? If you do you are almost surely trans. Normal males, even gay males, would be horrified by the idea. I was not. I wanted a vagina desperately, and now that I have one I feel complete and whole. As a caveat, that is my experience as a binary trans woman. Not everyone feels the same way or has the same need and they are as legitimate as I am, just somewhere else on the spectrum of being trans.