Coraline Hingray, MD: “Dissociative identity disorder is the chameleon of psychiatry”

In France, in 2023, only 183 people were diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID), according to the Health Insurance. In reality, its prevalence is around 1.5% of the general population. Coraline Hingray, professor of psychiatry in Nancy, is one of the few in France to have made it one of her specialties. Faced with the public health challenge represented by the underdiagnosis of DID, she warns of the urgent need to train caregivers so that they are able to identify this disorder.

DID – formerly called “multiple personality disorder” – corresponds to the presence of a discontinuity in the sense of self: the person lives with several dissociative identities that can take control of consciousness and the body. These parts can have different ages, voices, memories, attitudes, tastes, needs or even functions. Some caregivers or patients speak of “alters” or “personalities”, I prefer to speak of “dissociated parts”.

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