Abstract:

"This discussion reinterprets a sixteenth-century case of possession and exorcism ashttps://archive.org/details/lapossessiondeje00bour/page/n7/mode/2up Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). This is perhaps the earliest historical case in which DID can be diagnosed retrospectively with confidence. Jeanne Fery, a 25-year-old Dominican Nun, wrote her own account of her exorcism which took place in Mons, France in 1584 and 1585. Her exorcists produced an even more detailed account describing both identity fragmentation and a past history of childhood trauma. Also well described in both accounts are major criteria and associated features of DID as described in present day diagnostic manuals (American Psychiatric Association, 1987, 1994.) The 109-page description of her treatment course was republished in French in the nineteenth century by Bourneville (1886), a colleague of Janet, who also diagnosed Jeanne's disorder as "doubling of the personality," (the term then in use for DID). This article is the first English- language presentation of these documents."

Order of authorship in the original publication: van der Hart, Lierens, Goodwin.

Fery's case as recorded by François Buisseret (1549-1615) was first published by Désiré-Magloire Bourneville (1840-1909) as La possession de Jeanne Fery. Paris: Aux bureaux du Progrè Médicale et Delaye et Lecrosnier, 1886. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)