Sybil (book)
Encyclopedia
Sybil is a 1973 book by Flora Rheta Schreiber
about the treatment of Sybil Dorsett (a pseudonym
for Shirley Ardell Mason
) for dissociative identity disorder
(then referred to as multiple personality disorder) by her psychoanalyst
, Cornelia B. Wilbur
.
The book was made into two movies of the same name, once in 1976 and again as a television movie
in 2007
.
and memory loss
, after extended therapy involving amobarbital
and hypnosis
interviews, Sybil manifests sixteen personalities. Wilbur encouraged Sybil's various selves to communicate and reveal information about her life.
The book's narrative describes Sybil's selves gradually becoming co-conscious, able to communicate and share responsibilities, and having musical compositions and art published under their various names. Wilbur attempts to integrate Sybil's various selves, first convincing them via hypnosis that they are all the same age, then encouraging them to merge together. At the book's end, a new, optimistic self called "The Blonde" emerges, preceding Sybil's final integration into a single, whole individual with full knowledge of her past and present life.
and Joan Acocella
to have established the template for the later upsurge in the diagnoses of dissociative identity disorders.
Audiotapes that recorded conversations between Schreiber and Wilbur were examined by Dr. Herbert Spiegel
and later by John Jay College of Criminal Justice
academic Robert W. Rieber. Both these professionals concluded that Dr. Wilbur suggested multiple personalities to her client, whom they saw as a simple "hysteric". They also claimed that Wilbur and Schreiber fabricated most of the book, which is not a psychiatric case history but a novel with many details of the real case changed or removed. The American Psychological Association
recommends that Shirley Mason's case should no longer be cited as a 'classic example' of multiple personality disorder.
A review of Rieber's book Bifurcation of the Self by Mark Lawrence states that Rieber repeatedly distorted the evidence and left out a number of important facts about Mason's case, in order to advance his case against the validity of the diagnosis.
The case remains controversial, as Wilbur's psychiatric files are sealed, and both she and Mason are deceased.
The book Sybil Exposed by Debbie Nathan
published in 2011 claims that Wilbur, Mason and Schreiber perpetuated a fraud, documenting a 1958 letter by Mason confessing to making up the multiples for attention and excitement. Nathan claims Schreiber became aware of Mason and her alleged past, writing Sybil based on stories coaxed from her during therapy, and that this case created an "industry" of repressed memory
.
Flora Rheta Schreiber
Flora Rheta Schreiber , an American journalist, was the author of the 1973 bestseller Sybil, the story of a woman who suffered from dissociative identity disorder....
about the treatment of Sybil Dorsett (a pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
for Shirley Ardell Mason
Shirley Ardell Mason
Shirley Ardell Mason was an American psychiatric patient and commercial artist who was reputed to have multiple personality disorder. Her life was fictionalized in 1973 in the book Sybil, and two films of the same name were made in 1976 and 2007...
) for dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis and describes a condition in which a person displays multiple distinct identities , each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment....
(then referred to as multiple personality disorder) by her psychoanalyst
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
, Cornelia B. Wilbur
Cornelia B. Wilbur
Cornelia B. Wilbur was an American psychiatrist. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1930 and was one of eight women medical college graduates in 1939...
.
The book was made into two movies of the same name, once in 1976 and again as a television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
in 2007
Sybil (2007 film)
Sybil is a 2007 American docudrama directed by Joseph Sargent. The teleplay by John Pielmeier is based on the 1973 book of the same name by Flora Rheta Schreiber, which fictionalized the story of Shirley Ardell Mason, who was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder...
.
Overview
Mason is given the pseudonym "Sybil" by her therapist to protect her privacy. Originally in treatment for social anxietySocial anxiety
Social anxiety is anxiety about social situations, interactions with others, and being evaluated or scrutinized by other people...
and memory loss
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
, after extended therapy involving amobarbital
Amobarbital
Amobarbital is a drug that is a barbiturate derivative. It has sedative-hypnotic and analgesic properties. It is a white crystalline powder with no odor and a slightly bitter taste. It was first synthesized in Germany in 1923...
and hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
interviews, Sybil manifests sixteen personalities. Wilbur encouraged Sybil's various selves to communicate and reveal information about her life.
Described personalities
The fictional book begins with a list of Sybil's "alters", together with the year in which each appeared to have dissociated from the central personality. The names of these selves were also changed to ensure privacy.- Sybil Isabel Dorsett (1923), the main personality
- Victoria Antoinette Scharleau (1926), nicknamed Vicky, self-assured and sophisticated young French girl
- Peggy Lou Baldwin (1926), assertive, enthusiastic, and often angry
- Peggy Ann Baldwin (1926), a counterpart of Peggy Lou but more fearful than angry
- Mary Lucinda Saunders Dorsett (1933), a thoughtful, contemplative, and maternal homebody
- Marcia Lynn Dorsett (1927), an extremely emotional writer and painter
- Vanessa Gail Dorsett (1935), intensely dramatic
- Mike Dorsett (1928), one of Sybil's two male selves, a builder and a carpenter
- Sid Dorsett (1928), the second of Sybil's two male selves, a carpenter and a general handyman
- Nancy Lou Ann Baldwin (date undetermined), interested in politics as fulfillment of biblical prophecy and intensely afraid of Roman Catholics
- Sybil Ann Dorsett (1928), listless to the point of neurastheniaNeurastheniaNeurasthenia is a psycho-pathological term first used by George Miller Beard in 1869 to denote a condition with symptoms of fatigue, anxiety, headache, neuralgia and depressed mood...
- Ruthie Dorsett (date undetermined), a baby and one of the less developed selves
- Clara Dorsett (date undetermined), intensely religious and highly critical of Sybil
- Helen Dorsett (1929), intensely afraid but determined to achieve fulfillment
- Marjorie Dorsett (1928), serene, vivacious, and quick to laugh
- The Blonde (1946), a nameless perpetual teenager with an optimistic outlook
The book's narrative describes Sybil's selves gradually becoming co-conscious, able to communicate and share responsibilities, and having musical compositions and art published under their various names. Wilbur attempts to integrate Sybil's various selves, first convincing them via hypnosis that they are all the same age, then encouraging them to merge together. At the book's end, a new, optimistic self called "The Blonde" emerges, preceding Sybil's final integration into a single, whole individual with full knowledge of her past and present life.
Publication History and Controversy
The book had an initial print run of 400,000. The book is believed by Mark PendergrastMark Pendergrast
Mark Pendergrast is an American independent scholar and author of five books.-Biography:Pendergrast was born in 1948 to Nan and Britt Pendergrast, the fourth of seven children. He was raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Harvard College,...
and Joan Acocella
Joan Acocella
Joan B. Acocella is an American journalist who is the dance and book critic for The New Yorker. She has written several books on dance, literature, and psychology....
to have established the template for the later upsurge in the diagnoses of dissociative identity disorders.
Audiotapes that recorded conversations between Schreiber and Wilbur were examined by Dr. Herbert Spiegel
Herbert Spiegel
Herbert Spiegel was an American psychiatrist who popularized therapeutic hypnosis as a mainstream medical treatment for patients suffering from pain, anxiety and addictions...
and later by John Jay College of Criminal Justice
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice is a senior college of the City University of New York in Midtown Manhattan, New York City and is the only liberal arts college with a criminal justice and forensic focus in the United States. The college offers programs in Forensic Science and Forensic...
academic Robert W. Rieber. Both these professionals concluded that Dr. Wilbur suggested multiple personalities to her client, whom they saw as a simple "hysteric". They also claimed that Wilbur and Schreiber fabricated most of the book, which is not a psychiatric case history but a novel with many details of the real case changed or removed. The American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
recommends that Shirley Mason's case should no longer be cited as a 'classic example' of multiple personality disorder.
A review of Rieber's book Bifurcation of the Self by Mark Lawrence states that Rieber repeatedly distorted the evidence and left out a number of important facts about Mason's case, in order to advance his case against the validity of the diagnosis.
The case remains controversial, as Wilbur's psychiatric files are sealed, and both she and Mason are deceased.
The book Sybil Exposed by Debbie Nathan
Debbie Nathan
Debbie Nathan is an American feminist journalist and writer, known for critiquing cultural and criminal justice panics about abuse of children, particularly accusations of chimeric "satanic" abuse in schools and public childcare institutions. She also writes about immigration, focusing on women and...
published in 2011 claims that Wilbur, Mason and Schreiber perpetuated a fraud, documenting a 1958 letter by Mason confessing to making up the multiples for attention and excitement. Nathan claims Schreiber became aware of Mason and her alleged past, writing Sybil based on stories coaxed from her during therapy, and that this case created an "industry" of repressed memory
Repressed memory
Repressed memory is a hypothetical concept used to describe a significant memory, usually of a traumatic nature, that has become unavailable for recall; also called motivated forgetting in which a subject blocks out painful or traumatic times in one's life...
.
Film adaptations
There have been two film adaptations, both made for television:- Sybil (1976 film), an NBC TV-movie starring Sally FieldSally FieldSally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
. - Sybil (2007 film)Sybil (2007 film)Sybil is a 2007 American docudrama directed by Joseph Sargent. The teleplay by John Pielmeier is based on the 1973 book of the same name by Flora Rheta Schreiber, which fictionalized the story of Shirley Ardell Mason, who was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder...
, a CBS TV-movie starring Tammy BlanchardTammy BlanchardTammy Blanchard is an American actress. She has worked primarily in films and television, making her professional start in the soap opera Guiding Light...
.