Download Running Head: Sybil Sybil Kayla DeMeo The College of New Jersey

Running Head: Sybil
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Sybil
Kayla DeMeo
The College of New Jersey
April 2015
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Sybil is a movie portrayal of a real life woman named, Shirley Ardell Mason. In the
book, her name is Sybil Isabel Dorset. Sybil Dorset is one of the first known cases of
Dissociative Identity or Multiple Personality Disorder. “Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a
severe condition in which two or more distinct identities, or personality states, are present in—
and alternately take control of—an individual”, as stated by Psychology Today (2014). Multiple
Personality Disorder results from a break in the host personality, rather than the actual creation
of new personalities. There has been a great deal of research and debate on this disorder that still
continues even today.
The movie “Sybil” describes Sybil’s life and the sixteen different personalities inside of
her. The movie begins with Sybil, who is an elementary school teacher. After suffering from a
breakdown in front of her class, she is given an examination of her brain by Doctor Cornelia
Wilbur, who becomes her psychologist for the duration of the therapy.
Doctor Wilbur becomes invested in Sybil’s extremely rare case of Dissociative Identity
Disorder. This disorder is the condition in which the sufferer has endured severe physical and/or
sexual abuse in his or her childhood. The abuse must be so severe that the victim subconsciously
creates “alters” as a coping mechanism in order to escape because they cannot deal with the
trauma they are experiencing. Typically, the host, the main personality, is unaware of the
existence of the “alters”. These other personalities are all repressed parts of the host’s
personality. The only way to cure this condition is to make the host personality aware of the
existence of the other personalities.
The patient diagnosed with this disorder will experience blackouts during the time that
the other personalities are taking control. Usually, there is some indicator that the personality is
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about to switch, like a head nod or change of expression. Depending on the situation, the
personality best suited to deal with the presenting issue is the one that will take control.
Sybil had endured a long childhood of sexual and physical abuse afflicted upon by her
schizophrenic mother, Hattie Dorsett. This abuse happened when Sibyl was young and her father
did nothing to even acknowledge the child abuse of his wife. When confronted about it, he
simply dismissed the accusation by saying that child raising is a women’s job.
Sybil’s mother degraded and physically abused her. She broke many of Sybil’s bones.
She would give Sybil enemas and tie her to the piano while she played. If Sybil did not hold the
water in, her mother would punish her more. The movie depicts the realities of the trauma Sybil
had been emotionally and physically scarred by. When Sybil was young, her grandmother lived
with them and protected her against the cruelties of her mother. Once she passed away, Sybil was
left alone and exposed to her mother’s abuse, which was so harsh that it would eventually
destroy her life and sanity.
Sybil was very alone in her world and eventually fell in love with a boy named Tommy.
Tommy was Sybil’s first boyfriend. Tommy was everything to Sybil. One day, they were playing
in the barn. They were sitting on a ledge high up and Tommy jumped from it and tragically
landed on a pitch fork. Tommy died and Sybil was left, heartbroken and emotionally scarred.
Watching the one she loved die in front of her very eyes so unexpectedly was unimaginably
painful. From the deaths of her grandmother and boyfriend, her only support system, to her
mother’s abuse, everything became too much for Sybil to handle. Eventually, the creation of her
sixteen other personalities resulted as a coping mechanism.
Sybil possesses sixteen interesting personalities that she is unaware of until the end of the
movie. A few of these personalities are portrayed at length throughout the course of Sybil’s
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psychiatric sessions. First off, is the controller of Sybil’s personalities, Vanessa. Vanessa is
sophisticated and French. Vanessa is close with Marcia, another of Sybil’s personalities. Marcia
has a strong New York accent. Both Vanessa and Marcia come out simultaneously and converse
with each other through Sybil. Ruthie, another personality, is a younger child that does not age.
Sybil even possesses personalities that are of male genders. Mike and Sid are two of these.
The movie Sybil, displays how dealing with Dissociative Identity Disorder completely
consumed the life of Sybil Isabel Dorset. Sybil is not functional and suffers from outbursts in her
everyday life, triggered by anything that reminds her of the trauma she repressed. Sybil had a lot
of trust issues and this made it hard for her to establish any form of a friendship. She also could
not establish any romantic relationships. Any men who showed interest in her were quickly
scared off when she slipped up and showed them her “other sides”.
Sybil describes her mother as a very good women to others because the knowledge of the
abuse was not in her conscious awareness but in the memory of only her alters. Sybil blacks out
during the time that her “alters” take over—in fact, she blacked out for two entire years of her
life! Once Sybil meets Doctor Cornelia Wilbur, her journey to confronting the abuse she
repressed and becoming one person again begins.
Doctor Wilbur is the only female psychologist at her practice. She is initially instructed to
take on Sybil’s case when her previous doctor decides her condition is something only a female
could assist with. Wilbur is calm and understanding with Sybil. She is fascinated because Sybil’s
condition is so rare and feels she will make psychological history with this case. Doctor Wilbur
engages in long and frequent sessions with Sybil and they become very close. Sybil begins to
completely trust Doctor Wilbur which helps increase the progress she makes during the therapy
sessions. Normally, she hid her other personalities but she let Doctor Wilbur see every side of
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her. Doctor Wilbur’s colleagues completely reject the validity of Dissociative Identity Disorder.
They show much amusement and credit Doctor Wilbur’s “insane” diagnosis as being the result
of her being a woman.
Just as displayed in the movie, the credibility of this disorder has been highly debated.
This is already a seemingly unbelievable disorder, and this debate persists even today."Is DID a
disorder with a unique and subtle set of core symptoms and behaviors that some clinicians do not
see when it is before their eyes? Or is it willful malingering and/or iatrogenically caused
symptoms created by the other clinicians who think something is here that is not (Gillig, 2009)?”
Many skeptics of this disorder still exist for various reasons. Even medical doctors do not
fully buy into the seemingly large array of personalities, taken on by the “DID” sufferer. Doctor
Allen J. Frances states that, “The trigger is usually either the widespread copy-catting of a
popular movie or book, or the fevered preachings of a charismatic MPD guru, or both (2014).”
The belief that the patient is overdramatizing the personalities and acting is understandable.
“A third and very important reason for the controversy is the fear that criminals will “get
off” without being punished by a gullible justice system, which attributes behavior to another
personality and does not hold the perpetrator responsible (Gillig, 2009).” Many people have
attempted faking this disorder as a plea of insanity to free themselves from criminal charges.
This has led to an even greater rejection by the public of considering this an actual disorder.
Just recently, neurological studies have attained actual proof of Dissociative Identity
Disorder. “The advent of functional brain imaging techniques and newer sophisticated structural
brain imaging methods has considerably improved and will continue to further our understanding
of the neurobiological underpinnings of these conditions. The use of these techniques has shown
that environmentally-driven alterations of cognition, perception, behavior and self-related
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processing are accompanied by metabolic and probably even structural brain changes (Staniloiu,
Vitcu, Markowitsch, 2012)”. This discovery is beneficial to society because physical evidence
will help this diagnosis gain merit so that patients struggling can get the help they need.
I really enjoyed the movie, Sybil. It is hard to even fathom that this is an actual disorder
and these events were based off of a real person. As dramatic as this disorder appears, it makes
sense that someone that has experienced this level of trauma would need to escape in order to
cope. Sybil is very unfortunate and her mother’s abuse was unimaginable and cruel. Sybil’s
father was despicable as well. Sybil’s mother had schizophrenia but her father had absolutely no
disorder and did nothing to save his own daughter, who was very young and defenseless against
the manic episodes of her mentally disturbed mother.
The movie “Sybil” was very well made. It offers an in-depth portrayal of the mental
illness of Dissociative Identity Disorder. I believe that this movie has helped open up the eyes of
the public. The story of Sybil was intriguing to many and the fact that it was actually based on
true events in the life of Shirley Ardell Mason made it even more compelling. It is upsetting to
see the degree of abuse that some people actual inflict on others—even their own children! Sybil
is an excellent movie and it is interesting the lengths that the human mind will go to in order to
cope with traumatic experiences.
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References
(2014) Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder). PsychologyToday.
Retrieved from: http://www.psychologytoday.com
Frances, Allen J. (2014) Multiple Personality—Mental Disorder, Myth, or Metaphor?
PsychologyToday. Retrieved from: https://www.psychologytoday.com
Gillig, Paulette. (2009) Dissociative Identity Disorder. National Center for Biotechnology
Information. Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Muller, Rene J. "A Patient with Dissociative Identity Disorder 'Switches' in the Emergency
Room." A Patient with Dissociative Identity Disorder 'Switches' in the Emergency Room.
Psychiatrictimes, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. Retrieved from:
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/
Nanton, Andrew. "Sybil Exposed: A Look at Dissociative Identity Disorder." Sybil Exposed: A
Look at Dissociative Identity Disorder. Psychiatrictimes, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
Retrieved from: http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/
Staniloiu, Vitcu, Markowitsch. (2012). “Neuroimaging and Dissociative Disorders.” Intech.
Retrieved from: http://www.intechopen.com/
Stern, Robert, McDonald. (2013) "Diagnosing Dissociation." EbscoHost. N.p., n.d. Web.
Retrieved from: https://www.ebscohost.com/