Sybil (book)

This article is about the non-fiction book about Shirley Ardell Mason's treatment for dissociative identity disorder. For the novel by Benjamin Disraeli, see Sybil (novel).
Sybil

Cover of the first edition
Author Flora Rheta Schreiber
Country United States
Language English
Publisher Henry Regnery Company
Publication date
 1973
Media type Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages 359
ISBN 0-8092-0001-5
OCLC 57119767

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.

Summary

Mason is given the pseudonym "Sybil" by her therapist to protect her privacy. Originally in treatment for social anxiety 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. Wilbur writes that Sybil's multiple personality disorder was a result of the severe physical and sexual abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her mother, Hattie.

Described personalities

The 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.

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. 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.

Reception

The book had an initial print run of 400,000.[1] The book is believed by Mark Pendergrast and Joan Acocella to have established the template for the later upsurge in the diagnoses of dissociative identity disorders.[2][3]

Audiotapes of recorded conversations between Schreiber and Wilbur were examined by Herbert Spiegel and later by John Jay College of Criminal Justice academic Robert W. Rieber. Both professionals concluded that Wilbur suggested multiple personalities to her client, whom they saw as a simple hysteric. Their "smoking gun" proof of this claim is a session tape in which Wilbur is heard describing to Mason the personalities she has already seen Mason exhibit. Spiegel and Rieber also claim that Wilbur and Schreiber fabricated most of the book, which is not a psychiatric case history as would appear in a peer-reviewed journal but a fictionalized narrative. Many details of the real case were changed or removed to protect Mason's privacy.[4]

Critics of Spiegel and Rieber's "revelation" ask why they waited until after Schreiber, Wilbur and Mason were all dead before revealing the tapes, which Spiegel supposedly had in his possession all along.[5] 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.[6]

Patrick Suraci, author of SYBIL in her own words, was personally acquainted with Shirley Mason and is still in touch with members of her family, criticizes Spiegel for what he terms unethical behavior in withholding the tapes. Spiegel also claimed to have made films of himself hypnotizing Mason, supposedly proving that Wilbur had "implanted false memories" in her mind, but when Suraci asked to see the films Spiegel said he had lost them.[7][8]

The case remains controversial, as Wilbur's psychiatric files were apparently destroyed upon her death,[9] and Mason is also deceased.

In 2011, journalist Debbie Nathan published a detailed exposé, Sybil Exposed, in which she claims that Wilbur, Mason and Schreiber knowingly perpetrated a fraud in order to create a "Sybil, Inc." business, selling T-shirts, stickers, board games and other paraphernalia. Much of Nathan's book repeats material already covered in the original Sybil, including a 1958 letter in which Mason spoke about making up the "alters" for attention and excitement. In Sybil, this letter was interpreted as an attempt to put difficult, painful therapy on hold.[10] 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.[11][12] Nathan's writing and her research methods have been publicly criticized by Suraci and by Mason's family.

In 2013, artist-journalist Nancy Preston published After Sybil, a personal memoir which includes facsimile reproductions of Mason's personal letters to her, along with color plates of her paintings. According to Preston, Mason taught art at Ohio's Rio Grande College, where Preston was a student. The two became close friends and corresponded until a few days before Mason's death. In the letters, Mason confirmed that she had had multiple personalities.[9]

Film adaptations

There have been two film adaptations, both made for television:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Schreiber, Flora Rheta (May 1973). "Sybil". Kirkus Reviews. ISBN 978-0-8092-0001-6.
  2. ↑ Pendergrast, M (1996). Victims of memory: sex abuse accusations and shattered lives. Upper Access Books. pp. 153. ISBN 0-942679-18-0.
  3. ↑ Acocella, J (1979). Creating Hysteria: Women and Multiple Personality Disorder. New York: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0-7879-4794-6.
  4. ↑ Rieber, R. W. (1999). "Hypnosis, false memory and multiple personality: A trinity of affinity". History of Psychiatry. 10 (37): 3–11. doi:10.1177/0957154X9901003701. PMID 11623821.
  5. ↑ Paige Allisen, Finding Courage to Speak: Women's Survival of Child Abuse. Northeastern University Press, 2003.
  6. ↑ Lawrence, M (May 2008). "Review of Bifurcation of the Self: The history and theory of dissociation and its disorders". American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. 50 (3): 273–283.
  7. ↑ Patrick Suraci, Sybil In Her Own Words: The Untold Story of Shirley Mason, Her Multiple Personalities and Paintings. Abandoned Ladder, 2011.
  8. ↑ Patrick Suraci, "Sybil In Her Own Words". Review of Sybil Exposed with commentary about Nathan and Spiegel. Huffington Post, December 15, 2011.
  9. 1 2 Nancy Preston, After Sybil: From The Letters of Shirley Mason. Infinity, 2013.
  10. ↑ Schreiber, p. 374.
  11. ↑ Smith, K (2011-10-16). "'Sybil' is one big psych-out". New York Post. XXHERE http://www.nypost.com/f/print/news/local/sybil_is_one_big_psych_out_NaIEczKkVakx8ZLLi7GQPI. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
  12. ↑ Ben Harris (21 October 2011). "Sybil. Inc.". Science. 334: 312. doi:10.1126/science.1212843.
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