This incredible psychological true-story regarding multiple

personalities is disturbing to read but highly recommended.

Sybil Isabel Dorsett (not her real name) has sixteen
separate personalities, two of which are male, and struggles
throughout her life to try and live with the frightening ‘dark
thing’ which threatens to overcome her. Sybil’s first
dissociation happens when she is but a baby and the major
cause of her multiple personalities is rooted in her mother,
who was likely, a paranoid schizophrenic. Sybil fights an
increasing ‘loss of time’ where she cannot remember why
she has ended up in a certain place or why ‘that dress’
hangs in her closet. Knowing she is mentally ill, she begs
her father, Willard Dorsett, to allow her to visit a
psychiatrist. Her local physician suggests a Dr. Wilbur, a
female psychologist, but her parents are skeptical. Highly
religious, they believe that such intervention is sinful. Yet,
Mr. Dorsett knows there is something drastically wrong
and reluctantly allows Sybil to visit the doctor in August,
1958. Sybil, though desperately needing help, tries to
disguise her problem and before she can receive any real
help, comes down with a fever and unbeknownst to her, her
mother Hattie cancels her appointment. In 1948 Hattie dies
and Sybil tries to work but her bouts with ‘lost time’
continue until finally, in 1954, she locates Dr. Wilbur in
New York and moves there for therapy. It is months after
her first session that Dr. Wilbur meets the first of the many
other personalities in Sybil. Her name is Vicky, and she
knows what all the ‘others’ do and think, but keeps all
knowledge of her other selves from Sybil. Dr. Wilbur is
excited. This is a major breakthrough and she reads all she
can on dual personalities. Nothing much has been noted
except for the highly publicized story of Eve who had three
distinctive personalities. Before long, Dr. Wilbur discovers
that Sybil has many more than three personalities. All
multiple personalities have one which knows everything
and Dr. Wilbur becomes very dependent on Vicky to keep
her updated on the actions of the ‘others’. The most notable
after Vicky are Peggy Lou and Peggy Ann who reflect
Sybil’s unrealized anger and fear against her abusive
mother. Dr. Wilbur is gradually introduced to the dramatic
Vanessa, the artistic Marcia, and the suicidal Sybil Ann.
Lurking inside are also two male personalities, the
carpenters, Mike and Sid, who have taken on the traits of
Sybil’s father Willard, and her tyrannical Grandfather.
Willard Dorsett’s chief sin is that he ignored his daughter’s
growing emotional instability and allowed his mentally ill
wife to continue raising the child even though he knew
Hattie was deeply ill. For two years, Hattie was catatonic,
and still Willard did nothing about her condition. Hattie
Dorsett, when alert, was a monster. Sexually and physically
abusive, Sybil suffered a broken larynx, dislocated
shoulder, a bead up her nose, black eyes and constant
bruises, as well as intense sexual abuse involving a shoe
hook which resulted in Sybil’s incapability to have
children. Why, asked the doctor, when Willard finally
agreed to come in for a ‘chat’ did he allow this to go on?
Passive and indifferent, Willard answered he simply felt
that a mother should raise her child and that their belief in
God was enough. It was not and a shaken Willard agrees
that Sybil needs much more therapy and agrees to send his
daughter a check each month to make sure she is treated.
Sybil, after three years of intense sessions with Dr. Willard
is still reluctant to ‘meet’ her other personalities. She
believes that her other selves may have committed ‘sins’
and deeply religious, Sybil is terrified to learn what they
might have really done. After the ‘Peggy’s’ flee to the
countryside for a holiday, Dr. Wilbur finally convinces
Sybil to hear the tapes she’s made about what they did
while vacationing. There pastimes were pleasant, even
fulfilling and Sybil finally acknowledges their existence
and their right to be there. The sixteen personalities were
her protectors against the cruel Hattie and the voices that
fought back against constant neglect, abuse, and
indifference. It is Dr. Wilbur’s duty to try and merge these
separate personalities into one new Sybil. It takes eleven
years, but finally, after three sessions a week and a
financially supportive father, a new Sybil emerges. Sybil
realizes her dream to become a college professor and an
artist and writes Dr. Wilbur in 1969, after a year of no ‘lost
time’ that she is finally not afraid and able to live a full life.
Dr. Wilbur goes on to diagnose and treat seven other cases
of multiple personalities, though none are as complex and
compelling as Sybil’s. The author, Flora Rheta Schreiber,
becomes a personal friend of Sybil’s and with her
permission, writes a book about her traumatic childhood
and dissociations.
 Keep in mind that the movie is not accepted as an accurate
depiction of her life and illness.
Sybil, a substitute teacher in NYC, is confused and easily
upset. She breaks a window with her hand (I believe Peggy
is the personality at the time - a very angry little girl),
resulting in the appearance of Dr.Wilbur (real doctor),
called when she is obviously confused while in the hospital
to get care for the wound.

As Wilbur explores her life, she finds she was raised by a

very strict fundamentalist Christian minister and his
paranoid schizophrenic wife in a small town. Her father
attempted to ignore it, as did the local pediatrician. Her
father did not believe either Sybil or her mother was ill.

She was emotionally, sexually and physically abused by a

mother who was convinced in her paranoia that she was
sending her to heaven. She used an enema to force water
into her and then forced her to "hold" it. She inserted
knives, button hooks, etc., into her vagina. She called to her
to come for affection, then kicked her down the stairs. She
locked her in a wheat bin in the barn and left her for dead.

Sybil ends up spending years in therapy with Dr. Wilbur, a

psychoanalytic psychotherapist, who uses mind-altering
drugs, hypnosis and dream analysis to uncover her Multiple
Personality Disorder (now known in the DSM-IV-TR as
Dissociative Identity Disorder). She has tens of
personalities, from little boys to adult women of greater and
lesser ability to function. Various personalities come and
go, each with his/her own talents and abilities, to get her
through difficult situations (in her case, a simple date or
caring for children in her work as a substitute). The most
competent is Vicky, who speaks with a French accent.
Sybil, the executive personality, is not fully aware of the
"others" (the alter egos), so she is often confused and loses
blocks of unaccounted-for time.

Wilbur regresses her through hypnosis to get her to

remember and confront the abuse. She traveled to Sybil's
home town to find the purple crayon scratches made when
Sybil was left for dead. (In reality, this corroboration never
happened. Also, her original stories of her past came while
under the influence of mind-altering "memory" drugs and
later hypnosis- neither well known for accuracy of
memory.)

Through Wilbur's psychotherapy she is able to "integrate"

and eventually become a college professor of art (I'm not
sure her exact academic title ...). She and Wilbur remained
friends.

Dissociative identity disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis

that describes a condition in which a person displays
multiple distinct identities or personalities (known as alter
egos or alters), each with its own pattern of perceiving and
interacting with the environment.
In the International Statistical Classification of Diseases
and Related Health Problems the name for this diagnosis is
multiple personality disorder. In both systems of
terminology, the diagnosis requires that at least two
personalities routinely take control of the individual's
behavior with an associated memory loss that goes beyond
normal forgetfulness; in addition, symptoms cannot be the
temporary effects of drug use or a general medical
condition.[1] DID is less common than other dissociative
disorders, occurring in approximately 1% of dissociative
cases,[2] and is often comorbid with other disorders.[3]
There is a great deal of controversy surrounding the topic
of DID. The validity of DID as a medical diagnosis has
been questioned, and some researchers have suggested that
DID may exist primarily as an iatrogenic adverse effect of
therapy.[4][5][6][7][8] DID is diagnosed significantly more
frequently in North America compared to other areas of the
world.
Signs and symptoms
Individuals diagnosed with DID demonstrate a variety of
symptoms with wide fluctuations across time; functioning
can vary from severe impairment in daily functioning to
normal or high abilities. Symptoms can include:[11]
• Multiple mannerisms, attitudes and beliefs which are
not similar to each other
 • Unexplainable headaches and other body pains
• Distortion or loss of subjective time
• Comorbidity
• Depersonalization
• Derealization
• Severe memory loss
• Depression
• Flashbacks of abuse/trauma
• Sudden anger without a justified cause
• Frequent panic/anxiety attacks
• Unexplainable phobias
• Auditory of the personalities inside their mind
• Paranoia
Patients may experience an extremely broad array of other
symptoms that may appear to resemble epilepsy,
schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, post
traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, and eating
disorders.[11]
[edit] Physiological findings
Reviews of the literature have discussed the findings of
various psychophysiologic investigations of DID.[12][13]
Many of the investigations include testing and observation
in the one person but with different alters. Different alter
states have shown distinct physiological markers[14] and
some EEG studies have shown distinct differences between
alters in some subjects,[15][16] while other subjects' patterns
were consistent across alters.[17]
Neuroimaging studies of individuals with dissociative
disorders have found higher than normal levels of memory
encoding and a smaller than normal parietal lobe.[18]
Another study concluded that the differences involved
intensity of concentration, mood changes, degree of muscle
tension, and duration of recording, rather than some
inherent difference between the brains of people diagnosed
with DID.[19] Brain imaging studies have corroborated the
transitions of identity in some DID sufferers.[20] A link
between epilepsy and DID has been postulated but this is
disputed.[21][22] Some brain imaging studies have shown
differing cerebral blood flow with different alters,[23][24][25]
and distinct differences overall between subjects with DID
and a healthy control group.[26]
A different imaging study showed that findings of smaller
hippocampal volumes in patients with a history of exposure
to traumatic stress and an accompanying stress-related
psychiatric disorder were also demonstrated in DID.[27] This
study also found smaller amygdala volumes. Studies have
demonstrated various changes in visual parameters between
alters.[28][29][30] One twin study showed hereditable factors
were present in DID.[31]
[edit] Causes
This disorder is theoretically linked with the interaction of
overwhelming stress, traumatic antecedents,[32] insufficient
childhood nurturing, and an innate ability to dissociate
memories or experiences from consciousness.[11] A high
percentage of patients report child abuse.[7][33] People
diagnosed with DID often report that they have experienced
severe physical and sexual abuse, especially during early to
mid childhood.[34] Several psychiatric rating scales of DID
sufferers suggested that DID is strongly related to
childhood trauma rather than to an underlying
electrophysiological dysfunction.[35]
Others believe that the symptoms of DID are created
iatrogenically by therapists using certain treatment
techniques with suggestible patients,[4][6][7][8] but this idea is
not universally accepted.[33][36][37][38][39][40] Skeptics have
observed that a small number of US therapists were
responsible for diagnosing the majority of individuals with
DID there, that patients did not report sexual abuse or
manifest alters until after treatment had begun, and that the
"alters" tended to be rule-governed social roles rather than
separate personalities.[8]

[edit] Development theory

It has been theorized that severe sexual, physical, or
psychological trauma in childhood predisposes an
individual to the development of DID. The steps in the
development of a dissociative identity are theorized to be as
follows:
1. The child is harmed by a trusted caregiver (often a
parent or guardian) and splits off the awareness and
memory of the traumatic event to survive in the
relationship.
 2. The memories and feelings go into the subconscious
and are experienced later in the form of a separate
personality.
3. The process happens repeatedly at different times so
that different personalities develop, containing
different memories and performing different functions
that are helpful or destructive.
4. Dissociation becomes a coping mechanism for the
individual when faced with further stressful situations.
Comorbidity
Dissociative identity disorder frequently co-occurs with
other psychiatric diagnoses, such as anxiety disorders
(especially post-traumatic stress disorder-PTSD), mood
disorders, somatoform disorders, eating disorders, as well
as sleep problems and sexual dysfunction.[3]

Reactions to Sybil (2008)

I watched the 2008 remake of Sybil last night (for
background, see here). Here are some reactions:

1. At the beginning of the movie, we are told that a

discovery was made in 1998 at the home of Shirley Ardell
Mason. "1998?," I thought. "The movie Sybil was made in
1976!" The discovery turned out to be two things: that
Shirley Ardell Mason was Sybil, and that her house
contained paintings that were painted by the same hand, yet
had different styles. The movie treats the latter as evidence
that Sybil had multiple personalities. Strangely, wikipedia
does not mention the paintings, but it merely states that
Sybil's psychiatric records have been sealed (see here).
That brings me to (2.):

2. As far as I remember, the 1976 movie did not deal with

the controversy over whether or not Sybil had multiple
personalities. It just assumed that she did. But the 2008
remake does address it. Prior to the film's discussion of the
controversy, I could tell that its author had the issue in
mind. Before Sybil introduced her multiple personalities,
she showed erratic behavior, as she abruptly changed the
subject whenever she talked. That prompts Dr. Wilbur to
ask her, "You are not really Sybil, are you?" This scene
reflects why some may have concluded that Sybil was
creating her "multiple personalities" in response to Dr.
Wilbur's suggestion.

3. Sybil developed her multiple personalities earlier in the

2008 version. In the 1976 one, she manifests them years
after her mother's death. In the 2008 one, she has them
while she is still living with her mother.

4. The 2008 movie got some aspects of Seventh-Day

Adventism right, and some clearly wrong. Sybil's parents
were obsessed with the end times, which is a salient feature
of Seventh-Day Adventism. They also appeared to be
perfectionists, for they expected Sybil to feel, think, and
behave perfectly. Not all Adventists are like that, but
 there is a sinless perfectionist movement within the
denomination. Where the movie was wrong was in its
presentation of the Adventist view on hell. Sybil's family
assumed that non-believers or lapsed Christians
experienced conscious torment immediately after their
death, but that is not the Adventist position. Adventists
believe that people are unconscious when they are dead,
and that the ultimate fate of the wicked is annihilation (not
eternal torment) after their resurrection.

5. The movie got me thinking about religion, therapy, and

wholeness. Because of her religion, Sybil did not feel
that she could hate or be angry with her mother, so she
created a multiple personality (Peggy) that vented that
emotion. A key part of Sybil's healing was for her to
express her anger, since, once she did so, Peggy's existence
would be unnecessary.

Does religion aid in healing, or is it an impediment?

Many assume that people would have no inner
problems if they simply accepted Christ as their
personal savior and became religious, but Sybil and her
family were religious, yet they still had clear problems.
There are even wife-beaters who are deacons in their
church! I acknowledge that there are many cases in which
religion makes people better, but there are also cases in
which it does not.

At the same time, I did not appreciate Dr. Wilbur's

smug attitude towards religion in the 2008 movie. She
was open to Sybil going to church after her healing, and she
seemed to believe in God, even though she wasn't too crazy
about organized religion. But she used the term "ignorant"
when discussing religion, and she dismissed the possibility
that schizophrenia could be healed through prayer. I'm not
a Christian scientist, but who is she to set limits on the
great, almighty God?

But I think that Dr. Wilbur and Christianity have the

same goal: for Sybil to become a well-integrated, whole,
and loving person. Dr. Wilbur may not have liked the
"Do not hate" rule in Christianity, but she did not want
Sybil to remain hateful. Rather, her desire was for Sybil
to express her anger and deal with it. Then, Sybil could
hopefully recognize that her mother was a sick woman,
and she would be on the path to forgiveness and inner
peace.

Christianity is mixed on the anger issue. The Sermon on the

Mount says that those who hate or are angry with their
brother will be subject to judgment (Matthew 5:22).
Ephesians 4:26 tells us not to let the sun go down on our
wrath, as if all of us can deal with our anger in one 24-
hour period! At the same time, there are biblical characters
who could be quite open and honest with God about their
anger and hatred: David in the imprecatory Psalms,
Jeremiah, Moses, etc.

I prefer to see forgiveness and inner peace as a journey

with God rather than a commandment from him. If I
see it as the latter, then I may very well develop my own
Peggy! As Dr. Wilbur said in the movie, emotions are like
air: they will eventually come out!

How does one survive, much less overcome, long-standing

child abuse? Newscasts are littered with the more unusual,
horrific stories - children imprisoned in closets or chained
to beds with little more than food or water; tiny children
dying in hot, sweltering autos or stuffed into car trunks
while a parent works. In yesterday's paper alone, an
archbishop of a progressive church was charged with the
strangulation of a 15-year-old girl he sexually assaulted for
years, while on the opposite page a woman and her
boyfriend were charged with beating two of her children
with a metal pipe, their battered bodies bearing the marks
of years of abuse. How does a child get through this
WHILE IT IS HAPPENING? Somehow, some way they
MUST build up some sort of mental toughness or defense
mechanism to combat the agony and fear - either by tuning
out or systematically shutting down -- going into deep
states of denial and emotional withdrawal. And then there
is Sybil Dorsett...

Sally Field is unforgettable as the titular victim of incessant

child abuse, a woman who dissolved into SIXTEEN
separate and distinct personalities in order to cope with a
mother who inflicted indescribable childhood tortures. She
is nothing short of amazing, especially in her "dissociative"
scenes as she morphs with lightning speed into one or more
of her "inner family" -- a combative, self-assertive Peggy
Lou, a mothering but suicidal Mary, a vivacious, ambitious
Vicky, a frightened, thumb-sucking Sybil Ann, or even an
athletically-inclined Mike. All of them personalities created
and programmed unconsciously by Sybil to endure any
situation she herself couldn't handle, and triggered by
almost anything -- a hostile argument, piano music, certain
colors, street sounds, even a word.

What is incredible about Field's performance as Sybil (not

her real name) is the ability to tear down her own barriers
to such an extent that she can revert into a flood of strange
babblings or shockingly infantile behavior at the drop of a
hat. It is such a compelling and all-consuming feat that
these scenes come off almost improvisatory in style. One
particular marvel of a scene has Sybil's psychologist
discovering her patient, an artist by nature, lodged under a
piano taken over by one of her more immature
personalities, tormented by thunderous sounds of Dvorak
and Beethoven, illustrating her torment on paper with
brightly-colored crayons. It is to director Daniel Petrie's
credit that he was able to create such a safe environment for
Field to let herself go like this. With "Sybil," Field, who
won an Emmy, forever dispelled any theories that she was
a one-note actress trapped with a Gidget-like cuteness.

In an ironic bit of casting, Joanne Woodward essays the

role of Sybil's psychologist, Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, who
finally pinpoints Sybil's mental disability and starts her on
the long, arduous journey of putting the "selves" back
together. Woodward won an Academy Award decades
earlier as a similar victim of MPD (multiple personality
disorder) in a curious but ultimately heavy-handed and very
dated film "The Three Faces of Eve." Woodward is superb
here as a professional clearly out of her element but
determined to find a light at the end of the tunnel for this
poor, unfortunate girl.

The late Brad Davis, as an unsuspecting acquaintance who

wants to get to know Sybil better, adds a tender,
sympathetic chapter to Sybil's turbulent life, while William
Prince and Jane Hoffman are compelling as Sybil's
bloodless father and stepmother who offer puzzling,
ignorant explanations to Sybil's "problem." Charles Lane
has a significant scene as Sybil's small-town doctor (as a
child) who failed to report his examination findings, and
little Natasha Ryan, in flashback sequences, must be
commended for reenacting the more harrowing details of
Sybil's childhood torment. Jessamine Milner as Sybil's
grandmother has a few affecting moments as a doting
grandma who offers Sybil brief moments of respite.

However, the most chilling portrait of evil you'll ever

witness on TV goes hands down to stocky, harsh-looking
Martine Bartlett as Sybil's monster of a mother. She lends
horrifying believability to the fragmented, unbalanced
woman who gets sadistic pleasure out of her routine
torturous acts. Bartlett, a respected stage actress little seen
on film, was known for another bizarre but fascinating
screen role as a crazy, self-abusing mental patient in "I
Never Promised You a Rose Garden." As Hattie Dorsett,
she displays subtle, calculating menace, which makes her
even more terrifying, as she devises a number of "games"
to inflict on her only child. Some of these scenes are
extremely repelling and graphic in nature, but it is all
handled as responsibly as possible, considering the actual
incidents DID occur.

Hopefully seeing this dark, disturbing, but ultimately

important TV-movie will inspire you to read Flora Rheta
Schreiber's best selling book, which details Sybil's
childhood, blackout episodes (the real Sybil once woke up
finding out she had missed the entire sixth grade(!), therapy
sessions, the battle of alter-egos for control of Sybil, and
the subsequent unifying process, through the professional
vantage point of Dr. Wilbur and with more depth. Trust me,
you won't be able to put it down and you'll never question
the boundaries and/or consequences of child abuse again.

WARNING - Don't rent the confusing, chopped-up two-

hour version, also available on tape. This was a two-part,
over three-hour long drama when initially shown and THIS
version is what rates a "10."