Sybil (book)

From Wikipedia, the free 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.

[edit] Overview

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.

[edit] 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.

• Sybil Isabel Dorsett (1923), the main personality
• Victoria Antoinette Scharleau (1926), nicknamed Vicky, self-assured and sophisticated
• 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, maternal, homeloving person
• 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 fulfilment of biblical prophecy and intensely afraid of Roman Catholics
• Sybil Ann Dorsett (1928), listless to the point of neurasthenia
• 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 fulfilment
• Marjorie Dorsett (1928), serene, vivacious, and quick to laugh
• The Blonde (1946), a nameless perpetual teenager

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.

[edit] Publication history

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

[edit] Film adaptations

There have been two film adaptations:

• A 1976 film Sybil starring Sally Field as Sybil - a much-praised performance.
• A 2007 film Sybil.

[edit] References