The case of Sybil is the first account of a Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) in which 16 total personalities inhabited a person. The book emphasizes the importance of childhood in which Sybil had been abused by her mother and “ignored” by her father. In order to keep her sanity, Sybil dissociates herself into someone else and fails to recall any memory of the events after she had dissociated. Sybil is eventually advised to see Dr. Cornelia Wilbur. Sybil was reluctant to tell the psychoanalyst the problem. In one visit with the Dr, Sybil dissociated to Peggy Lou. Astonished at the sudden change in personality, Wilbur first assumed that Sybil might be a “duo-personality”. Later, Vicky was introduced and told the doctor that there were many more. Through the other selves, the Dr. was able to get to the root of the original dramas that created the alter personalities. Dr. soon realized that the personalities were originally Sybil’s but at some point Sybil had lost due to a trauma. With the use of hypnosis, Dr. Wilbur was able to aid Sybil by allowing Sybil to meet the alter personalities and have them fuse into Sybil’s own, allowing for different feelings and memories that that each personality had lived through while Sybil had “blacked out”. At the end, Sybil became a whole person with one self.
The first important fact about Dissociative Identity Disorder is that it is characterized with amnesia. (1 A very common complaint in people with DID is episodes of amnesia, or time loss. These individuals may be unable to remember events in all or part of a proceeding time period. They may repeatedly encounter unfamiliar people who claim to know them, find themselves somewhere without knowing how they got there, or find items that they don’t remember purchasing among their possessions.” Sybil constantly has black outs in which she cannot recollect what happens but is told that she acted a certain way or did something. In (Schreiber, Flora R. “Sybil” Ch 9) Sybil’s grandmother had died from cancer and Sybil was devastated. Sybil attempted to jump on top of the casket in which her grandmother laid but was stopped by a hand. She then dissociates into Peggy Lou for 2 years and then is returned to her former self. She was baffled because the last thing she remembered was the cemetery but all of a sudden she was in a 5th grade class room even though she recalled only being in 3rd grade.
The Essay on Sybil Reaction Paper
The story of Sybil transcends the imaginable possibilities of reality and tragedy that may befall to any existent human being. Sybil was a pseudonym used to cover the identity of Shirley Mason, a bright commercial artist who sought professional help from Dr. Cornelia Wilbur after having occasional blackouts and distorted time lapses. Nearly half of her life was spent in psychotherapy with Dr. ...
The second important fact about DID is that the patient may become suicidal. (Schreiber, Flora R. “Sybil” Ch 24) Sybil rejects a classmate, Henry, because she feels that if she gets too close to him, he might find out the she has multiple personalities. Depressed over her situation, she tries to jump into the Hudson River but is stopped by Vicky. Approximately one-third of patients complain of auditory or visual hallucinations. It is common for these patients to complain that they hear voices within their head. (1. Often people with DID are depressed or even suicidal, and self-mutilation is common in this group.)
The third important fact about DID is that the person may have begun to dissociate due to sexual abuse or a trauma during childhood. (1. Retrieving and dealing with memories of trauma is important for the person with DID, because this disorder is believed to be caused by physical or sexual abuse in childhood. Young children have a pronounced ability to dissociate, and it is believed that those who are abused may learn to use dissociation as a defense.” Each of Sybil’s personalities has their own behavior, style, and genetics (when they looked in a mirror they didn’t see Sybil but saw themselves as different entities).
Peggy Lou, the first personality that Dr. Wilbur meets is a young girl that loves to break glass. The trauma that caused her to be was due Sybil’s grandmother death. Peggy Lou represented the anger that Sybil never expressed. She loves to break glass because one day while Sybil cleaning dishes, one of her cousins dropped a plate on the ground. Sybil was automatically accused for breaking the glass by her mother. Sybil then dissociated to Peggy Lou who told everyone that she was innocent but no one cared. Sybil (Peggy Lou) was punished and deemed “bad” by her mother. All of that anger, Peggy absorbed.
The Essay on Somatoform Disorder Patient Disorders Pain
Somatoform disorder is someone who appears to have a physical medical ailment but doctors cannot find the origin of the illness. For something to categorize as a Somatoform Disorder, the physical symptoms must be serious enough to interfere with the patient's employment or relationships, and must be symptoms that are not under the patient's voluntary control. In general, somatoform disorder deals ...
The book is quite compelling. Dr. Wilbur’s not only displayed enthusiasm for the case but also sympathy for Sybil. A great example, of the doctor’s sympathy for her patient is when the doctor asks Sybil’s father to meet her in her office who was oblivious to the abuse that Sybil mother had done. Wilbur confronted him and told him what Sybil’s mother did to her as a child. Through this, Sybil finally gained her father’s full support for the treatment. (Schreiber, Flora R. “Sybil” p.274) The doctor and patient become friends which not only boosted Sybil’s lackluster self esteem but also allowed the doctor to become close to the other selves of Sybil. In time, Wilbur was able to distinguish one personality from the other.
The book goes through two treatments for Sybil. After Sybil’s suicidal episode, the Doctor decided to inject Sybil with Pentothal. The function of it was to calm Sybil’s anxiety and depression. Sybil showed major improvements in her mood and behavior. Sybil was now able to communicate with her alter personalities in her mind something that she wasn’t able to do without the Pentothal. All signs led to a full recovery but Wilbur felt that Sybil might become dependent on the drug so she refused to give her anymore. People suffering from any dissociative disorder generally take drugs in order to control their depression or anxiety. (2. “Many of the symptoms of dissociative disorders occur with other disorders, such as anxiety and depression, and can be controlled by the same drugs used to treat those disorders. A person in treatment for a dissociative disorder might benefit from antidepressants or antianxiety medication.” So yes, even though Dr. Wilbur took Sybil off the drug, the drug did aid her DID.
The second treatment was hypnosis. Dr. Wilbur built a relationship or at least communicated with all 16 of the personalities, all of whom were younger than Sybil. (Schreiber, Flora R. “Sybil” p.410)Through “age progression”, Dr. Wilbur was able to make all the alter personalities the same age as Sybil. Eventually, Dr. Wilbur was able to fuse together all of the other selves to Sybil, through hypnosis, allowing Sybil to retrieve the emotions, behaviors, and memories that the other selves had. It is known that through hypnosis, the psychoanalyst tries to communicate with alters to rectify them and fuse them with the original personality. (1. “The therapist seeks to make contact with as many alters as possible and to understand their roles and functions in the patient’s life. In particular, the therapist seeks to form an effective relationship with any personalities that are responsible for violent or self-destructive behavior, and to curb this behavior…..The goal of the therapist is to enable the patient to achieve breakdown of the patient’s separate identities and their unification into a single identity.” Hypnosis did aid Sybil immensely and allowed her to live a normal life. The book defiantly nailed this one.
The Essay on Multiple Person Sybil Wilbur Personalities
Do you ever feel as though you are acting as a different person in different situations Do you ever feel as though acting "fake" You are definitely not alone in your thoughts and feelings, but do note that there is always something or someone more extreme than you are. One such person is the character of Sybil Dorsett, in Flora Rhet a Schreiber's novel, Sybil. The novel, Sybil, takes a look at ...
I believe that Sybil’s case accurately portrays DID through the symptoms and treatments used found in “Sybil”. Frankly, I’m not surprised that it did. This book made DID immensely more popular and known then it was before this book was ever fabricated. The “warrior” known as Sybil suffered from blackouts and a sadistic mother but preserved ultimately with the help of Dr. Wilbur.
Bibliography
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2. http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=Helpline&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=20562
3. Schreiber, Flora R. “Sybil”
