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.
Mason is given the pseudonym "Sybil" by her therapist to protect her privacy. Originally in t...
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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.
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.
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...
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