Multiple Personalities in Sybil
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 Rheta Schreiber's novel, Sybil. The novel, Sybil, takes a look at multiple personalities within a person. It is based on the research of Dr. Cornelia Wilbur. Dr. Wilbur was a psychoanalyst who had been treating Sybil for about three months. One day, Sybil, who was a schoolteacher, burst into the room in a hysterical speech. Her fists were clinched with rage as she shouted loudly, "Men are all alike. You just can't trust 'em. You can't." At this point, Dr. Wilbur realized that there was definitely something wrong with this picture, for she had never seen Sybil in this sort of state. At this, Dr. Wilbur turned to Sybil and simply asked, "Who are you?" She was quite surprised at the answer that she received. Sybil said "Can't you tell the difference? I'm Peggy." It was during this first encounter with "Peggy" that Dr. Wilbur realized that she was dealing with a case of multiple personality. Multiple personality was not unheard of though. The three personalities of Chris Seizmore had already been well documented at that time and used for the subject of a movie, The Three Faces of Eve. However, nothing that had ever been documented or witnessed in the history of medicine was going to prepare Dr. Wilbur for what she was about to discover. She learned through therapy and many patient months that she was not dealing with just two personalities, Peggy ...
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...ent personalities that can think for them and are aware of the others. What's to say that they would not just "toy" with Dr. Wilbur's mind and make up new personalities as the sessions went on? What's to say that when Dr. Wilbur asked specific questions that she was not setting herself up for a lie, a fabrication, only to be thought up on a moments notice by a woman who, with so many different personalities could be legally considered insane? The truth is that no one really knows the answer to these questions. However, we do still have the evidence that is present within the studies performed by Dr. Wilbur and some studies done by other scholars and psychologists that are quite in depth that suggest Dr. Wilbur may have had a hand in the fabrication of personalities that did not exist within Sybil Dorsett until a suggestion was made by Dr. Wilbur, herself.
The human psyche is a very complex, intricate thing. Why does one person act one way, while another acts completely differently? I have read three stories that have given me insight on this subject. They are "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty, and Mulatto by Langston Hughes. In each of these stories, the main character exhibits a peculiar personality trait, but each stems from a different experience.
David Rosenhans experiment contained two parts; the first was admitting pseudo-patients into psychiatric hospitals without the doctors or nurses knowledge. David Rosenhan and his participants all willingly committed themselves to the psychiatric hospital. “8 people without any history of psychiatric illness presented themselves at various mental hospitals. Each of these pseudo-patients arrived at the admissions office complaining of a single (feigned) symptom: vague auditory hallucinations” (Scribner). All of the participants came from a different background and were admitted into several different hospitals.
As the reader is introduced to the woman we find her talking about very strange and unusual happenings occurring around her. She evens states that she has a condition that signifies insanity, but the doctor would never tell her straight to her face that she was insane. She says, “I think it is due to this nervous condition”(453). This shows that she knows there is something wrong with her. This nervous condition she refers to can only mean that she is having mental problems and is possibly going insane. We can infer this because during this time period, the doctors did not state that someone was insane because they had no medical proof. Instead they would just tell the patients that they have a nervous condition, and send them away. She says, “I always fancy I see people walking in the numerous paths and arbors, but...
For my research paper, I chose to utilize a disorder known as “Dissociative Identity Disorder” (DID). This disorder is also coined as Multiple Personality Disorder. When defining the actual meaning of this disorder, it is defined as “a severe condition in which two or more distinct identities, or personality states, are present in—and alternately take control of—an individual” (1). Specifically, “DID is a disorder characterized by identity fragmentation rather than a proliferation of separate personalities. In addition, the disturbance is not due to the direct psychological effects of a substance or of a general medical condition” (1). Based off of this knowledge, I chose to look at two individuals who have obtained this disorder
... several various types of personality disorder, every aspect is complex and widely misunderstood by the general populous.
...t she herself had never suffered from hallucinations, but that she was depressed and mentally unwell for years. She wrote this in hopes that it will help at least one woman in the same position.
When you hear “Multiple Personality” you often think of a crime show and this disorder is what the serial killer has, but its much more than that. It starts as a series of stress full and painful episodes that happen in that individual’s childhood. It then slowly grows in to something close to a while different person inside of you. People with this disorder are not sociable. Yet there is help for this disorder: Hypnosis is one of the treatments that are used for this disease. (3: SV: SV)
More than two million cases can be found in psychological and psychiatric records of multiple personality disorders also called dissociative identity disorders. Dissociative Identity, formerly known as multiple personality disorder, is a condition in which, an individual has a host personality along with at least two or more personalities with each identity having his or her own ideas, memories, thoughts and way of doing things (Bennick). Personality disorders are a group of mental illnesses. They involve thoughts and behaviors that are unhealthy and inflexible. A person with a personality disorder has trouble perceiving and relating to situations and people. This causes significant problems and limitations in relationships, social activities,
... personalities. Whilst no causes are confirmed, it is believed that a traumatic event of some description can lead to DID in adulthood. Using the mental status exam, psychologists can begin to treat a patient using either psychotherapy or hypnosis methods or even both, whilst other alternative methods can also be used if need be. The symptoms of DID can be severe but the eventual outcomes can even more so be life threatening. Today, DID is recognised as a mental illness and it is easier now to receive help than it was in the 19th century. The movie Sybil shows how the illness can be treated in a modern day context and gives viewers a valuable insight to the disorder in full. Whilst the illness can be debilitating and devastating in life for some people, it is comforting to know that some psychologists’ think that DID is on the decline[1].
...inations or delusions, not multiple personalities (7). Without proper diagnosis the individual could experience additional problems.
Dual-Self Characters in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and A Study in Scarlet and Sign of Four
Myers Frederic W. H., ‘Multiplex Personality’, in Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Norton Critical Edition (New York: Norton press, 2003)
... appearances which is why I think she does what her husband and brother prescribe. She even says, “If a physicican of high-standing, and one’s own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression – a slight hysterical tendency—what is one to do?” This brings me to the point that women in those times had to follow their husbands orders. Anything else was unheard of!
... middle of paper ... ... Can we actually trust all that the narrator says, considering she is insane? There are many questions left unanswered throughout the story, and that keeps the narrator from ever becoming a personable character.
Conchita, Charly Carlyle Ph.D. “Alice’s (& Lady Gaga’s) Sense of Self in Wonderland: A Psychoanalytic Formulation.” nymphobrainiac.wordpress. 5 March 2010. Web. May 2015.