Sybil ExposedBY: KAYLA DAY

Story of Sybil (1973)

Multiple personalities case

Patient suffered from extreme abuse by her mom

Over 16 personalities

Sybil (Shirley Mason) – the patient

Cornelia Wilbur – the psychiatrist

Flora Shreiber – the author

The story of a brilliant psychiatrist who cures her patient from

her several personalities and frees her from a dreadful past.

One by one “aged” each personality to Sybil’s age

1940’s and 1950’s

Female psychiatrists were not common and were often not

taken seriously

Neo-Fruedians and psychoanalysis

Talk therapy

Digging into childhood memories

Trauma from childhood = psychosis

Trauma typically brought on by cruel mothers

WWII ending: soldiers returning from war

Several women losing job positions

Women and role confusion = mental illness

Shirley Mason Father

Walter Mason Grew up in Dodge Center, Minnesota

Seventh-Day Adventist

Architect and contractor

Met his wife Mattie at age 26

Became a very active member of the church

Mother

Mattie Atkinson Grew up a Methodist in Emmetsburg, Iowa

Married Walter 1910

Converted to Adventism after giving birth to Shirley

Poor health

Gave birth to Shirley in 1923 after several miscarriages

Shirley’s Childhood

Make-believe and fantasy was sin

Feared Satan

Very creative

Created stories, draw, stitched

2 imaginary friends: Sam and Vicky

Day dreamed and lost in fantasies

Attended public school

Felt isolated from peers

Childhood Continued..

Lost in fantasy Difficult distinguishing fantasy and truth

Often sick Anxiety, obsessive with time, squinting, phobia of prints,

insomnia

Compulsion to look at her hands

Dr. Flores diagnosed her with anemia and extreme loneliness.

Relationship with Mattie

Mattie had 2 sides Active member of community, energetic, and fun

“Blues” Lethargic, called her daughter names

Shirley craved her mom’s attention

Mattie often played with dolls and games

when she was not in the “blues”

Adulthood

College at Mankato State Teachers College

in Minnesota

Interest in psychoanalysis

Health and anxiety worsened

Blackouts

Diagnosed with hysteria

Wanted to become art teacher in mental

hospital

Cornelia Wilbur

Born in Montana

Mother: Bertie

Father: Arthur

2 brothers: Oliver and Richard

Homeschooled

Medical student in Michigan

Discouraged by parents

Very ambitious

Graduated 1930

Pursued profession as chemist

Psychiatry

Married Henry Marsh Wilbur for money

Returned to school to study psychiatry in 1934

Fascinated with hysteria

Worked in mental hospital in Omaha

Worked primarily with hysteria patients

Pontiac Michigan

Metrazol convulsive therapy

Chemical trances using barbiturates

Popular with WWII soldiers

Psychiatry Continued

1942 – back in Omaha Assisted with lobotomies

Held private practice

Cornelia’s mentor: Dieterle Patient with multiple personalities

Sparked Cornelia’s fascination with multiple personalities

Received an appointment July 1945

Shirley Mason

Therapy 1945

Immediate fascination with each other

Shared everything with each other

Shirley’s ambition reminded Cornelia of herself

Saw Shirley as a daughter

Cornelia gave Shirley published work to read

Horrible mothers

Disassociation of personalities

Use of hypnotism

After WWII Dr. Wilbur lost her job and had to move

Apart for 9 years

Time Apart

Shirley got a degree in English and Art Art therapist at Porter Hospital in Denver,

Colorado

Teaching job in Memphis

Also worked toward a degree in psychology

Her mother passed in 1948 of stomach

cancer

Very overworked

Coped by getting lost in her fantasy world

Time Apart Continued…

Cornelia Wilbur moved to Manhattan in 1946

Worked at VA clinic

Used injections and shock therapy on veterans

Unfulfilled: studied psychoanalysis

Neo-Fruedians: “Talk therapy”

Cruel mothers brought on psychosis in children

Three Faces of Eve

Woman suffering from multiple personalities due to role confusion

Began private practice out of her home

Shirley called

Therapy: Drugs and Trances

Shirley told Dr. Wilbur about arriving at random placed

and not remembering how she got there

Prescriptions of several habit forming medications

Seconal, Demerol, Edrisal, Daprisal, Dexamyl, Equanil,

Serpatilin, Thorazine, etc…

Shirley arrived to a session as Peggy

Young, immature, and energetic

Dr. Wilbur gave Shirley injections of pentothal “truth

serum” to find out more

Therapy: Personalities

Peggy Ann & Peggy Lou Peggy Ann was an aggression version of Peggy Lou

Nicknames from her mother

Vicky Teenage girl

Shirley’s imaginary friend from childhood

Mike Spent time building with his dad

Helen, Mary, Clara, Marcia

These personalities only came out for people that knew about Shirley’s case.

Therapy: Repressed Memories

Childhood friend: John Greenwald Dr. Wilbur uncovered Shirley’s traumatic memory that she watched

John die at age 7 from a gun shot

John passed when Shirley was 17 and not by a gun

Dr. Wilbur directed conversations toward childhood trauma and her mother

Memory of being held down with a light and blanket over her, in great pain Dr. Wilbur concluded Shirley was raped

Shirley was recalling her memory of a tonsillectomy

Use of leading questions and constantly suggested memories of abuse Mattie is “wicked, bad, cruel… If you don’t hate her, you ought to”

Mattie had schizophrenia

Repressed Memories Continued…

Abuse from Shirley’s mom Ice cold enemas through the urethra

Performed sexual acts in front of Shirley

Lesbian orgies in the woods with underage girls

Hung Shirley upside down and raped her with kitchen utensils

Tied Shirley to the piano while she played

Defecated on neighbor’s lawns and made Shirley watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaR4AwH7bb4

Addiction

Shirley became addicted to the pentothal injections

Was experiencing body pain from all of the medications she

was on and from withdrawal of pentothal Dr. Wilbur concluded that this pain was from bringing up

memories of abuse

Dr. Wilbur refused to give Shirley more injections Shirley wrote a letter explaining that she made up the

personalities to please her doctor.

Dr. Wilbur concluded that this was resistance and denial and only meant that Shirley was ready for more intensive treatment.

Dr. Herbert Spiegel

“Hypnotic Virtuosos” People that can easily put themselves in a trance

Extremely sensitive to suggestions and creation of false memories

Took over session with Shirley when Dr. Wilbur was out of

town

Did not interpret Shirley’s roles as “personalities”

It is common to create fantasies under hypnosis

SM: “Well do you want me to be Helen?”

HS: “What do you mean?”

SM: “When I’m with Dr. Wilbur she wants me to be Helen.”

Crossing Boundaries

House calls late at night and home visits on

the weekends

Dr. Wilbur would come over to give late-night

injections, even when Shirley resisted

Talked to Shirley about other patients

Shirley worked as Dr. Wilbur’s secretary and

dog walker

Secretarial work

Read case notes regarding other patients

Crossing Boundaries Continued..

Hooked up Shirley with an art therapy position at a mental hospital

Told Shirley that she wished she was her mother

Spent the night

Assisted Shirley with moving

Dr. Wilbur paid for Shirley’s tuition, furniture, and a house pet if she agreed to let a book be written about her case

Shirley agreed

Shirley broke off an engagement with a man so that she could stay with Dr. Wilbur

Flora Schreiber’s Childhood Born in 1916 in Manhattan

Only child

Dad: William Mom: Esther

Jewish immigrants

Atheists

Loved to write and play piano Enjoyed listening to classical music with her dad

Parents were very encouraging to improve her skills and pursue her dreams

No friends throughout school

Flora’s adulthood

Attended Colombia University’s Teachers College in

1934

Studied Dramatic Arts in London

Passion for writing

Lived with her parents after graduating Not making much money on her writings

Tried to sell work to the Cavalcade Theater but they were not interested

Became a writer for women’s magazines

Flora Meets Doctor Wilbur Began interviewing psychiatrists and writing articles on

their cases Cases and patients did not need to be real

Flora did not bother to check the validity of these cases

Introduced to Dr. Wilbur Wrote an article on her homosexual patient

Story did not fit what she wanted so she changed several important details and wrote a happier ending

Dr. Wilbur was very pleased

Dr. Wilbur introduced Flora to Shirley’s case and asked her to write a book. At this point, Shirley has been in treatment for 8 years

The “Cure”

Dr. Wilbur wanted to leave New York

New job in West Virginia and got Shirley a job nearby

Realized that therapy has been going on for too long

Shirley has become too dependent on Dr. Wilbur

Knew that Flora’s book would only sell if there was a happy ending

Told Shirley it was time to get better and integrate her

personalities Shirley immediately got better

Had one seizure and never again disassociated into another personality

Sybil

Flora thought that the personalities did not have

enough depth Dr. Wilbur and Shirley created appearances and character

traits for each personality

Flora went to Shirley’s hometown to conduct

interviews There were no indications of abuse from Shirley’s mother

Found that Mattie was diagnosed with anemia and depression, not schizophrenia

Was skeptical about the story but wrote the book

anyways

Published

Shirley was terrified of being identified Used the name “Sybil” to hide her identity

Dr. Wilbur wanted her identity known

Book was published in 1973

During this time, Shirley was happy as an art

teacher

Dr. Wilbur was a professor in Lexington where

residents were coincidentally being taken

over by multiple personalities

Fame

The book became a top seller

Dr. Wilbur and Flora wanted the attention for themselves

Despised each other

Flora was fed up with the story and grew tired of protecting Shirley’s identity

Numerous fan letters from women relating to the story

Females feeling torn between so many different roles

“Torn in all directions”

Sybil Inc

Board games, movie, t-shirts

Implications

1970’s: Primal therapy Repressed painful memories as children led to issues in adult

life

“Encouraged people to sob, roll on the floor, and scream blood-curdling accusations against their parents”

Concerns about child abuse

Patients came flooding to Dr. Wilbur for help with disassociations

Multiple Personalities Disorder was added to the DSM in 1980

1980’s: Epidemic of accusations against teachers, parents and childcare workers Children claiming that it did not happen, meant it DID

happen

Implications

Before Sybil there were less than 200 cases

of multiple personalities By 1984, there was anywhere from 25,000 to 7 million patients with this

disorder Celebrities: Roseanne Barr

1992: False Memory Syndrome Foundation Parents were being accused of abuse that did not take place Backlash against MPD Warnings against hypnotism and creation of false memories Therapist were being sued

Later Years..

Flora passed in 1988 of a heart attack and stroke Never wrote another top seller as popular as Sybil

Next big story put her in debt

Dr. Wilbur passed in 1992 from a heart attack

Dr. Wilbur and Shirley remained close friends up until

her death

Several people found out about Sybil’s true

identity Shirley spent the rest of her years in hiding

Passed in 1998 of cancer at age 75

Discussion

Female psychiatrists were uncommon and not taken very seriously in the mid 1900’s. Several parts of Cornelia Wilbur’s practice was clearly questionable and unethical. Do you think that Dr. Wilbur had ill intentions when working with Shirley, or do you believe that she was a victim of this period in history?

What are your thoughts about Flora Schreiber’s decision to continue writing the book after finding out that the childhood abuse may not have taken place? If any of the 3 women knew of the implications that the story would have, do you think that they would have went ahead with the book?