Sybil Sydney Hahlbeck Main Players Shirley Ardell Mason

Sybil Sydney Hahlbeck

Main Players Shirley Ardell Mason (Sybil) Psychiatrist (Dr. Wilbur) Journalist (Flora Rheta Schreiber)

Shirley Ardell Mason • AKA "Sybil Dorsett" • January 25, 1923 • Dodge Center, MN • Mattie – mother, Walter – father • Only child

Walter Mason • Born 1883 in Dodge Center, MN • Seventh-Day Adventism • Year at a religious college • Dropped out at 19 to prepare for the Second Coming • Left the church • Met Mattie at 26 • Married in 1910

Walter Mason • Contractor and architect • Designed own house • Man of few words • Gentle and artistic • Connected with Shirley • Returned to the church a little before Shirley was born in 1923

AKA Hattie Dorsett Martha Alice "Mattie" Atkinson Born in 1883 in Emmetsburg, IA Methodist upbringing Good education Witch-like laugh "Mattie was nice, people thought. A little strange, but nice. " (pg. 8)

Mattie • Health Problems & Miscarriages • Almost 40 when Shirley was born • Severe postpartum depression • "The blues" • Miscarried in 1927 • Conversion to Seventh-Day Adventism

Childhood • Strict religious upbringing • Sabbath School • Scolded often • Public school • Bullying & exclusion • Love of fantasy

Historic Zeitgeist • Great Depression 1929 • Walter loses job • Mattie gets a job

Young Adult Years • Bizarre behavior • Diagnosis • Pernicious anemia • Injection of hog liver extract • Graduated high school in 1941 • Mankato State College • Art student

College Years Adjustment problems Health worsens 1943 - Kicked out of school 1945 - Doctor appointment

The Psychiatrist • Dr. Cornelia Wilbur • Born in 1908 • Aurthur Burwell – Father • Bertie – Mother • Highly educated and employed • "Family of pure scientists"

College Years • William Smith women's college • University of Michigan • Sexism • Return to Michigan - Medical School • Married Henry Marsh Wilbur in 1934

Medical School • Grave's Disease • Psychiatry • Fascination with hysteria • Male doctors • 1 of 8 graduate women medical students in 1939 • Worse ratios at other schools • First female med student intern at Kalamazoo State Hospital

Early Career • Lobotomies • World War II • "Truth Serum" • Neo-Freudian Era • Repressed memories • War ends

Therapy: Round 1 • 1945 • Instant attraction • Mother/daughter relationship • Eager to please • Reading assignments • Dr. Wilbur's departure

Shirley – Time Apart • Return to Mankato • Took psychology classes • Mother's death • Graduation • Art therapist for mentally ill • Anorexia and hysteria • Graduate school • Surgery

Dr. Wilbur – Time Apart • Moves to NY • Psychoanalyst • Rich new husband • Practice on Park Avenue • Three Faces of Eve - 1953

Therapy: Round 2 • 1954 -1965 • Blurred boundaries • *Eager to please* • Fugues (black outs), mental breakdowns, numbness, twitching • Hypnosis and barbiturates • First alter • Master's degree 1955

Therapy: Round 2 • Diagnosis • "Uncovered" 16 alter personalities • Cocktail of drugs & electrotherapy • Childhood abuse • Book deal • Addiction

"Dr. Wilbur had helped her patient do something, these records suggest, and for a very long period of time. But whatever that behavior was, it can hardly be called remembering. " (pg. XIII) -Debbie Nathan

The Letter - 1958 • "I get the tremendous. . . and uncontrollable. . . urge to do some fool thing. The last few years. . . the fool thing turned out to be to disappear and make people think I had no knowledge of what I had done or where I had been. Quite thrilling. Got me a lot of attention" (pg 106). • "I am none of the things I have pretended to be. . . I am not going to tell you there isn't anything wrong, but it is not what I have led you to believe. . . I do not have multiple personalities. . . I do not even have a 'double'. . . I am all of them. I have been essentially lying" (pg. 106). • Rationalization • Most important patient in Wilbur's career and in psychiatric history

The Journalist • Flora Rheta Schrieber • April 24, 1916 in NY • Cultured • Writings • Colombia University • Struggling writer

Flora's Struggling Career • Radio • Women's magazines • Tabloid writer • TV • Mental health writer • Introduced to Wilbur and Shirley • English professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

What Ethical Code? • Debt • Making exceptions • Business deals • Gift exchanges • Fraternizing • Working for Dr. Wilbur • Mario • "I love you, I'd do anything for you" (pg 125).

The Cure • 1965 • Even more drugs • Spasm • Viola! • Book in progress

Fame • Published in 1973 • 6+ million copies in the US • TV broadcast in 1976 • Sybil Inc. • Profits split 3 ways • T-shirts, dolls, musicals, movies, stickers, board games • Wilbur's career

Historic Zeitgeist – 1970's • Civil rights & women's rights movements • Equal Rights Amendment – 1972 • "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle" (pg 196). • Relatable • Child abuse concerns

Impact on Psychology • • One of the most well-known cases in psychiatric history Added to DSM in 1980 Epidemic 2 groups • Malpractice suits • Accused parents of horrible abuse • Industry of false memory

Discussion Question Why do you think the number of cases of MPD spiked after Sybil was released? Why do you think almost all cases were females?

Life after Sybil – Flora • "Afterward, it was nothing but mink for her. Full-length mink" (pg. XII). • "Began spending like a drunken sailor" (pg 176). • Died November 3, 1988 • Papers housed at John Jay • Copies and excerpts of treatment notes, patient diaries, transcripts of tape-recorded therapy sessions • Unsealed in 1998

Life after Sybil – Shirley & Dr. Wilbur • Shirley moves to KY • Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1990 • No treatment • Moved in with Dr. Wilbur in 1991 until Wilbur's death in 1992 • Died on February 26, 1998 (75) of breast cancer

Controversy • Name revealed in 1998 • Dr. Herbert Spiegel • Manipulation • "Smoking gun" • Not released until all deceased • Shirley's letter • Wilbur's case notes

Discussion Question Sybil wrote a letter to Dr. Wilbur in which she denies that she has multiple personalities and that her mother abused her. Dr. Wilbur claims that Sybil denied these things as an excuse to stop the difficult therapy. Who do you believe? Was this a real case of MPD, or a golden opportunity?

Discussion Question The author of Sybil Exposed argued that Sybil was as much “about the conflict between women’s highest hopes and deepest fears as it was about a medical diagnosis. ” Do you agree? Disagree?

References http: //did-research. org/did/basics/prevalence. html https: //www. nytimes. com/1988/11/04/obituaries/flora-schreiber-70 -the-writer-of-sybil-and-ofshoemaker. html Nathan, D. (2011). Sybil Exposed. New York, NY: Free Press