Sybil Isabel Dorsett is perhaps the most famous case of dissociative identity disorder (DID). Dissociative identity disorder is the presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states. Each identity has its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and the self (Smith, 1999). This case appears in a book by Flora R. Schreiber and was later made into a film (Sybil). Sybil appears to have experienced 16 separate personalities, two of which were male. These personalities were created due to the horrific child abuse her psychotic mother inflicted on her, along with her father's failure to save her from it. Each personality embodied feelings and emotions that the real Sybil couldn't deal with. When the Sibyl awoke she was deprived of all these emotions, and was therefore a rather squalid figure. He was unaware of his other characters and while they had control of his body, he suffered blackouts and did not remember the episodes. The intervention of Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, a psychoanalyst, helped her to become aware of these personalities. As stated above, Sybil has developed dissociative identity disorder. However, many of his personalities were created during therapy. After watching the film and analyzing her development story, I can say that she was able to face her fears and improve her life through therapy. In this article I will talk about Sybil's developmental history, her different personalities, and how Carl Jung's theory (the personal unconscious) fits into her situation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In her situation, young Sybil suffered from physical and psychological distress due to her beloved mother's abuse. Since birth, Sybil has not experienced the bonds that exist between a mother and child. Her mother made her believe she was the most horrible child. This misunderstanding was well codified with the abuse and rejection he had experienced. Sybil was the only child born to her biological mother and father, and was able to acquire a loving relationship with her grandmother, who also lived in their middle-class single-family home in Wisconsin. Because of Sybil's mother's authoritative ways, her grandmother did not associate with her own daughter. Growing up as a child (around age 3-5), Sybil experienced many difficulties. Her abusive mother treated her like a lower-class citizen. By his own interpretation, he used the worst forms of punishment on Sybil. In other families, a child running around the house or asking polite questions is quite acceptable. Sybil's mother believed that such behavior was rude and unacceptable. The physical cruelties Sybil suffered were crucial. The types of abuse Sybil suffered included: being hung (both hands tied to a chain) from the roof of an old barn, being locked in an old chest, and placed on the kitchen table (with a piece of wood tied around her neck). legs and hanging from the kitchen light). Her mother also gave her a black eye, which was never reported to anyone (because Sybil was not yet in school). His mother (who was a pathological liar) told his father that one of the neighbors had done it. Not surprisingly, this little girl has been lied to many times. Once, her mother tricked her into taking her to see her best friend. Instead, her mother took her to the doctor's office to have her tonsils removed. Afterwards, Sybil begs the doctor to take her home with him. Unfortunately, her parents' misguided ways caused Sybil to experience fearnot to trust people. During the years of abuse (childhood and adolescence), both Sybil's mother and grandmother died of natural causes. Subsequently, her father remarried and Sybil went off on her own. Throughout his life, Sybil had made him deal with painful, repressed memories of his childhood abuse. Unfortunately, her childhood memories (at the time of onset) caused her to develop dissociative identity disorder. In Sybil's case, there were sixteen different personalities, including herself or "wake" Sybil. There are many people to share life with. Victoria Antoinette, or Vicky, was a confident and self-assured personality who was a thirteen-year-old girl from Paris. Peggy Lou and Peggy Ann Baldwin were both 9-year-old personalities and were often seen together. Peggy Lou was often angry about something and Peggy Ann was often afraid (Vicky said Peggy Ann was more tactful than Peggy Lou). Marcia Lynn Dorsett (sometimes Marcia Lynn Baldwin) was an artistic and usually suicidal personality. Ruth was the youngest personality and was only two years old. Vanessa Gail Dorsett was a personality who was Marcia's best friend. They shared similar interests such as travelling, going to the theatre, concerts, visiting places of historical interest and purchasing selected books. They usually had control of Sybil at the same time. Vanessa had an inclination for music and played the piano. Mary Lucinda Saunders Dorsett had a grandmotherly personality and was named after Sybil's late grandmother. Marjorie was another provocative personality. He usually referred to Sybil as "you-know-who". The most interesting thing about Marjorie was that, like most other personalities, she never seemed to be or have been depressed. Mike and Sid were the only two male personalities. They were both carpenters and built all kinds of things. Nancy Lou Ann was a personality interested in politics and was afraid of Roman Catholics. Sybil Ann was an extremely listless and pale personality. Clara was very religious and did not like Sybil too much. The Blonde was a character who had no real name, and seemed to be perpetually eighteen years old. When Sibyl woke up she was impoverished, had a bad self-image and feared purple and green. All 16 personalities had separate ideas, backgrounds and personal aspects. Vicky was born when Sybil was 16. At the time, it was Vicky's responsibility to maintain balance, Sybil's safety, and her ability to negotiate the world. Her abilities to observe, record and remember gave her the basis to establish a continuity of memory, which was the key deficit in Sybil's miserable existence. Vicky saw life as a whole, which made her the most complete personality of all. Vicky's personality seemed to have a better sense of control when making appearances. While Peggy Lou seemed to appear instantly when Sybil faced any type of anger-arousing situation, Vicky seemed to come and go, making her own decisions about when she was needed. This passivity appears to be reflected in a later comment made by Sybil about how she did not leave Vicky behind, but when she couldn't do something, Vicky did it for her. At age 23, the expectation was built on the fact that some personalities, especially Vicky, must be in control and know what was happening because Sybil upon waking was no longer aware of all her movements. Until Sybil entered therapy, she was unaware of events occurring during her blank moments. Vicky was able to piece together the entire story because she witnessed Sybil's life from an early age. At the age of 28, Sybil was introduced to Dr. Cornelia Wilbur by a hospital after she slashed her wrist and nearly killed herself in a New York hospital. The balanceand Vicky's confidence led Dr. Wilbur to wonder whether Vicky should be the one to integrate all the other personalities rather than Sybil. This can be explained in terms of threshold values. Therefore, when Vicky is brought out into the open, neural connections are involved in maintaining these aspects of Sybil's personality (in her consciousness). These connections are weaker and have a lower threshold value, meaning they are less resistant to disruption caused by trauma and likely the first to break. However, this view implies that all personalities have independent units in the brain that can be turned on and off by Sybil's consciousness. Under hypnosis a part of the individual dissociates and acts as a supervisor of the events that happen. They remain in contact with the reality of the situation, but remain outside the awareness of the hypnotized subject (Zastrow, Ashman, 2001). In Sybil's case, Vicky represents this hidden observer and logically explains why she is the first to appear. An angry personality seems to be one of the most common in patients with dissociative identity disorder (Pikunas, Albrecht, 1998). Peggy was created from one of Sybil's early dissociations to deal with the anger Sybil felt towards her mother but had never been able to express (around age 29). Dr. Wilbur identified that there were two levels of rejection of the mother displayed by the personalities. The first was to deny feelings of hatred towards her, and the second was to deny that she was related (Sybil, 1976). The second level is what Vicky opted for, going so far as to create a large and loving family, who lived abroad and came to collect her. When Sybil could finally accept and express hatred for her mother, it was only then that Vicky could begin to accept that Sybil's parents were hers (she later split into Peggy Lou who was angry and Peggy Ann who was afraid). Peggy Lou's importance can be seen in the fact that she took over Sybil's life for two years when things were too overwhelming and she couldn't cope with life (remember that Peggy Lou was the one she kept for herself her arithmetic skills so that Sybil struggled in school as if she were awake). Marcia was very creative, her paintings showed a greater variety of colors than other alter egos and she was confident that her writing and painting were superior to those of the other alter egos (with the exception of Vanessa and Vicky). Marcia would like to turn her talents into money, but becomes frustrated when others, mainly Sybil, prevent her from doing so. Marcia desperately wanted to be loved, but she was stuck in the past and was depressed because she had never been loved by her mother (Schreiber, 1973). While she was mischievous and could be light-hearted, she was fundamentally a pessimist, dark and brooding. Marcia was also extremely emotional and seems to live in extremes. She had the greatest need of all alter egos for a loving mother, yet this was matched by her guilt for wishing for her mother's death (this guilt resulted in her depression and suicidal tendencies). Marcia relieves Sybil of her need and hatred of her mother. Marcia was religious, even if she resented its prohibitions. For her, religion deprived her of the opportunity to grow freely. She felt trapped by talk of the end of the world, even though she believed a better life would follow. Carl Jung explains Sybil's dissociative identity disorder very well. Carl Gustav Jung was one of the best-known members of the group that formed the nucleus of the early psychoanalytic movement. These followers and students of Sigmund Freud believed that Jungian theory was guided..