Flora Rheta Schreiber’s novel Sybil weaves the true tale of a remarkable young woman possessed by severe multiple personality disorder. Sybil’s body is home to sixteen personalities, all with different personas, speech patterns, behavior tendencies, language abilities, and even different genders. As a child, Sybil began to distance herself from the abuse she suffered from her mother Hattie, a suspected paranoid schizophrenic, thus creating each personality to escape her reality.
Throughout her entire life Sybil struggled with “losing time” and often woke up with no knowledge of what she had been doing for days, weeks, months, and at times even years. Upon bringing her own mother to a physician, Sybil is referred to see a psychologist after she describes her “loss of time” to Dr. Hall. On August 10, 1945 at 2 PM Sybil first meets Dr. Wilbur. Despite Sybil knowing that she needs help with her nervousness and loss of time, she often fears that she reveals too much to her psychologist and often disguises her problem before Dr. Wilbur can provide substantial help. Dr. Wilbur suggests Sybil be psychoanalyzed at a local hospital, the very thing that Sybil’s parents fear, suspecting that the doctor will be the devil himself. However, Sybil was determined to receive proper care despite what her mother, father, and pastor advised. Yet on a scheduled appointment day in October, Sybil comes down with a severe fever causing Hattie to contact Dr. Wilbur’s office to cancel Sybil’s appointment.
After her mother’s death in 1948 Sybil continues to suffer spells of lost time just as she had when she was younger. Finally in 1954 Sybil is able to find Dr. Wilbur once again and strives to begin proper psychoanalysis. During her first appointments, Sybil reveals little to Dr. Wilbur as she once again chooses to be silent and vague about her specific issues.
However, months after her first session Dr. Wilbur is introduced to Peggy Ann, a young girl from Willow Corners and...