Sybil's Personality Disorder

An out-of-body experience is explained by few as a sense of being detached from one’s body, and if associated with other factors like a sense that the world is not real, far away, or even foggy. This with the combination of failure to recall significant personal information, or the content of a meaningful conversation forgotten from one second to the next are signs of a psychological disorder known as Dissociative Disorder. Considered as a rare and mysterious psychiatric curiosity, Dissociative Disorders will be the psychological disorder that will be discussed in this paper.

The biographical film Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story explored the life challenges of 1980s R&B singer Miki Howard. Michelle (Miki) Howard was the daughter of a famous, abusive, and neglectful gospel singer, Josephine Howard. The movie begins with a woman holding an incoherent Miki Howard.

Regina George is a sixteen-year-old Caucasian female. She is a junior at North Shore High School, and comes a very wealthy family. Regina is in great physical health and participates in sports at her school. She is known as the meanest girl at her school, which allows her to reign as the “queen bee” of her clique, the Plastics, and of her school. Regina suffers from Histrionic Personality Disorder, which is a Cluster B Personality Disorder, classified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-Fifth Edition.

The film Sunset Boulevard (1950), directed by Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond exemplified a Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) by being demanding, intense and unstable. These behaviors that are consistent with the elements of abnormality include suffering, social discomfort, dangerousness, and irrationality and unpredictability. The first element that is consistent with Norma Desmond’s character is suffering. Desmond being one of the greatest movie stars in history suffers as she experiences the fall from stardom. She also suffers from identity disturbance as she reaches an unstable self-image notion. In one scene when Desmond recognizes for a moment about her age, she claims, “Look at me. Look at my hands, look at my face, look under my

Shirley Ardell Mason also known as (Sybil) was quietly living in Lexington Kentucky, and had ran a art business out of her home in the 1970s. She later died on Feb 26, 1998 from breast cancer due to declining treatment. There was a movie based on Shirley Ardell Mason Life called “Sybil” which came out in 1976, her real name wasn’t used in the book or movie because she wanted to protect her identity. The movie depicted on what Shirley had gone through as child, which included physical, emotional, and severe sexual abuse of the hands of her mother who was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. Due to Shirley’s trauma as a child she was diagnosed with a multiple personality disorder also called dissociative personality disorder, which consisted of 16 distinctive personalities in 1973 diagnosed by her therapist Dr. Cornelia Wilbur. Shirley Ardell Mason was born on January 25, 1923 in Dodge Center, Minnesota. Her parents Walter Mason and Martha Alice Hageman raised Shirley in Dodge center where they were well liked by others.

A psychological disorder can be defined as patterns of behavior or mental processes that affect a person’s capability to carry out every day routines and interactions with others. These psychological disorders can be characterized as personality disorders or mood and anxiety disorders. Many people experience these disorders and struggles within their life. Today approximately 1 in every 5 adults live with a psychological disorder in the United States alone. With that being said, even the most prestigious can have mental illness. For example, Joan Crawford, American film and television actress regularly struggled with several types of personality disorders shown in the movie Mommie Dearest. This movie, based on a book written by her daughter, Christina Crawford, depicts the several scenarios in which Joan shows signs of multiple psychological disorders. Movies similar to Mommie Dearest are a great way to help students understand disorders and the symptoms associated with them. Within this movie Joan Crawford demonstrates signs of having bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, histrionic disorder, and Narcissistic disorder.

Another aspect of psychology that is also shown in the movie not only Sam has but his neighbor Annie. Another example is with another Character Annie who she struggles with a phobia that she has struggled with which was agoraphobia being scare of open space. In later of the filmed it showed that she was able to control it for a bit till she started to panic a lot. Not only the aspect of psychology that was shown in the filmed but it has been stereotyped portrayed in the film of their mental illness. Meaning by portrayed of their illness was that like Sam who was stereotype from others seeing him as a childlike of a seven-year-old.

The mentally ill patient relives experiences of the event, such as having distressing images and memories, upsetting dreams, or flashbacks. After undertaking a punch in the stomach from a pimp named Maurice, Holden is at a high stress level which triggers a connection to

Karnac, Dr. Karnac’s intentions toward Sybil are not to treat a real psychological disorder, but rather to regain control of Sybil. Sybil encounters the doctor after refusing to marry her uncle and finding out that Guy, whom she possesses feelings for, has gone away. Sybil reacts naturally with angry and sadness, which leads to sobbing on her part (Alcott 183). However, Dr. Karnac does not see this reaction as normal and believes Sybil is mad due to the fact she is not allowing her uncle to control her. In an attempt to regain control during Sybil’s distress the doctor attempts to give her a quieting draft and states upon Sybil’s refusal: “You are mistaken, my dear young lady; you need much care, and should obey, that your uncle may be spared further apprehension and anxiety” (Alcott 184). It is clear that the doctor is not concerned with Sybil’s health in the slightest. He does not mention improving Sybil’s condition, specifically, but rather. he is more concerned with gaining control through Sybil’s

Simply, it leaves a bad impression of sorts. The film is based on a rich memoir by Susanna Kaysen. It depicts the suffering of a fictional character referred to as Susanna. The film does not primarily give focus on true hospital course during the recovery process of the fictional character. Much of the focus is on the characters recovering without the aid of the hospital or staff. It is depicted as a road of self discovery and not very realistic for the conditions ascribed the characters. Recovery of an individual suffering from a mental ailment takes time and proper guidance coupled with proper coordination of counseling, medications and familial support. As such, the film provides a decent exploration of mental illness but not realistic. Though in my opinion it does portray the little resources available to women during the day in age depicted the effectiveness of the society’s mental health care system.

The objective of the book Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case, was to prove that Sybil and her story, were all lies and that everything was made up by three women. Debbie Nathan explains that Sybil’s story was a fraud as well as greatly exaggerated. She bases these beliefs through evidence she collected as she was researching Sybil and was the first one to examine all of the Sybil archives. However, Sybil was not the real name of this woman, her name was actually Shirley Mason. Debbie interviewed people close to Shirley as well as researching all aspects of her life, such as paper trails, records, and tapes of Mason’s therapy sessions.

There were several things that were learned from this film. One of which was, that multiple personality disorder is

The identity disorder that Sybil is diagnosed with did effect her daily life, including her job. In the beginning of the movie, Sybil is working as a substitute teacher in New York City. She began experiencing the blackouts more than once and eventually loses her job. It also affects her social life. She is afraid of hands touching her. She flinches because their gestures remind her of how her mother abused her. She is shy and timid she has to talk to Richard, so she calls on another personality to take over. This gives her the confidence to go out with him. This personality was usually Vickie or Vanessa. The disability was displayed in the negative light because it was affecting Sybil in every

In the films “Sybil,” and “Primal Fear” both characters Sybil, and Aaron seem to be suffering from dissociative identity disorder. According to Comer (2014), someone with dissociative identity disorder, or also known as multiple personality disorder establishes two or more recognizable personalities, often called alternate or sub personalities. Each personality has their own particular set of behaviors, memories, emotions and thoughts and will most likely have a primary personality that emerges more often than the other personalities. “The transition from one subpersonality to another, called switching, is usually sudden and may be dramatic. Switching is usually triggered by a stressful event, although clinicians can also bring about the change with hypnotic suggestion.” (Comer, P. 159, 2014)

Multiple Personality Disorder is a serious condition and is not easy to treat, it isn’t a disease that you just take medicine and it cures away. A character in the movie Sybil, is unfortunately diagnosed with this disease. In the movie it shows how Sybil the main character takes on life with this particular illness on a day to day basis.