Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case

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Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case

by Debbie Nathan (Goodreads Author)

3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 · rating details · 1,937 ratings · 353 reviews

SYBIL: A name that conjures up enduring fascination for legions of obsessed fans who followed the nonfiction blockbuster from 1973 and the TV movie based on it-starring Sally Field and Joanne Woodward-about a woman named Sybil with sixteen different personalities. Sybil became both a pop phenomenon and a revolutionary force in the psychotherapy industry. The book rocketed...more SYBIL: A name that conjures up enduring fascination for legions of obsessed fans who followed the nonfiction blockbuster from 1973 and the TV movie based on it-starring Sally Field and Joanne Woodward-about a woman named Sybil with sixteen different personalities. Sybil became both a pop phenomenon and a revolutionary force in the psychotherapy industry. The book rocketed multiple personality disorder (MPD) into public consciousness and played a major role in having the diagnosis added to the psychiatric bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.But what do we really know about how Sybil came to be? In her news-breaking book Sybil Exposed, journalist Debbie Nathan gives proof that the allegedly true story was largely fabricated. The actual identity of Sybil (Shirley Mason) has been available for some years, as has the idea that the book might have been exaggerated. But in Sybil Exposed, Nathan reveals what really powered the legend: a trio of women-the willing patient, her ambitious shrink, and the imaginative journalist who spun their story into bestseller gold.From horrendously irresponsible therapeutic practices to calculated business decisions, the story Nathan unfurls is full of over-the-top behavior. Sybil's psychiatrist, driven by undisciplined idealism and galloping professional ambition, subjected the young woman to years of antipsychotics, psychedelics, uppers, and downers, including an untold number of injections with Pentothal, once known as "truth serum" but now widely recognized to provoke fantasies. It was during these "treatments" that Sybil produced the rambling, garbled, and probably "false memory"�based narratives of the hideous child abuse that her psychiatrist said caused her MPD.Sybil Exposed uses investigative journalism to tell a fascinating tale that reads like fiction but is fact. Nathan has followed an enormous trail of papers, records, photos, and tapes to unearth the lives and passions of these three women. The Sybil archive became available to the public only recently, and Nathan is the first person to have examined all of it and to provide proof that the story was an elaborate fraud-albeit one that the perpetrators may have half-believed.Before Sybil was published, there had been fewer than 200 known cases of MPD; within just a few years after, more than 40,000 people would be diagnosed with it. Set across the twentieth century and rooted in a time when few professional roles were available to women, this is a story of corrosive sexism, unchecked ambition, and shaky theories of psychoanalysis exuberantly and drastically practiced. It is the story of how one modest young woman's life turned psychiatry on its head and radically changed the course of therapy, and our culture, as well.(less)

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Published (first published January 1st 2011)

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Dec 06, 2012 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: skimmed

Back in 1974 I read a book called Sybil. Starting in 1973 and continuing on through today millions of people worldwide have read that book. The only difference is now there's a disclaimer on the book.

Sybil tells the story of, well "Sybil" (a pseudonym) and how she had "blank spots", "lost time". She'd black out and wake up days later in a different city. It tells the story of how Sybil and her heroic psychiatrist battled for 11 years+ to reconcile Sybil's 16 separate personalities into a single...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, science

I was quite taken with the book Sybil when I read it years ago. It seemed to present a plausible explanation for a run-away semi-street teen I knew who could easily be hypnotised into various supposedly past-life personalities. Sometimes these personalities even broke through on their own. It was kind of scary to be around her at times. The book Sybil presented such "others" as multiple personalities created by childhood trauma. The scientific trappings and cure made for a neat package that appe...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Stacia ~ Mistress of Mediocrity rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

IT WAS ALL A LIE...
...or was it?

A few decades back, there was a movie called Sybil which was sort of a buzz movie. Before that, the story was a book. I've never read the original book, but I have seen the movie a few times. Basically, the book was about this woman (whose named had been changed) and her experience with Multiple Personality Disorder (as it was called back then).

The movie was Crazy with a capital C. This chick had been raised by the mother of bizarre and had suffered through extreme abuse at the hands of this woman. Because of everything that "Sybil" had gone through, it was assumed that much of this abuse could have been a huge part of the reason why Sybil was forced inside of her own head to a place of needing extra personalities as a coping mechanism.

Or so we thought. According the author, there are public records (tapes, transcripts, etc. from therapy sessions) showing that some of the story might have either been fabricated or at the very least "coaxed" out of the patient through the use of extremely aggressive hypnotic and drug-induced therapy.

So I was reading this book...taking notes, highlighting passages, etc. I was interested to find that some of the story that I know might not be completely accurate.

But then the plot thickens... I logged onto GR to skim a few reviews and see what others were saying about the book and saw This review and the following comments.

I think I'm not going to touch this with a ten foot pole. I have no clue what's what.

Was the book interesting? I think it was in parts. Being as that I'm not the type of person who needs to know details going all the way back to the grandparents, there was a lot of info that didn't really interest me in particular, but it might have been fascinating to others. I was mainly curious to see what was behind the story of Sybil.

However, I did find out some very bizarre history about the early beginnings of the Seventh Day Adventist church. Enemas were apparently the "in" thing, and constipation led to sexual deviancy! Who knew?(less)

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Nov 01, 2011 Naomi Rhode rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Concerned..Nathan's book full of untruths:

As Shirley Mason's closest living relative, I was close to her for the 30 plus years through the saga of her life journey. In fact, I was with her the weekend of her death, at her request, and was one of the only people that was in constant contact with her all those years. I kept her identity confidential at her fervent request. Through all these years up until literally the day before she died, she verified the complete accuracy of the book, 'Sybil'. I...more

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Oct 27, 2011 Candace rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Readers interested in the history of psychology, society, and/or women.

Shelves: women-by-or-about, psychology, society, history, biography, non-fiction

Books I am reading do not usually give me nightmares, but this one did.

Long ago, when I was in graduate school studying psychology, I was known to say that the problem with a condition like multiple personality disorder (MPD) was that if a psychologist or psychiatrist suspected that a patient _might_ have such a condition, it would be nearly impossible not to imagine the potential gold mine (books, movies, publicity) that the patient could provide. Well, it turns out that in the case of one of...more Books I am reading do not usually give me nightmares, but this one did.

Long ago, when I was in graduate school studying psychology, I was known to say that the problem with a condition like multiple personality disorder (MPD) was that if a psychologist or psychiatrist suspected that a patient _might_ have such a condition, it would be nearly impossible not to imagine the potential gold mine (books, movies, publicity) that the patient could provide. Well, it turns out that in the case of one of the most famous cases of MPD, that's exactly what happened.

Ambitious, domineering psychiatrist (Wilbur) meets highly suggestible patient (Mason) with undiagnosed and untreated pernicious anemia who develops a monstrous crush on the therapist, and when the two of them run into a journalist (Schreiber) who is comfortable with bending and twisting the truth, Sybil is born. It's hard to entirely resist the inference that some kind of lesbian passion -- repressed or not -- helped fuel the folie a deux between Dr. Connie Wilbur and Shirley Mason. Flora Schreiber, at least, should have known better. The fact that the three of them incorporated Sybil reveals just how baldly the lure of money and fame fueled their collaboration.

Why am I so disturbed by this old story when all of the protagonists are long dead? Because MPD begat the wave of people remembering "repressed memories" of their parents doing things like roasting babies in the back yard. And that hysteria landed a bunch of child care providers in jail for committing crimes that were impossible and for which there was no evidence.

It's also a good example of a woman (Mason) with a very real medical condition (pernicious anemia) being diagnosed as having a psychiatric disorder. This is all too often the way that women's health issues (especially autoimmune diseases) are handled by the medical system.

As much as I enjoyed Toni Colette's terrific and funny turn as a woman with multiple personalities, it's important for the public to understand that real cases of MPD/DID are extremely rare -- if not non-existent.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has the stomach to read it. It's as involving as any page-turner, but the story it tells is ultimately horrifying.

(Note: The unabridged version of this review -- with pictures! -- is now on my blog, "Cuppa with Candace," at candacevan.wordpress.com.(less)

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Mar 08, 2012 Jenny Brown rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A brilliant book that should be read by anyone who trusts a psychiatrist, because they didn't stop being like the woman profiled in this book when the 80s ended.

I grew up among the psychiatrists of NYC in the 1950s, as my father worked with them, so nothing you would tell me about how screwed up and sexually abusive they were would surprise me. I also got involved with a very popular local therapist in the 1990s who was planting false memories in her patients using hypnosis. What an extremely u...more A brilliant book that should be read by anyone who trusts a psychiatrist, because they didn't stop being like the woman profiled in this book when the 80s ended.

I grew up among the psychiatrists of NYC in the 1950s, as my father worked with them, so nothing you would tell me about how screwed up and sexually abusive they were would surprise me. I also got involved with a very popular local therapist in the 1990s who was planting false memories in her patients using hypnosis. What an extremely unpleasant experience!

Because I'm a novelist and spend a lot of time in a hypnotic state when I make up completely fictional stories, I recognized the state the therapist induced with her hypnotic technique. I also recognized that the scenes she was making me recall, though vivid, were no more real than scenes I'd invented for my novels that took place on other planets. But for someone who wasn't familiar with the landscape of imagination, it would have been easy to believe that the scenes evoked by these dominating, abuse-obsessed therapists were real--and that would be psychologically devastating.

This book does an excellent job of showing just how this kind of emotionally manipulative, borderline-personality therapist goes about finding weak people and exploiting them for their own selfish needs.

This is a disturbing book, but one worth reading before you get involved with any therapist who "specializes" in childhood abuse. My experience had been that such people often charge far more than peers, and feel entitled to profit from the harm done to children. Their profiting is, all too often, yet more abuse those ex-child victims have to suffer.

Getting back to Sibyl, the off-the-wall psycho abuse scenarios implanted in people with emotional issues by these abusive therapists did a real disservice not only to their victims but to the many children who really were, and still are, abused by adults, because it makes it that much harder for them to be heard and helped.

If you do need therapy for this kind of problem, look for therapists who do not make you relive the abuse or pump you for juicy details. Successful healing from abuse involves getting in touch with the strong parts of your personality and learning to feel like a safe adult who can protect yourself. Good therapists help you be stronger and focus on how you live in the present. If yours isn't doing that, fire them.
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Jan 04, 2012 Lisa Lewis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: interesting-non-fiction

Remember the book (and then made-for-tv movie, and then updated version made-for-tv movie) about the woman with 16 personalities? As a teen, I was fascinated with Sybil, whose real-life story told of the horrific mental health consequences of extreme abuse by her mother. When I saw that Debbie Nathan had uncovered a deeper and richer story behind the story, I was fascinated.
Nathan clearly describes the context of the Sybil phenomena: the time in American culture for women's roles, the individual...more

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Apr 28, 2013 Jackie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book after reading Sybil. One thing that I thought was interesting is that all of the key people involved in writing the book Sybil are deceased and cannot now defend themselves or actions. It is interesting that Shirley Mason (aka Sybil Dorsett) suffered from pernicious anemia. According to the author of this book, Dr. Wilbur admitted as much late in her life. This condition could have attributed to some of the symptoms that Dr. Wilbur associated with MPD. However, I think the only...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Snehil Dua rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very impressive journalism. The book is simply brilliant. Will give many nightmares about psychiatrist. But think there are mistakes made by professionals in any field. I also think that there are a handful of professionals in all fields who would misuse their power and may end up harming people. If that professional happens to be a psychiatrist, the harm can be tremendous as this person knows how to manipulate your brain.
This book is exposing a psychiatrist who manipulated her patient so as to...more Very impressive journalism. The book is simply brilliant. Will give many nightmares about psychiatrist. But think there are mistakes made by professionals in any field. I also think that there are a handful of professionals in all fields who would misuse their power and may end up harming people. If that professional happens to be a psychiatrist, the harm can be tremendous as this person knows how to manipulate your brain.
This book is exposing a psychiatrist who manipulated her patient so as to prove the phenomenon of Multiple personality disorder (MPD) and further went on to have a book (Non-fiction novel) , Sybil" published based on this young girl's MPD, which did not really exist. The three ladies(the psychiatrist, the book author and the patient) together pulled this book off so well that it became a phenomenon such that tens of thousands of people started to believe that they suffered from MPD. There was a movie as well as TV series made based on this book. Sybil exposed, is the work of a journalist. It convincingly proves that Sybil was a false story. But the girl had to live that character to keep the psychiatrist happy. The girl did have health issues (related to behavior included) but the issues were not sensational enough to keep the psychiatrist interested in her. To keep getting the attention of the psychiatrist, the girl quickly understands what would make the psychiatrist show more interest. The psychiatrist hoped to see MPD in the girl and that's what the girl created in herself. She was drugged constantly to keep the "symptoms" going. The girl's insecurity was constantly manipulated to keep the disorder alive.
This all happened during the pre-feminism era in the US. So there are plausible explanations for such acts and behaviors. But the impact of this ended up being huge. The author notes that the book "sybil" is still being used in high schools as one of the reading assignments. There are still psychiatrists believe in MPD and base their conclusions on equally flawed case studies. There was a lesson that needed to be learnt but that has not happened. Unfortunately our society is driven by money and market. Be it mental health or physical health, easy solutions are being bought with money. No money is being put in the solutions that would actually work. For example, all the research shows that depression and related illnesses can be cured by becoming physically active. This cure is too bland and actually requires effort from us, so no money is put in advocating this solution. For physical health, we are looking for magic pills and supplements to make cancers and heart diseases disappear when the real cure is a balanced nutritious diet. The Canada Food Guide is not "hot" or "magical" enough. And there is no money in advocating patients good diet and physical activity.
This book answers a lot of questions but raises many more. Mental illnesses do exist but are we looking in the right direction for the cure? Has the anxiety and stress increased in modern times or we are losing the ability to deal with it? Is this search for magical solutions making us more vulnerable?(less)

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Dec 22, 2012 Marie Fouhey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is a real indictment of Cornelia Wilbur, the psychiatrist who diagnosed "Sybil" with multiple personality disorder and treated her with hypnosis, truth serum, barbiturates and other addictive drugs, and who posed leading questions to Sybil while she was under the influence of the drugs. Dr. Wilbur also pushed the patient to give her answers that would prove Dr. Wilbur's hypothesis that MPD was caused by traumatic abuse by a mother in childhood. The treatment went on for years, leaving...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Amy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not sure about the author, but when I saw the movie Sybil and read the book at age 12, I didn't think it was an absolute literal account of the story. Even in 7th grade, I realized that movies took some liberties to tell a more interesting story. The book fascinated me even more than the movie. I still have my original copy autographed by Flora Rita Schrieber, who I met at a signing for a different book. I never took the book to be an exact account of the story any more than I thought my Lit...more I'm not sure about the author, but when I saw the movie Sybil and read the book at age 12, I didn't think it was an absolute literal account of the story. Even in 7th grade, I realized that movies took some liberties to tell a more interesting story. The book fascinated me even more than the movie. I still have my original copy autographed by Flora Rita Schrieber, who I met at a signing for a different book. I never took the book to be an exact account of the story any more than I thought my Little House on the Prairie books were.
As a psychologist I believe that MPD, now called DID (dissociative identity disorder), is misunderstood and misdiagnosed, but is also a real, but rare, phenomenon. The author does not distinguish between traumatic and non traumatic dissociation. Clients can feel like different people, part that is competent at work, yet another part immature in relationships, which is far different than having separate identities. I believe that a small group of poorly trained therapists, may have misunderstood the diagnosis and that certain clients with personality disorders might have seen DID as a way to get their emotional needs met. I don't know if the author's suppositions are any more valid than the story of Sybil. I am troubled that she seemed to have a preconceived notion about inaccurate memories that her suppositions are slanted with these prejudices. Traumatic repression of abuse does occur, as do cases of misremembering. People can have accurate and inaccurate memories that are traumatic and that are non traumatic ("I swear I told you that story before.")
Surely, many of Dr. Wilbur's bordered on modern day malpractice and others certainly crossed the line. I do wonder, though, why the author is quicker to believe naysayers that those who believe the general facts, if not all the details, of Sybil's story.
The book is an easy read and the author did a lot of research. My issue is with the absoluteness of the author's claims that she has the legitimate truth.
If you're interested in Sybil, you'll like the book, as long as you take it as an opinion written without talking to any of the three principles.(less)

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Nov 04, 2012 Sharon Porter-Moxley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Sybil Exposed is a must read for anyone who still believes in multiple personality disorder. The book Sybil was a complete fraud. In this amazing expose Debbie Nathan tells how Sybil, an educated, intelligent teacher was drugged by her therapist and actually made up her personalities after being addicted to an enormous number of drugs. If Sybil did not come up with another personality the therapist would cut her off from drugs causing her to go into painful withdrawal. The author conspired with...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Debunking cultural myths is a thankless task. I only know of one study that debunks alien abduction: Dark White. I only know of one study debunking the Kennedy conspirascists: Case Closed. I recall a book entitled Why Do People Believe Weird Things, and recently I read Three Cups of Deceit.

Such works are few. To debunk, one must be thorough, almost pedantic. Worse, one must crush one of our most cherished fallacies: that anyone, regardless of how mundane one's life is, can be the centre of an in...more

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Aug 18, 2012 Joanie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was 13 in 1973 when the book Sybil came out, and I read it along with everybody else I knew. Like the rest of the reading public, I was mesmerized. I bought into the character as a real person and hated her vile mother, whose sadistic and creative abuse of poor Sybil repelled and fascinated me. I never doubted that Sybil needed 16 different personalities to get along in life. I think I thought the young woman's name really was Sybil.

Forty years later and with a few episodes of The United Stat...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Tiffany rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'll start by saying that Sybil Exposed is not anything like the books I normally read. However, after reading a review of the book in People magazine and knowing the background of the original 'non-fiction' book, Sybil, I couldn't resist reading Sybil Exposed. This book is the outcome of tireless research by the author. She brings you into the world of Shirley Mason (Sybil), Shirley's Psychiatrist, Dr. Connie Wilbur, and the writer, Flora Shreiber, who brought Shirley's tale to the masses in th...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Elmwoodblues rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For all the people out there who swear they know of someone who 'clinically' HAS Multiple Personality Disorder, and also that 'that person's blood chemistry/genetic profile/lipid profile, etc...' is DIFFERENT than the 'host' profile, I would like to direct them to this book. But, then again, they would have to READ IT, and for most of those 'believers', that would be a stretch, for it is not on the Dr. Weil/Deepak Chopra/Oprah List of Unbanned Books.
OK, rant over.
If you are at all interested...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Eyehavenofilter rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Is there really such a "state" as multiple personality disorder. Or are we just many facets of one? This small book draws from all of the papers, records, files, photos, and tapes that are available to anyone who wants to wade through them at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and elsewhere, concerning the sensationalized case of "Sybil".
This was the 1972 blockbuster book that broke the barriers of psychoanalysis into a million pieces, and brought daytime talk shows at least 2 decades of rele...more

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Jun 07, 2012 Tia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked this book in the sense that it let me find out more about the real people behind the Sybil story. I feel so sorry for Shirley and her family. Obviously Shirley had some sort of mental illness, she was looking for love and assistance, and what she got was not what she was looking for. I believe Flora was motivated by money and by the fact that she was on a deadline to turn in a story. As far as Connie's motivations, it is hard to say. I believe she came across as a caring individual and I...more

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Jun 02, 2012 The Wee Hen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: readers of popular psychology non-fiction books

I was 6 years old in 1976, the year the movie "Sybil" aired on television. I'm not quite certain why my mother allowed me to watch this movie as I was a rather overprotected child who was never exposed to anything disturbing if she could help it. Perhaps she didn't know exactly what she was letting me watch. But I do remember the movie vividly. And I remember watching it when it showed up as a rerun. I was fascinated, horrified and frightened by this story of a young woman, shattered into pieces...more I was 6 years old in 1976, the year the movie "Sybil" aired on television. I'm not quite certain why my mother allowed me to watch this movie as I was a rather overprotected child who was never exposed to anything disturbing if she could help it. Perhaps she didn't know exactly what she was letting me watch. But I do remember the movie vividly. And I remember watching it when it showed up as a rerun. I was fascinated, horrified and frightened by this story of a young woman, shattered into pieces in the prime of her life. The abuse she suffered at the hands of her very sick, sadistic mother compelled me. I was a lonely, hypersensitive only child, like Sybil, and I found myself identifying with her in strange ways. Within a few years I'd gotten my hands on the book (surprise, surprise, I was an incredibly precocious reader) and I was even more mesmerized. I remember distinctly reading the other enormously popular MPD books, Michelle Remembers and When Rabbit Howls in the next ten years.
I was a troubled teenager and became convinced that I must have been horribly abused by somebody and often begged the psychologist I was seeing to hypnotize me and find what I insisted had to be repressed memories. Looking back I believe I was a teenage "hysteric" and if Dr. Cornelia Wilbur had gotten her hands on me there's no telling how many psych units I might have wound up on. It was the mid-80's after all and the time was frightfully ripe for such things. But my therapist cast a dark eye upon the whole phenomena and said that she wouldn't embark upon such a path of treatment for me.
For years I felt intrigued by the subject of of MPD/DID and combed the web for blogs created by people diagnosed with with this psychiatric illness. And there used to be whole webrings of these people, allowing each personality to have his or her own homepage and providing tons of artwork drawn in the hands of their alters, so much like Sybil herself. It never occurred to me to question these people suffering so desperately in their private, confused hells.
But Debbie Nathan did. And this is the crux for me. Nathan has written extensively about the debunking of the McMartin Case (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin...) and about the phenomenon of repressed memories as related to Satanic Ritual Abuse. Well it appears that Nathan is intent on throwing out the baby with the bathwater and all cases of Dissociative Identity Disorder are to be called into question and dismissed as well.
Which I, personally, do not quite feel qualified yet to do. Perhaps I cling to beliefs held too close but these survivors of private hells who work so hard to feel safe in their own skins, which they feel they are forced to share with mysterious and often frightening strangers, are deeply sympathetic people to me. Nathan, on the other hand, seems only too excited to rip away this diagnosis.
Having said ALL that, I will tell you this is a brilliant book. Richly researched, written in a style so compelling and with a voice so strong, I found it to be a page-turner I hated to put down. The story of Flora Rita Schreiber, Dr. Cornelia Wilbur and Shirley Mason turns out to be one about the difficulties of being a female misfit in the early 20th century. All were women not intent upon marriage and babies, but upon their own interior selves and the struggle to achieve fulfillment. Shirley was a frustrated artist, self-tormented by a religion she held close too her heart and which prohibited her creativity. Connie Wilbur was the child of a famous scientist and wanted to not only live up to her father but to surpass him with her own career, by any and all means possible. Flora was an immensely talented young writer, driven hard to success and intensely hungry for fame and riches.
Unfortunately each of these women found their way to each other and poor Shirley wound up sacrificing her entire life to the creation of Sybil, Inc. The extraordinary story of the production of the "Sybil" myth set these women onto a road that brought out the very worst in all of them. Nathan viciously takes Flora, Connie & Shirley apart, exposing a fraud quite shocking. Wilbur was determined to find herself a "Multiple" almost from the inception of her career. Shirley was desperate for attention and love as well as a card-carrying "hysteric" intent upon making herself into whatever her doctor wanted her to be. Heavy doses of intense drugs and hypnotism were the tools Wilbur chose to craft her patient's "hysteria" into a severe and shocking case of MPD. Flora was reluctantly willing to take the facts of the case and add whatever she deemed was necessary to make it dramatic enough to be a salacious and abominable tell-all in the early 1970's, a time of culture-wide sexual awakening and permissiveness not yet known. Everybody was in this for themselves and their motives seem to be highly distasteful. And Nathan can't seem to relish in it enough.
Do I still believe in stories of DID? I'm not sure. Do I believe the "Sybil" myth was real. No, I do not. Do I think Nathan has a bit of an axe to grind? Yes, rather.
Really, really good read though!
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May 24, 2012 Kifflie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-nonfiction

I read the original Sybil as a teenager. The Seventies were chock-full of psychiatric girls -- Lisa Bright and Dark, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, and of course Go Ask Alice. But Sybil was always the crown jewel. Who could argue with sixteen personalities? Well, as it turned out, there was plenty to argue with.

This is a horror story. Not the fabrication that Flora Rhetta Schreiber originally told, but a tale of sheer arrogance and ignorance displayed by one Doctor Cornelia Wilbur. We forge...more

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May 02, 2012 Kym rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So everybody jump on the bandwagon there's another book denying the reality of multiple personality well, it's called Dissociative Identity Disorder now, the MPD label was dropped back in 1994. This time it's the new book by Debbie Nathan called "Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case".

In interviews, Nathan states she has fact-checked the book and done years of research so I think to myself, much of it must be true right? Well, if it was, in a way yes...more So everybody jump on the bandwagon there's another book denying the reality of multiple personality well, it's called Dissociative Identity Disorder now, the MPD label was dropped back in 1994. This time it's the new book by Debbie Nathan called "Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case".

In interviews, Nathan states she has fact-checked the book and done years of research so I think to myself, much of it must be true right? Well, if it was, in a way yes - facts are facts. But the presentation of the facts can be in such a way as to make them seem more grandiose or less depending on what the author wants you to believe.

My first and continuing thought in all of this is "Why does this author want to write a book that could hurt so many people?" I have my thoughts on this but never find the answer in the book. It begins in the introduction that "Debbie Nathan gives proof that the allegedly true story was largely fabricated." and goes onto build what looks like a horror story of ghoulish proportions. It portends to have all the makings of a great fiction book; greed, sex, gore and maybe that's what this book was in all actuality - Fiction

Throughout the book you meet the individuals of the person known as Sybil, Dr. Cornelia Wilbur (her Psychiatrist) and Flora Rheta Schreiber (the person who writes the book Sybil). The style is confusing. The way she moves between people it's not easy to connect the dots unless you actually take her at her word that this is truth. Some of the historic facts about the women are rather interesting (if it is true). Learning about how they grew up and what challenges they faced actually made the book Sybil more believable to me.

Unfortunately, what I see is pieces of truth, interwoven with statements of the author's opinion and comments made to capture the reader with a sense of disgust. For example, when the author discusses the "truth" of Dr. Wilbur taking part in the early days of performing lobotomies, she uses this description, "Now she was also drilling holes in their skulls and turning their brains into pulp". Anyone familiar with the history of medicine knows that the practice of medicine has come a long way from its early days. Remember blood-letting (using leeches to drain people's blood to cure disease). The author takes facts out of context and makes them seem like you should be aghast.

The author continues this theme throughout the book even into her notes pages. For example, instead of saying "Mason's diary entry" she uses the terminology "All so-called diary material". This shows the disbelief and utter disdain the author has for Sybil although she will tell you that she believes that she was misguided and used by Dr. Wilbur and Flora Rheta Shreiber.

The author does not only try to debunk the Sybil story, she appears to have an agenda against anyone that believes in D.I.D or what she calls MPD/DID. Even in her epilogue, she takes to task the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) and some of its major contributors. Ironically, as I was doing research on the veracity of the book, I came across quite a heated debate between the author and members of the ISSTD. The author had been accused of portraying things improperly in the book and was not taking criticism well. This includes the fact that since the book has been out people are fact-checking the book and finding major errors in her work. A specific reference I can quote is one where she misquotes someone from the ISSTD. This person has written a letter advising what she actually stated to the author.

All in all, if you read the book critically and don't buy into the author's manipulation of facts and remember that none of the three woman she tries to condemn are here to dispute any of her claims, I think the book actually can be taken one of two ways... either as a really good book of fiction itself OR as proof that Sybil was true and that her primary guide through this thing we now know as D.I.D. did they very best she could knowing the time in which she experienced the things she did.

Otherwise, don't get caught up in all of the out of context "facts", the glaring agendas and the inflammatory language.

If you want to use this to fire yourself up... buy it but do so in real copy -- it's very hard to note and verify notes in the Kindle version. Better yet, get it from the library so you don't have to give her any more cash. It's not worth it. Otherwise, stick to something better because this really isn't worth the trouble(less)

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Feb 26, 2012 McGuffy Morris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sybil became popular, both in psychiatry and modern culture in the 1970's. Both the book and the movie made the complex disorder known as "Multipersonality" a phenomenon, though sensationalizing it, as well. Not only did it bring this disorder to the spotlight in mental health, it created a catchphrase and controversy, in spite of its horrific nature.

Psychiatry and psychology are not absolute, as the mind is a complex, hidden area. The memory is not always exact in time or place, being affected...more

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Feb 05, 2012 James rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Sybil" was one of the most famous books from my teenaged years in the 1970's. For those who came in late, the book concerned the allegedly true story a woman who was reputed to have sixteen personalities. Horrific child abuse was supposed to have caused this condition. In theory, Sybil coped with memories too painful to bear by splitting into multiple identities who handled the memories for her "waking self," who had no access to the memories of these "alters." By coaxing the "waking self" to e...more "Sybil" was one of the most famous books from my teenaged years in the 1970's. For those who came in late, the book concerned the allegedly true story a woman who was reputed to have sixteen personalities. Horrific child abuse was supposed to have caused this condition. In theory, Sybil coped with memories too painful to bear by splitting into multiple identities who handled the memories for her "waking self," who had no access to the memories of these "alters." By coaxing the "waking self" to experience these memories, and acquainting the personalities with one another, Dr. Wilbur integrated Sybil into one personality--healed at last. Or so the story went.

In "Sybil Exposed," Debbie Nathan makes a strong case that "Sybil" was pure fiction. Each woman made significant contributions to the fraud over time, each for different reasons. Shirley Mason, a disturbed and chronically depressed person, wanted to keep Dr. Wilbur in her life, having become psychologically dependent on her, and addicted to the sodium pentathol she received in therapy. By faking different personalities, she kept Dr. Wilbur's attention. Meanwhile, Dr. Wilbur wanted a case that would make her famous and influential. At one point, she even decided that Mason was in denial when she attempted to admit that she was faking multiple personality. Complicating matters further, Wilbur pumped Mason so full of barbituates and hypnotized her so often that Mason's mind was soon littered with false memories of abuse. Enter writer Flora Schreiber, who wanted to become famous for a serious work of non-fiction. She relentlessly embellished Wilbur and Mason's accounts to heighten the drama in the book.

To make a long story short, Schreiber found no corroborating evidence to back up Mason and Wilbur's stories, and some evidence to refute them, but she finished the book anyway. The rest is publishing history.

All this would be trivial if it were not for profound influence that the book and Dr. Wilbur had on the child abuse hysteria of the 1980's. Diagnoses of multiple personality, considered extremely rare at one time, skyrocketed after "Sybil's" publication. This, along with the publication of books such as "Michelle Remembers," stoked rumors of huge conspiracies, even Satanic cults, that brutally abused countless thousands of children throughout the United States.

The dearth of evidence to back up these rumors, the physical and practical impossibility of many of the stories, lawsuits against therapists who had defamed parents as abusers, and improved understanding of false memories finally tamed the hysteria.

Thus the legacy of "Sybil" consists chiefly of a psychiatric diagnosis, "dissociative identity disorder," whose delineation is heavily influenced by the bogus case of "Sybil." A great many psychiatrists these days doubt that the disorder even exists. (less)

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Jan 22, 2012 Katherine Williams rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought the book was interesting and well researched. However, I hardly think it comes as a huge shock to most people that the story of Sybil is mostly a fabrication and the actions of her psychiatrist was unethical. I gave the book two stars because I think the author has an agenda with the book which she fails to state up front. At the end of the book she spends about five pages going on about false memories. The whole issue of false memories has become a highly contensious issue in mental h...more

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Nov 04, 2011 Ouija rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Three women - two who could be called unscrupulous at best, and one troubled and trusting - form the backbone of this extraordinary book. Meticulously researched, Nathan exposes - point by point - the shocking story of Sybil. By shocking, I'm referring to the monumental hoax perpetuated by a monstrous, controlling psychiatrist and an aging writer in search of a best seller and big payday. Using reams of actual case files, letters, notes and interviews curated at John Jay College we can see how t...more

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Oct 20, 2011 Felicity Lee rated it 1 of 5 stars

I remember when I read "Sybil". It was during my first year of college. Things were so different back then. We have to remember when reading Nathan's book that child protective laws were nil during that time. Children were considered chattel. Children and/or adult survivors didn't dare report child abuse to anyone. They were either punished or called liars. The idea that a person could 'tell' someone, especially privately, was brought to life in 'Sybil'. Dr. Wilbur listened and believed. It wasn...more I remember when I read "Sybil". It was during my first year of college. Things were so different back then. We have to remember when reading Nathan's book that child protective laws were nil during that time. Children were considered chattel. Children and/or adult survivors didn't dare report child abuse to anyone. They were either punished or called liars. The idea that a person could 'tell' someone, especially privately, was brought to life in 'Sybil'. Dr. Wilbur listened and believed. It wasn't just therapists who were suddenly hearing stories of child abuse. Friends I had known my whole life read the book and told me their 'secrets'. They had been being sexually abused. It 'was' a social epidemic - the silence was broken. And child protective laws were finally being made.

Nathan would like us to believe that three woman 'created' a story that would catch public attention. That 'woman' ran to therapists with stories of abuse looking for attention - therapists 'created' personalities, etc. Before falling for this tale she has woven for us, read Sybil again. More likely and based on very solid research, the story of Sybil is true, and it finally gave survivors the strength to tell someone. Child abuse was rampant during that time, DID is a valid diagnosis caused by early childhood trauma, and therapists were doing what they could to help those who were coming forward.

She misstates many of the facts right out of 'Sybil', especially about the medication. It is well-know that Dr. Wilbur did not act unethically. Nathan is not qualified in the area of psychology, but makes assumption based on thin air.

Several years later, I studied the book 'Sybil' in more detail during my graduate studies in psychology. There is so very much 'valid' and documented research out there that makes Nathan's 'interviews', book citations, etc. laughable.

Good reading? No - boring - mostly. The only interest I had was wondering why 'she', or anyone would want to scandalize a piece of work that stands solidly on its own merit - a book that showed survivors that there are people out there who care, and that there is help available. The message is still in the book 'Sybil'. Yes, middle school children will read and know that they 'can' tell and someone will listen. It is okay. I think I will buy 3 more copies of 'Sybil'. (less)

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May 15, 2013 Sharon Watkins rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Like just about everybody else in the mid-70's, I was fascinated with the true story of Sybil, the young woman whose abuse at the hands of her mother caused her to shatter into multiple personalities, finally to be made whole again by her capable and compassionate psychiatrist. As this book demonstrated, there was only one problem with that story: it was largely the product of confabulation. Debbie Nathan had extraordinary access to Shirley Mason's (Sybil)and Constance Wilbur's (the psychiatrist...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Bridget rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The second book of my spring break is completed. What an interesting story! I'm not much of a non-fiction reader and I've noticed that the non-fiction I like is expose type of non-fiction where past events are gone over again and a clearer truth presented.

This story was fascinating. I was pretty unfamiliar with the whole thing. While the whole history was interesting to read (and a little sickening to think what therapists did to patients in the medical ignorance), the most interesting part the...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-issues

Hmm. It's hard to know exactly what to think of this. So this is really a 3.5 for me. Anyone who grew up in the 70s and remembers the book/TV movie and was horrified--it's kind of weird to realize it might not all have been true. There is a pretty wide diversity of opinion on this book--one view being that Nathan is merely a feminist in search of an expose at any cost and she has maligned good women; another view being that there was something very obviously wrong here and it's about time someon...more

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Nov 20, 2011 Ciara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: feminist-y-books, read-in-2011

well, i loved this book, although i had a dream last night that all of my radical mental health friends gave it one star & talked about how offensive it was to people suffering from dissociative identity disorder due to childhood trauma.

nathan writes about reading the book sybil as a young a woman, a supposedly true account of a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder--she has split into sixteen personalities, including children & boys--as a result of horrific childhood abuse...more well, i loved this book, although i had a dream last night that all of my radical mental health friends gave it one star & talked about how offensive it was to people suffering from dissociative identity disorder due to childhood trauma.

nathan writes about reading the book sybil as a young a woman, a supposedly true account of a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder--she has split into sixteen personalities, including children & boys--as a result of horrific childhood abuse at the hands of her schizophrenic mother. like many people who have read the book, including myself, nathan writes about wondering if somehow such a thing could happen to her--that she might "come to" one day in an unfamiliar city & learn through psychiatric treatment that she has repressed traumatic memories that have caused her consciousness to splinter.

within ten years of sybil's release--& bear in mind that it was a smash success, generating a TV miniseries--multiple personality disorder was added to the DSM, thanks due in no small part to the relentless campaigning for dr. cornelia wilbur, who was the psychiatrist that diagnosed sybil's multiple personalities & facilitated her successful "integration" into one healthy, happy, functional adult woman. shortly thereafter, the number of multiple personality diagnoses exploded. prior to sybil, there had been fewer than 200 multiple personality cases in the entirety of human history. after sybil, the number was in the tens of thousands in the united states alone. & many of the newly diagnosed were coming out with horrifying tales of abuse at the hands of satanic cults that engaged in violent rape, human sacrifice, & cannibalism. the stories were so plentiful & were resulting in so much trauma, the FBI actually began investigating these claims of satanic cults in the american heartland.

nathan specializes in non-fiction books about sex panics, particularly the way they impact women & children. she has actually written books about these alleged satanic cults, for which no evidence was ever found. & so she is a natural fit to shine a bright light on the sybil story & uncover the many exculpatory facts that draw the reality of multiple personalities/dissociative disorder into question.

i thought this book was fascinating, well-written, well-paced, exhaustively researched, & imbued with a subtle but unmistakable feminist sheen. i loved it. perhaps i am biased by having been acquainted with more than one woman who has claimed to be suffering from multiple personalities (including children, babies, & boys) as a result of satanic childhood sex abuse. i never knew what to say to these ladies because i found their stories so incredibly implausible & ridiculous. one of them claimed that the entire FBI, which allegedly employed her father, was actually a satanic sex cult that routinely murdered babies & raped toddlers in the posh virginia suburbs outside washington DC. really? i mean...really?! i don't know, man. but in the radical social justice-oriented mental health world in which i grew up, it is verboten to ever question someone's story of trauma or mental health narrative. so i found this book very liberating.(less)

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