And that mistreatment had caused her consciousness to split into many different personalities to hold the trauma, so that she wouldn't be aware of it. NATHAN: Sybil was supposedly a young woman who as a small child, had been horribly, sadistically, violently sexually abused by her psychotic mother. Tell us first about the book and the movie "Sybil," for those youngins' out there who didn't see it. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.įLATOW: This is an amazing story. Joining me now to talk more about it is Debbie Nathan, the author of "Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case." She joins us here in New York, at our studios. And after the book and the movie came out, the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder, well, you can guess it skyrocketed in the U.S, from less to 100 to thousands.īut was Sybil's story really true? A new book, "Sybil Exposed," suggests that Sybil, whose real name was Shirley, pretended - she pretended to have multiple personalities, in part to please her therapist. First it was a book and then a TV movie and then - remember that two-part miniseries, which was supposedly based on a true story? Sally Field played Sybil, a girl who suffered terrible abuse at the hands of her mother.Īnd to cope with the trauma, she developed multiple personalities - as many as 16. In the 1970s, you might remember that sensational story of Sybil, captured the attention of millions of Americans. IRA FLATOW, host: Up next, a look back at a famous case of multiple personality disorder.
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