Sybil

"Sybil is the true story of a shy, timid, self-effacing young woman and of the many selves she assumed. Since early childhood, Sybil had had 'blackouts, ' 'missing days, ' long periods during which time--days, weeks, months, sometimes years--seemed to have been taken from her. During these periods, unknown to Sybil, other, very different personalities would inhabit and control her body and mind: Vicky, stylish and sophisticated; the two Peggys, one tactful, one bull-headed; Marcia, assertive, speaking with a British accent; Mary, a maternal homemaker; and ten others. Sixteen selves existed within the individual born as Sybil Isabel Dorsett, fourteen female, two male, each with different emotions, talents, ambitions, modes of behavior, speech patterns, and body image. Sybil is also the story of Dr. Cornelia B. Wilbur, the psychoanalyst to whom Sybil, in 1954, went for help. After a few months of analysis, the individual known as Sybil marched grandly into her office and announced in a tone entirely different from Sybil's: 'Hello. I'm Vicky. Sybil was ill today, so I came in her place.' Dr. Wilbur soon realized that she had encountered a case of multiple personality, one of the few ever recorded. Sybil is, finally, the story of the eleven-year psychoanalysis of the many selves of Sybil, the only psychoanalysis of a multiple personality ever undertaken. This powerful narrative follows the strange, painful, exhilarating unfolding of the story of the many faces of Sybil--involving the reconstruction of Sybil's unbelievably horrifying early life and leading to the integration of the many personalities into one. Based on hours of conversations with the principals, notes made by Dr. Wilbur during the analysis, Sybil's diaries and essays, tape recordings of the actual selves, and the author's face-to-face encounter with each of Sybil's sixteen personalities, Sybil is the story of one woman's desperate struggle become one."--Jacket.