Sybil

This movie reflection is about the film named “Sybil” is directed in 1976. This film is based on the true story about a young woman named Sybil who is 22 years old and suffers from the Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), which is known as the formerly Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD).

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a mental disorder which reflects a failure to integrate various aspects of identity, memory, and consciousness. Each personality state may be different as if it has a distinct personality history, self-image, and identity, including a separate name.
 
There are two main characters; Sybil as the patient and Dr. Wilbur as the psychiatrist.  Sybil is 22 years old lady, but she has memory loss frequently develops dissociative identity disorder includes at least 13 different personalities. Her childhood was harrowing to her, because she was abused psychologically and physically by her mom. However, she couldn’t aware of where the mental illness comes from. Memory loss (amnesia) occurs in those with DID when an alternate part of the personality becomes dominant. 

Sybil’s symptoms are accurate to someone suffering from a DID. Sybil’s mental state and physical actions were portrayed well as based on DSM-IV-TR, inability to recall her past, confusion about her identity or assumption of a new identity (partial and complete), temporal lobe epilepsy, clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functions. These can be diagnosed as the dissociative identity disorder (DID). And else, Sybil is very sensitive about some metal sounds remind the memory of abuse as a child. Besides, she has the problems of disorganized behaviors and disorganized speech. 

Moreover, as time passed, Sybil show differently behaviors, such as speaks French fluently, breaks window, draws pictures, writes a poem, plays a piano with sing a song, tempts suicides, behave like an infant and a flirt, have strong beliefs like as a grandma, and even two men. However, Sybil is not sure how many different personalities within her. Between different personalities, sometimes they know each other and Dr. Wilbur meets them one by one in different states of Sybil’s mood, such as Peggy, Marsha, Vicky, etc. 

Probably, the specific relationship of childhood abuse, disorganized attachment and lack of social support from both parents are the main factors of Sybil’s mental illness. It I felt again that childhood experiences would be very important in a person’s life span and influence significantly a person’s attitudes and behaviors. For the first, she maybe expressed as posttraumatic stress disorder then may become Dissociative Identity Disorder, possibly due to her imagination as a form of coping strategy.

According to Sybil’s father told that Sybil’s mother suffered from schizophrenia then when Sybil was in childhood. Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder that causes people to have hallucinations, delusions, and other confusing thoughts and behaviors, which distort their view of reality.
 

Sybil’s psychiatrist, Dr. Wilbur puts a lot of efforts on Sybil. In order to find her memory of memory in childhood and connects it each other, Dr Wilbur tries to help using trauma hypnosis (a type of psychotherapy) few times but sometimes too much pushing conversation made Sybil becomes an infant. 

 Eventually thank to the psychiatrist’s help, Sybil confronted directly with her mother as an offender in her childhood and complained how she could do it for her little daughter. It must was a kind of nightmare for her. After explosive crying, she met other different personalities one by one within her then forgive and reconcile with them. She finally kicked out of the memory on the ending scene and everything back to normal life. After truly reconciled with traumatic memory, Sybil returns back to normal life. 

Sybil’s case became one of the most famous examples of Dissociative Identity Disorder.   Dr Wilber’s unlimited understanding, respect, affection, and love on a patient was so amazing and beautiful. She can be the best model for me as a future psychologist.