Sybil Exposed (54 page)

schooling of,
22
–23,
24
,
26
–27,
37
,
43
,
44
,
46
,
83
,
88

Schreiber’s first collaboration with,
120
–22

Schreiber’s strained relationship with,
175
,
202
,
207

sexism faced by,
20
,
22
,
24
–25,
37
,
52
,
63

shock treatments administered by,
44
,
47
,
48
–49,
80
,
99
–100,
101

Stern’s list of
Sybil
queries for,
181
,
183

Sybil
legal action and,
192
,
193
,
194
,
206

at University of Kentucky Medical School department,
146
–48,
171
,
195
,
211
,
213
–14,
227

Walter Mason’s meetings with,
xiv
,
104
–5,
170

West Virginia move of,
138
–39,
140
,
141
,
143
,
145
–46

Wilbur, Henry Marsh,
27
,
53
,
63

Wilbur-Mason therapy sessions,
75
,
87
,
89
–96,
97
–111,
125
,
126
–27,
230

as depicted in
Sybil,
xv
,
169
–70,
172
,
182

destroyed records of,
221

drugs prescribed in,
63
,
88
–89,
97
,
99
,
102
,
104
,
110
,
128
,
140

electro-convulsive treatments in,
99
–100,
101

emergence of new “alternate” personalities in,
90
–92,
98
,
100
,
104
,
108
,
131
,
155

factual discrepancies in “memories” recalled in,
136
,
158
,
161
–64,
166

false memories and,
xiii
,
93
–95,
103
,
107
,
108
–11,
130
,
158
,
182

first emergence of “alternate” personalities in,
90
–92,
106
,
155
,
169
–70,
175

fugue states explored in,
89
–90,
92
–93,
99
,
101
,
106
,
182

hypnosis used in,
xi
,
xii
–xiii,
xiv
,
xv
,
130
,
132
–33,
136
,
139
,
155
,
158
,
163
,
175
,
183

initial sessions in,
53
,
54
,
62
–66,
76
,
87
,
89
–90,
106

“integration” of multiple personalities in,
140
–41,
143

Mason’s deteriorating mental health and,
98
–99,
100
,
101
,
103
–4,
105
,
110
,
123

Mason’s recanting letter in,
105
–8,
166

Mattie Mason demonized in,
xiii
,
65
,
95
,
97
,
101
,
106
–7,
108
,
110
,
133
,
158
,
184

“memories” of abuse recovered in,
xi
,
xii
–xiii,
94
,
103
,
107
,
108
–11,
132
–33,
136
,
155
,
157
–58,
162
,
164
,
184
–85

narcosynthesis in,
xiv
,
xviii
,
92
,
93
–96,
97
,
98
,
99
,
100
–101,
102
–4,
107
,
108
–11,
136
,
155
,
157
,
158
,
163
,
171
,
175
,
183
,
191

search for hidden childhood trauma in,
xiv
,
92
,
93
–96,
97
,
101
,
102
,
103
,
109
,
110
,
132

taped recordings of,
93
,
98
,
107
,
109
–11,
126
,
155
,
157
,
163
,
183
,
184
–85,
186

transcripts of,
xi
,
xii
,
xiii
,
93
–96,
126
,
185

transference in,
63
–66,
75
,
125
,
126

unorthodox house calls in,
xviii
,
97
,
99
–101,
103
,
124

Wilbur’s manipulation of patient in,
xi
,
xiii
,
xvii
,
xviii
,
94
,
101
,
108
,
109
–11,
130
,
131
–33,
158
,
164
,
166
,
220
–21,
228
see also
Mason, Shirley Ardell;

Wilbur, Cornelia “Connie”

Winfrey, Oprah,
222

Winsey, Aubrey,
163
–65

Winsey, Val,
163
–65

Woltman, Henry,
60
–61

Woodward, Joanne,
185
,
186

Zilboorg, Gregory,
81

Zitrin, Arthur,
84

Debbie Nathan has been a journalist, editor, and translator for over three decades. She specializes in writing about immigration, the U.S.–Mexico border, sexual politics, and sex panics, particularly in relation to women and children. Her work has won numerous national and regional awards.

In the late 1980s, Debbie was the first journalist to do in-depth critical work for the national press about the “ritual sex abuse” panic that peaked in the United States in the mid- to late 1980s. Her writing about these sex-abuse scandals helped free some falsely convicted defendants, including day care aide Kelly Michaels in New Jersey.

Debbie appears in the Academy Award–nominated documentary
Capturing the Friedmans,
the story of accused child molesters Arnold and Jesse Friedman. She is a board member of the National Center for Reason and Justice (NCRJ). This nonprofit organization advocates for intelligent, humane approaches to preventing child abuse and dealing with accused offenders.

Debbie was raised in Houston, Texas, and currently lives in New York City with her husband, Morten Naess. She has two children, Sophy and Willy.

Shirley Mason’s childhood home in Dodge Center, Minnesota, where she claimed she was abused by her mother for years, yet no one ever noticed.

Shirley Mason as a young girl.
Courtesy Arlene Christensen

A 7th Day Adventist Camp, similar to one where Shirley worshipped as a young girl.
Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

The future Dr. Connie Wilbur, as a young woman, from her 1930 University of Michigan yearbook.

A frail Shirley Mason, circa 1933. A close look reveals that her eyes are rolled back, suggesting that she is in a self-induced trance state.
Courtesy Arlene Christensen