Sybil (58 page)

INDEX

Item: The four selves of a twenty-four-year-old, each of whom was independently given a psychological word association test, had totally different responses for individual words and for sets of words. From self to self there was indeed no leakage, no cross-fertilization of a single word association. Unmistakably, selves I, II, III, and IV were as independent in their responses as if they were four separate individuals.

Item: A battery of psychological and neurological tests was administered to the four selves of another patient (jonah), a twenty-seven-year-old. The selves reacted with complete independence of one another. Even their EEG'S (electroencephalograms) were unalike.

A study, which won an award from the Society for Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis, tabulates the results. Entitled "The Objective Study of a Multiple Personality," the article, which was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, April, 1972, by Arnold M. Ludwig, MD, Jeffrey M. Brandsma, MD, Cornelia B. Wilbur, MD, Fernando Bentfeld, MD, and Douglas H. Jameson, MD, tabulated the EEG of Jonah and his secondary selves-- Sammy, King Young, and Usoffa--thus:

Summary of Objective EEG Data (15-Minute Sample of Each Recording)

Note: The columns of this table follow each other in this order: Data: Jonah; Trance; Sammy; King Young; Usoffa; Jonah.

Alpha frequency mode: 1 10.5; 9.5; 9.5; 9.5; 10.5; 10.0.

Alpha range: 9.5-10.5; 9.0-10.0; 9.0-10.0; 8.5-10.0; 9.0-11.0;

9.0-10.5.

Alpha amplitude mode: 2 20.0; 20.0; 20.0; 30.0; 15.0; 20.0. Theta frequency mode: 1 5.0; 4.0;

4.0; 4.0; 4.0; 5.0.

Theta amplitude mode: 2 20.0; 20.0; 25.0; 15.0; 25.0; 15.0.

% time alpha: 3 53.0; 20.0;

20.0; 52.0; 41.0; 60.0.

% time theta: 3 31.0; 76.0; 75.0;

18.0; 45.0; 8.0.

% time low voltage: 3 15.0; 3.0; 5.0; 30.0; 10.0; 19.0.

% time asleep: 3 1.0; 1.0; 5.0; 1.0; 2.0; 0.0.

Movement and muscle activity (secstmin): 9.0; 0.2; 4.0; 33.0; 13.0;

16.0.

Eye movementsstmin: 5.0; 4.0; 2.0; 14.0; 5.5; 5.7.

1 Frequencies are given in cycles per second.

2 Amplitudes are given in microvolts.

3 Percent time is the average number of seconds dominated by the indicated feature per 100 seconds of trace.

Even though Jonah's four selves could be substantiated through objective tests and clinical observation, thirteen army psychiatrists failed to spot the nature of his illness. That Dr. Wilbur, fresh from an eleven-year exploration of Sybil Dorsett, did make the diagnoses, not only of Jonah but also of five other cases in seven years, seems to indicate--just by the law of averages--that this illness occurs more frequently than is recognized by physicians. Not impossibly many persons who suffer from amnesia are in reality multiple personalities. At any rate, since the prognosis is very good when the multiple personality is recognized and properly treated, it is essential to develop further knowledge of this little explored, too often ignored field of medical knowledge.

Its importance is implicit in a statement of Freud, which appears in The Interpretation of Dreams:

The whole multiplicity of the problems of consciousness can only be grasped by an analysis of the thought-processes in hysteria. ... Examples of every possible variety of how a thought can be withheld from consciousness or force its way inffconsciousness under certain limitations are to be found included within the framework of psychoneurotic phenomena.

If you translate "thoughts" into "secondary selves," you have the analog of the seven multiple personalities, including Sybil Dorsett, whom Dr. Wilbur has treated.

During the Columbus Day weekend, 1972, Sybil, Dr. Wilbur, and I got together to celebrate the book's approaching completion. Sybil was marvelous--so well that it was hard to remember that she had once been otherwise. She is climbing the professional ladder with alacrity. Her colleagues respect her, and her students love her. She has many new friends, has her own home, drives her own car, and makes regular payments to Dr. Wilbur for the now-distant analysis. The several art exhibits of Sybil's work reflect the wholeness of an integrated artist in contrast to the medley of disparate styles of the past. In short, Sybil is leading the good life--a whole life.

During our weekend together I mentioned to Sybil that one of the typists of this book had become so involved with the story that she dreamed she was Sybil. Next morning at breakfast Sybil's lips curved in an impish smile as she announced, "I dreamed I was Sybil."

The Sybil about whom the typist dreamed seemed like someone other than the woman before me. The dream --or rather the nightmare--had receded so far into the past that at the breakfast table that October morning there was no question but that there were only three of us. Sybil was well, and as her friend I rejoiced in her story's happy ending.

Psychological Index abandonment, 58 abreaction, 355, 356 abuses, 195-196, 219-220, 221-222, 275-296, 308, 379, 404, 422; battering, 251; father's evasion of, 252, 269, 271, 274, 275-276; physical, 222, 224; psychological, acting out, 118, 331. See also symptoms, psychological age progression by hypnosis, 385, 388, 389, 390, 391, 411 alienation, 295, 350 aloneness, 150, 152, 153-154, 155, 160, 360 alternating personalities. See alternating selves alternating selves, 116-119, 319, 339, 387; acquisitions by, 339, 340-341; active and passive, 347; activities of, 322-323, 380; ages of, 380, 384; alternations of, 380; ambitions of, 315, 380; as obstruction to action, 378, 380; as surregates, 380; assertiveness of, 339; attitudes of, 315; autonomy of, 339, 446;

behavior of, 379-380; body images of, 315, 380; capacity to negotiate of, 340; captors of the waking self, 376, 381; confidence of, 339; coexistence of, 377, 379; collaboration of, 379-380; cooperation of, 379; defenses of, 380;

degree of strength of, 347; desires of, 315; different characteristics of, 315; emotions of, 315; 340, 380; family trees of, 340; female-male, 315; fixations in the past of, 391; functioning as defense, 340, 347; functions of, 342, 376, 402-403; handwriting of, 380; hostility of, 340; independence of, 356; independent futures of, 364; individual tastes of, 377-379; intelligence of, 380; interference of, 282, 352; jealousy among, 379; knowledge of the waking self, 324, 325; libido of, 340; life style of, 367; linkage to the waking self, 336; male, 394; memory trace of, 340; modes of behavior, 315, 340; "mother" of the woman, 391; painting styles of, 69, 95; passivity of, 380; Peggy Lou, 65, 71-72; poise of, 339; prisoners of the waking self, 376, 381; quiescence of, 339; rage of, 339, 342; sexual attitudes of, 379; speech patterns of, 315, 380; spontaneous appearances of, 377-378; Sybil's unawareness of, 405; talents of, 315; tastes of, 379-380; thought processes of, 315; twosomes, 334-335; Vicky, 90;

vocabularies of, 379; withholding from the waking self, 325; younger than the waking self, 315, 321. See also alternations of personality; multiple personalities alternations of painting styles, 69, 95, alternations of personality, 23, 47, 65ff, 69-70, 71ff (peggy Lou) 87, 89 (peggy Lou), 90-91

(vicky), 97, 107, 109, 113, 117-119, 141ff, 155-156

(vicky), 162, 164, 197, 207, 208, 212, 248 (peggy Lou), 249 (marcia), 253, 277, 280, 283, 327, 331, 337-339, 344, 345, 351, 375-376, 377, 382; first recognition of, 359. See also alternating selves alternations of speech and language, 89, 99-100, 122 amnesia, 70, 80, 81, 243, 246, 327, 339, 356, 446, 448 Anderson family: physical symptoms of, 245; psychosomatic illnesses of, 245; schizophrenia of, 245. See also family history Anderson, Winston (hattie's father), 212, 224, 241, 242, 244-245;

alcoholism of, 243. See also grandparents, role of anger, 55, 75, 401; Peggy Lou as defense against, 72 anxiety, 63, 119, 276 aspects of same person, 169 assertiveness, 436; of Peggy Lou, 38 Azam, M., 109

battered child, 158ff, 207 Beauchamp, Christine, 91, 108, 109-110, 313, 383 becoming, 358, 334, 388 blindness, fear of, 212 Blonde, The, 433, 434-435, 440; first appearance of, 432. See also alternating selves; alternations of personality. Bourne, Ansel, 108, 109

catatonia, 199, 375, 386 causation, 446; contrast with Eve, 381;

Dorsett lineage, 260ff; entrapment by religion, associated root of, 292ff, 298, 340; father's failure, associated root of, 256, 268, 271, 273, 275, 341; mother, taproot of traumas, 199, 207, 246, 268, 274, 341, 401-403; multiple roots of, 109; original events of, 314, 337-339; pathological attachment of Hattie to her father, 244; psychopathology of Hattie, 241ff; roots of the illness, 207, 246, 273, 313, 340, 363;

shock, 110; trauma, 110, 119 Charcot, 116

Chase, Robert H., The Ungeared Mind, 109 child molestation, 204, 205-206 childhood fantasy: having many children, 420-421 chorea, 166, 243 church, 81, 295, 298; Omaha, 299, 302, 303-04

Cleckley, Dr. Henry, "A Case of Multiple Personality," 108 Clara (dorsett), 301, 304, 304-308, 311, 312, 313, 315, 341, 361, 389. See also alternating selves; alternations of personality.

co-analysand, 112, 313, 335 conflicts, 386, 391, 394, 411, 423-424; religious, 396-397 core conflicts, 320 core distortions, 361

death wish, 373; for mother, 402; Marcia's for mother, 249 defecation, 204 dejection, 427

defenses, 119, 207; alternating selves as, 296-297, 313, 336, 340, 358; of Willard Dorsett against psychoanalysis, 48-50 denials: of normal childhood, 347; of normal womanhood, 347 dependency, 361 depleted personality, 336, 340 depletion, 111, 441; departure of, 416;

lessening of, 362; moving from 403; resolution of, 393 depression, 251, 276, 297, 312, 373, 378, 381, 383, 390, 400, 409, 410 despair, 343 diagnosis, 44, 90 dissociation, 70, 90, 119, 199, 207, 313, 322, 335, 337, 338, 339, 340, 344, 356, 358, 362, 363, 417, 432

Dorsett, Aubrey, See Grandpa Dorsett Dorsett family, 37-38, 41, 43, 44, 45-46, 54. See also family history Dorsett, Henrietta (hattie) Anderson, 37, 38, 41, 45-46, 48-49, 51, 54, 55, 69, 93, 131ff, 138, 139, 152, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 163, 166, 167, 168, 179, 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 190, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199-206, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 218, 219, 222, 241, 245, 248, 249, 258, 259, 268, 269, 270, 271, 273, 302, 304, 361-362, 363, 379, 386, 401, 403, 431, 433; attitude toward motherhood, 131-134; "bad spells," 168-169;

chorea, 243; depression, 193, 268; enfant terrible, 244; nemesis, 243;

"nervous" symptoms, 243; postpartum depression, 133-134, 312. See also mother Dorsett, Mary. See Grandma Dorsett Dorsett, Sybil Isabel, 23ff.

See also waking self, the Dorsett, Willard, 37, 44, 48, 50, 54, 56, 77, 78, 127ff, 158, 160, 166, 182, 184, 187, 188, 189, 204, 208, 213, 219ff, 250, 254ff, 255ff, 267, 403-305, 433; aloof, nonseeing, 271; neuritis, 192, 269; passivity of, 258. See also father drama of cruelty, 207 dreams, 42, 55, 262, 275, 334, 345ff, 405ff, 407, 449; incestuous, 405ff; interpretation of, 449 drugs, 48, 49 dual personality, 70, 89, 109, 245

electroencephalogram, 448 entrapment, 68, 76, 85, 89, 111, 216, 221, 273, 297, 321, 322, 342, 343, 363; father as contributor to, 274; religious, igloo, 409 environment: early, 127-130; hypocrisy in, 158, 313; prejudice in, 129, 159; religious, 129 environmental influences, 447

ethical code, 319 euphoria, 416

Eve, 109

Eve: White, 381; Black, 381

family history: Dorsetts, 131ff; Andersons, 131ff family therapy, 171 father, 38, 41, 46, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 56, 76, 77, 78, 121, 129, 137, 138, 141, 145, 146, 147, 152, 154, 158, 162, 166, 169, 174, 176, 189, 190, 192, 193, 194, 196, 197, 198, 213, 214, 219, 221, 261, 262, 263, 273, 274, 282, 297, 348, 359, 386, 403, 405-406; aloofness of, 253;

betrayal by, 278; cancer, 407ff; castrated, 185; death of, 407; denial by, 276; doubt of, 277; evasions of, 276; passivity of, 274; projection of, 276; puritanism of, 290; rejection by, 278. See also Dorsett, Willard fear of getting well, 411 Felida X, 108, 109

femininity, 290

Fisher, Doris, 108, 109, Flournoy, M., 109 force, psychoanalytical, 50 Freud, Sigmund, 116, 292, 449 frustration, 310 fugue, state of, 70, 71, 87, 98, fundamentalist faith, 45, 81, 138, 146, 152, 173, 257ff, 277, 279, 292-294, 311, 396; biblical prophecy, 309; end of world, 276, 292; entrapment, 409-410; evangelism, 299-300; genesis of hysteria, 313, 341; inner rebellion to, 293;

orthodoxy of, 293; prohibitions of, 255, 296, 351; religious conflict, 291, 398; religious distortions, 291; rigidity of faith, 292

glass, broken, 24, 66, 70, 76, 84, 87, 201, 247, 248, 325, 327, 330-331, 332, 349, 361 grande hyst@erie, 116, 145, 427 Grandma Dorsett, 133, 273, 278, 308, 360, 362, 410-411. See also grandparents, role of Grandpa Dorsett, 282, 288, 292, 299; religious influence of, 147, 257, 313, 341. See also grandparents, role of grandparents, role of: Anderson, Aileen (hattie's mother), 245; Anderson, Winston (hattie's father), 212, 244; Grandma Dorsett (mary Dorsett), 88, 133, 135f, 137ff, 159, 173-175, 176, 183, 188, 214, 221, 258; Grandpa Dorsett (aubrey Dorsett), 136, 138, 163, 221, 257ff; religious influence, 138ff, 341 group therapy, 171 guilt, 56, 347, 426

hallucination, 392

Hattie. See Dorsett, Henrietta (hattie) Anderson Helen (helen Dorsett), 301, 302, 315, 341, 381, 389. See also alternating selves; alternations of personality Hodgson, Dr. Richard, 109 homosexuality, 206 humor, 178