Dissociative Identity Disorder: I'm Not Sybil

Media images can be very powerful. When we see something, especially when it's "based on a true story," our mind removes the words "based on a" and we are left with "true story;" as if what we are seeing on the screen is the absolute truth. In fact, the "based on" means it's an adaptation of a story with a lot of "Hollywood" thrown in to keep you interested.

I mention this because, for many of us, the movie Sybil is the defining moment of our understanding of dissociative identity disorder (aka multiple personality disorder). The movie came out in 1976 and it was the first time that Americans got to see dissociative identity disorder in action. It was bizarre, frightening and captivating, all of which made the movie very memorable. But was it a true story?

Our guest, Holly Gray, author of the Dissociative Living blog on HealthyPlace, says it's not an accurate portrayal of her life. Diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, Holly talks about living with DID, the difficulty of accepting the DID diagnosis, treatment of dissociative identity disorder and what her goal is in therapy, and what she calls "the Sybil myth."

You can watch our interview with Holly Gray at Dissociative Identity Disorder: I'm Not Sybil.

The Sybil Myth

by Holly Gray

It took me five years to come to a place of acceptance around my dissociative identity disorder diagnosis. A certain amount of wrangling with such life-changing news is par for the course. Some of it, however, could have been avoided if it weren’t for what I call the Sybil Myth.

I have not read Sybil. I have not seen either of the movies of the same name. I cannot speak to the content of the book or the movies. But I can speak to their legacy.

In my experience, when most people think of multiple personalities, they think of Sybil. Or, more specifically, the character created to represent Shirley Ardell Mason, a real woman treated for DID. That character clearly left readers and viewers with the distinct impression that people with DID are hysterical, unstable and erratic. The controversy surrounding the book helped solidify and further that impression by adding a new layer, one of possible deceit. Did Mason truly have multiple personalities? Or was she a hysterical woman manifesting the suggestions and expectations of her therapist?

Fairly quickly, DID found its place in popular culture as a bizarre and frightening phenomenon that may or may not be real at all. And the person that has it? Tragic, fascinating anomaly at best; deranged, dangerous hysteric at worst.

I cannot say for sure, but I doubt that the way DID manifests itself in Sybil is wholly inaccurate. I admit that there have been plenty of moments in my life that were ripe for reality television infamy. If those moments were all anyone ever saw, the lasting impression would be a disturbing one. If properly edited, my life would look crazy. I would look crazy.

I don't know what Mason was really like; but I do know that anyone's life can be whittled and edited down to its most dramatic hours. Whatever the truth is or isn't about her, the name Sybil has become synonymous in the general population with histrionic instability and irregular, unpredictable behavior. But most people with DID live far more subtle lives than that. Those of us with DID, though our experiences and struggles are often unique, are just human beings with human frailties, human faults. The ways in which we are normal outnumber the ways in which we are not. Most of us aren't Sybil. I am not Sybil. I suspect even Shirley Ardell Mason was not Sybil.

Share Your Experiences With Dissociative Identity Disorder

What's life like with DID? Do you feel stigmatized by the book-movie Sybil? or do you feel Sybil is an accurate portrayal of what it's like living with dissociative identity disorder? Please leave your comments below.