More Than Sybil
What is this psychological disorder that some throw around as an insult all too easily?
Sybil Dorsett might be the most famous case of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) yet. It was a pseudonym used to protect the identity of Shirley Ardell Mason. She was diagnosed with having at least 16 separate personalities by her psychiatrist Dr. Cornelia B. Wilbur. The sessions were recorded and used for a book later on that would change the way DID was looked at and treated.
The case also led to more research into what causes a person to splinter into many different personalities. These advances have helped those suffering from the condition. It has also brought a deeper understanding of the way the psyche works.
What is DID?
Dissociative Identity Disorder was known as multiple personality disorder. As leading psychiatrists learned more about the condition, they felt it was imperative to give it a name that was more accurate to what was happening to the patients than simply having more than one personality.
After a traumatic event, the patient will splinter off into another personality to cope with it. If there is more than one event, there might be more splinters. One personality will deal with the trauma, while another goes to school, so on and so forth.
