The Story of Sybil: Split Personalities(Long, but good)

Sabathius · Posted: 10/19/03 - 19:22 Post subject:

My dad is arguably the best Teacher in Texas. He's famous for alot of things here in San Angelo. Mostly, his Honors Biology Classes love his lectures. He's a wonderful story-teller and brings life to his stories like no one i've seen. He uses this gift to inspire his students to become smarter, better people. After Christmas break, he talks about Psychology.

In this section, he discusses Multiple Personalities. After a few heart-stopping stories about several people, read The Three Faces of Eve for one tale, he comes to the story of Sybil. (It's also a book btw, called Sybil and award winning one)

The Story of Sybil is one that you will never forget. I know I never will.

Most of you have probably heard of Sybil, but don't know the facts. She had probably the most brutal childhood any of us can imagine.

As a grown woman, she went to see a female Psychologist about blacking out and losing time. The Dr, who's name I can't remember, eventually realizes, after several sessions, that she's seeing different people every time this woman walks in the room. She starts checking up on her medical history. Broken leg as a child, ruptured Uterus, bruises, scars, etc are discovered. I can't remember all that was discovered in her medical history, but the list is scary. The psychologist discoveres 13 or so different personalities within the mind of the real person, Sybil. The guardian personality, Peggy, is the one that has blocked out all the bad memories.

Getting on with the tale, The Dr. goes and talks with Sybil's childhood doctor about the unusual number of early childhood injuries. She had some kind of injury to her neck. Her baby doctor had been told that at 3 years of age(my ages are probably off), neighboorhood boys had taken her and hung her up by her neck with a rope, and left her there. They had also been the ones to beat her and break her leg, all before the time she started school. She ruptured her uterus running along a picket fence and fell on to it, impaling herself. So the psychologist goes back and starts to talk with Sybil.

She gets more and more information from her. Her father worked all day, and came home at 6:00 every night, without fail. She begins to understand that something within the home wasn't right. Everytime she asks about the mother, Peggy, the guardian personality, steps in and asks , "What the f**k do you think you are doing?" Finally, the doctor gets Peggy to tell her what happened. As a child.

I'm not where as near as eloquent as my father, but i'll do my best. Her mother, right after Sybil's birth (i think) had sat in the den, staring out a window all winter. Whenever Sybil misbehaved by "crying" as a toddler will do, she was locked in a small cabinet. When she "misbehaved" worse,
her mother would be her, punch her, kick her. Once, she threw her down the basement stairs, breaking her leg. When her mother was especially angry, she would string her up by her neck, hanging her in the kitchen until Sybil passed out from lack of oxygen. (neck injury). Her mother would sometimes force Sybil to watch her have l*****n **** with other women

Then came the final breaking point.

At this point in the class, the students, most 15 and 16 years old, are silent. Graveyard silent, not a whisper. They are staring intently at my father, whom, not for theatrics has tears welling up in his eyes. He says in a quiet voice:

One day, Sybil was in the small, dark cabinet. Sybil had made too much noise, or something, and her mother had gone over the edge. She took a coathanger, and with the old-style hanging light that she used to hang Sybil with, hung her little body upside down, and spread her legs. (My father is demonstrating this with his hands as he speaks.) She walked over to the cupboard, got a serrated steak knife, and saying, "Men will do this to you someday," she plunged the knife into Sybil's young womb, tearing it to shreds; forever destroying any chance that Sybil will have any children of her own. At this point, my father is silent for a few minutes while he lets that sink in. Then he says, "Today, when you go home and hug your parents, and they ask what that was for, tell them, "No reason.""
Then the bell rings and they are off to their next class.

The happy ending? The doctor eventually got rid of all Sybil's personalities, save for the original.

Her mother? She died of Ovarian Cancer, which is from what I hear, very, very painful. I guess there is a God after all.

Whats the point of all this? Figured some of you needed reminding of how good your life is. That and I was bored.

The Story of Sybil: Split Personalities(Long, but good)

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