Sybil

The movie Sybil is a very interesting movie. In the beginning of the film, you would think that this is a horror movie as the music starts with a very eerie music but as it continues you can hear a very distorting hum in the background. To me the music already tells part of the story, the distortion can symbolize the chaotic nature of a person's life living with Dissociative identity disorder (DID). The plot of the film was based on a true experience of a lady named Sybil. 

The film is about a young lady named Sybil as well, it showed us a alittle peek of what a person suffering from DID would look like or experience. It was shown that she had multiple distinct personality in a single person. Right of the bat of the movie, you can see Sybil's condition was triggered by sounds of the swing and eventually had a small breakdown in front of the children she was in charge of. She rushed to Dr Wilbur, a psychiatrist after the small breakdown. She told Dr Wilbur that she had symptoms of some form of amnesia as she will have episodes of blackouts causing her to wake up in a different time. Her condition grew worse as the movie progresses, and you can see her life becomes more chaotic as her other personalities grows stronger. Dr Wilbur worked hard to track down her past as she put the pieces together and hopefully treat her. 

DID is still an enigma today, the progression and understanding psychological disorders has improved and we have shed some light on the subject. However, a lot is still unknown about DID particularly what causes it in the first place (Harrison, 2006). Based on the DSM-5 by the American Psychiatric Association (2013), DID is diagnosed by 1. Individual has 2 or more distinct personality present. 2. Amnesia 3. Individual must be distressed by the disorder and have trouble functioning in daily life. 4. The disturbance is not part of normal cultural or religious practices.5. The symptoms are not due to any effects of any substance. 

Sybil exhibited all of the symptoms in the movie and was given the treatment of hypnosis by Dr Wilbur. Some believed that an individual suffering from DID is easily hypnotised as the symptoms are iatrogenic. Other therapies like Cognitive and creative therapies are encouraged. Experts suggested and hypothesized that there is a relationship between trauma and DID as most patients suffering from DID reported that they experienced trauma before the mental disorder. You can also see that Sybil was affected greatly by the traumas in her early life and these personalities take over like a defense mechanism. 

My opinion, Sybil is a great movie and I would recommend everyone to watch it. The movie showed that the cast did their research on DID. Very well made.