The portrayal of DID was in my opinion, quite accurate.
Whether the portrayal of DID was accurate?
Based on the DSM-IV-TR:
Criteria for DID:
1. Presence of 2 or more distinct identities, each with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and the self. Check!
2. At least 2 of the identities recurrently take control of the person's behaviour. Check!
3. Inability to recall important personal information that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness . Check!
Examples in the movie:
1. Vanessa+Vicky+Peggy+Mike+Nancy+Ruthie++Ellen+Marcia+Mary+Clara+Sid+.... = Sybil
(You get the picture)
2. Vanessa, Vicky and Peggy very frequently emerge and take control of Sybil.
3. During a therapy session, Sybil shared that there were times where she would wake up, and it would be 2 years later! The only logical explanation for it is that she lost all memory of those two years, too much to be an episode of ordinary forgetfulness!
Above: Sybil often bursts into tears
when she is with her psychiatrist as
she frequently experiences vivid flashbacks.
It is all often too confusing and scary for her.
Consistent with the characteristics of DID, Sybil had more than 2 distinct identities which alternated in taking control of behaviour. She had inability to recall personal information that was in-explainable by normal forgetfulness. Each of her identities had their individual self-history, self-image and name. Her host identity was not always Sybil, more often than not, it was Vicky, the most well-adjusted personality. Her alter identities had striking differences in their age, gender, handedness, sexual orientation, need for corrective eye-wear, languages spoken and general knowledge. Each identity's needs and behaviours were also different; and Sybil would assume different roles at different points of the show, perhaps as and when the need arose.
Considering all the points above, yes! The portrayals of DID were quite accurate.
Whether or not the treatments were useful?
In my opinion, what Dr. Wilbur did was fairly realistic. Treatments to DID is psychodynamic and focuses on working on resolving and uncovering past hurt and trauma that the patient has experienced, as well as working through these traumatic events in an insight-oriented manner. In the movie, Dr. Wilbur spent session after session talking to Sybil's multiple personalities and through these conversations, helped Sybil recover past memories and often traumatic childhood memories. We see that as these memories became more vivid, Sybil's alter egos would emerge as a reaction to deal with the "situation". After that, what Dr. Wilbur did was to integrate the identities/personalities back into one identity. Dr. Wilbur was patient and took the time to allow Sybil to be in a safe environment. This helped facilitate her transitions from personality to personality as Sybil was comfortable enough to allow those personalities to show. Though in the end Sybil did get better, we do not know to what extent she was better and whether the disorder relapsed in the future. Therefore based on what was portrayed in the film, I would say it was moderately useful.
All in all, the show was
For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075296/
Sneak peek: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1_Z6-v4uT0
Reference: Butcher, J., Mineka, S. & Hooley, J.M. (2010). Abnormal Psychology. USA: Pearson Education Inc.
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