neurotictim

I'm somewhat depressed, and I have a new hero.

My new hero has a name, an easily forgettable name.

Shirley Ardell Mason.

She's also known as Sybil Isabel Dorsett, the famed psychiatric case of the 70's.

You know, the Sybil.

Okay, for all you youngsters out there, Sybil Dorsett suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder. There were, over the course of about 40 years, 16 different personalities present within a singular body - the waking self - Sybil.

The book, "Sybil," started it all. Dr. Cornelia Wilbur spent 11 years treating and trying to understand Sybil, and helped her integrate her personalities into one, unique, self.

In 1976 a movie was made from the phenomenally-selling book, and set off another round of speculation, as Sybil's real name was never released to the public.

In 1999, Shirley Mason died quietly in her home in Lexington, KY, and the secret was revealed. Dr. Wilbur died several years before, as did the author of the book, but eventually it was understood as fact that the woman once known as "nice old Ms. Mason" was in fact the character basis for Sybil.

Now, on to the depressing part.

#1 - There have been many traumatic events in my life, and though I have worked myself, sometimes with psychiatric help, through most of my issues, I still feel a kinship to the trauma that Sybil faced.

Not that anything I went through compares to hers, however. She (or one of her selves) faced things that would have broken me, and she faced them at least twice before full integration. Her strength was incomparable, and knowing that she was eventually whole and complete makes me feel... She faced far more than I have, or will, and she survived. Not only survived, but eventually lived out a fulfilling and happy life.

That means that no matter what I have gone through, no matter the tribulations that I face even now, sometimes struggling with issues 25 years old, I can do it. Her story lends a deeper, more valuable tone to the ideas of perseverance and persistence.

That being said, it saddens me to feel a kinship with her. Reading Sybil sort of awakened in me a sense of hopelessness, and while it's a healthy sadness, a cathartic sadness, it's still there.

#2 - There are many out there who doubt the validity of Sybil's story, of Shirley's story. I feel that these people, speaking out after anyone who could confirm this has died, is aimply literary ambulance chasing at it's finest, and deserves to be as unrecognized as possible. It saddens me to think that there are people out there who would dispute a story like this, looking for fact, because they simply aren't bright enough or clever enough to get into the spotlight on their own coattails. Understandably, these issues haven't been on the forefront of anyone's mind, as Sybil was revealed 6 years ago, and to little fanfare, but it still irks me just the same.

My only wish after having read the story is that I could find more of her art - whether it's Sybil's, Peggy Lou or Peggy Ann's, whomever. I would love to get prints of some of these, and if I can find them I will.

Her work speaks to me now. There's so much story behind it, how could it not?

All that being said, I just got me Razr phone and I'm looking at buying a beater (with a stick) so I can be that much closer to getting my M3, so life in general is good.

It's amazing how profoundly a book can affect me. I hope after reading this, there will be people interested in reading the book.

While the book may not be the best literary work, the story is moving in a way that few have been for me.