Sybil
CHAPTER 32: ONE
The newly emerging Sybil was very different from what Dr. Wilbur had originally expected. Since Vicky had all the memories, and possessed more of the original Sybil than waking Sybil, the doctor had thought it might be a good idea to do away with all the selves, including waking Sybil, and allow Vicky to be the one self. Yet the doctor discovered that Vicky, like all the selves, existed for the express purpose of masking the feelings that the waking or central self could not bear to face.
The answer, therefore, had been to preserve the waking self as such while returning to it all the memories, emotions, knowledge, and modes of behavior of the other selves, thereby restoring the native capacities of the child. It also meant returning to the waking self the experiences of the one-third of Sybil’s life that the other selves alone had lived.
Sybil had begun to assume the behavior of the others. For example, what had been the exclusive preserve of Peggy Lou had become Sybil’s capacity to draw blanck and white. In fact, an overlapping of painting styles had developed among all the selves. On the other hand, although Peggy had returned to Sybil the multiplication that had been learned in Miss Henderson’s fifth- grade class, Sybil was still not proficient in its use.
In May and June, 1965, the use of of hypnosis had tapered off even more, now almost solely confined to communicating with the selves, who could not otherwise be reached. The days of Sybil’s dissociation and the spontaneous appearance of the secondary selves seemed over. However, an another self had emerged: the blond.
The blond self has been around for nine years, and the girl that Sybil would like to be. Born in tranquility, and has lived unseen. She was the adolescent self of Sybil, and although she emerged during the epilogue of Sybil’s treatment, she became no obstruction to her wellness.
On September 2, 1965, Dr. Wilbur recorded in her daily analysis notes
The newly emerging Sybil was very different from what Dr. Wilbur had originally expected. Since Vicky had all the memories, and possessed more of the original Sybil than waking Sybil, the doctor had thought it might be a good idea to do away with all the selves, including waking Sybil, and allow Vicky to be the one self. Yet the doctor discovered that Vicky, like all the selves, existed for the express purpose of masking the feelings that the waking or central self could not bear to face.
The answer, therefore, had been to preserve the waking self as such while returning to it all the memories, emotions, knowledge, and modes of behavior of the other selves, thereby restoring the native capacities of the child. It also meant returning to the waking self the experiences of the one-third of Sybil’s life that the other selves alone had lived.
Sybil had begun to assume the behavior of the others. For example, what had been the exclusive preserve of Peggy Lou had become Sybil’s capacity to draw blanck and white. In fact, an overlapping of painting styles had developed among all the selves. On the other hand, although Peggy had returned to Sybil the multiplication that had been learned in Miss Henderson’s fifth- grade class, Sybil was still not proficient in its use.
In May and June, 1965, the use of of hypnosis had tapered off even more, now almost solely confined to communicating with the selves, who could not otherwise be reached. The days of Sybil’s dissociation and the spontaneous appearance of the secondary selves seemed over. However, an another self had emerged: the blond.
The blond self has been around for nine years, and the girl that Sybil would like to be. Born in tranquility, and has lived unseen. She was the adolescent self of Sybil, and although she emerged during the epilogue of Sybil’s treatment, she became no obstruction to her wellness.
On September 2, 1965, Dr. Wilbur recorded in her daily analysis notes