Sybil: Borderline Personality Disorder

After watching Sybil and getting a sense of what she had to deal with growing up, I believe that there is no clear answer as to why Sybil was behaving in the way she did. Numerous psychologists and mental health experts have analyzed Sybil’s behaviors only to come up with many different diagnoses—including antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and most commonly dissociative identity disorder. I believe it is plausible that Sybil displays symptoms of two of the three disorders. I believe that Sybil displayed many of the criteria necessary to be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. For instance, Sybil became very attached to Dr. Wilbur and there was a clear disturbance in her identity. In various

With a reported sixteen distinct identities, Sybil surpasses the minimum of two identities needed to be diagnosed with this disorder. Although some people believe that Sybil could have easily made these personalities up, I have a hard time believing this because it would be extremely difficult to keep each identity’s story straight. Also, I cannot imagine how someone without this disorder would be able to switch between identities as easily as she was able to. Furthermore, her different styles of artwork were very unusual and were something that I do not believe the average person would be able to do. Sybil also had her identities take control of her behavior and she was unable to recall certain information. For instance, when “Peggy Lou” breaks the glass in Dr. Wilbur’s office, Sybil does not recall breaking the glass. Although psychologists have not yet established the primary cause to dissociative identity disorder, I believe that Sybil likely developed aspects of this disorder because of the abuse she experienced from her mother. In fact, I think that Sybil tried to form these personalities in an attempt to try and eliminate some of the stress and the pain that she experienced growing up (Smith,

For instance, Olga Trujillo, an attorney who worked 13 years with the U.S. Department of Justice and who founded a consulting practice focusing on ending violence against women and children, has clearly lived a successful life despite her challenges with dissociative identity disorder (Trujillo, n.d.). I believe that in Sybil’s case, it was important that she continued to meet with Dr. Wilbur to discuss her traumatic events and attempt to integrate them to form one complete identity. Also, Sybil should have become aware of the situations that trigger her multiple personalities (such as when someone plays the piano). If Sybil was able to have a friend with her during these situations, perhaps it would prevent her from exposing her other identities. It is important that Sybil learned the importance of forming healthy relationships (through therapy). However, if a friend could not accompany Sybil, she could have tried participating in something relaxing or soothing to relieve her stresses. Since Sybil had such a negative experience with her mother as a child, Sybil learned that she could not trust anyone. However, by establishing healthy relationships and being open about her problems, Sybil would have been able to create strong support systems and live a more satisfying