Sybil Isabel Dorsett Research Paper

Sybil Isabel Dorsett was a woman who had a very damaging childhood. To deal with all the trauma she had experienced, she developed multiple personalities, sixteen in total, throughout different parts of her life. Since she was little, Sybil knew there was something about her that wasn’t right. She noticed that she would often lose track of time, where she had no memory of what had previously occurred. Dissociative identity disorder (DID), previously known as multiple personality disorder, is a condition that causes people to have more than one personality. Each personality can have a completely different name, characteristics and a different background. These personalities are brought up by extreme abuse during childhood including physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse, usually as a way to avoid and escape the reality of what is being experienced. Dissociating places the pain and damage on another identity by allowing it to take over. People with DID often cannot remember traumatizing events of their lives and will have periods of time in which they do not

She did not take care of Sybil, only being around her to breast feed. For most of Sybil’s infancy, her grandmother would care for her. When Sybil was only 5 years old, her grandmother was diagnosed with cervical cancer, which brought up fear and worry in Sybil. At the age of nine, Sybil’s grandmother passed away. Hattie gave Sybil a lollipop and made her go to her bedroom, promising that they would go get her when the service was about to start. She waited and waited, and then her father came for her saying the service was over and that she could come to the cemetery. Her parents had forgotten her and didn’t give her the opportunity to say goodbye. She couldn’t cry. She had lost her grandmother, whom she called love. Sybil was so hurt and alone. She wanted to be with her grandmother. She tried to jump into the grave, but they pulled her