Sybil is a 1976 film, based on a true story, about a girl living with multiple personality disorder. Sybil has sixteen different personalities that each appear at different points in the film depending on what she is going through. For example, when Sybil is angry, Peggy Lou comes out and expresses the anger that Sybil herself cannot. When the different personalities present themselves, Sybil thinks she experiences blackouts because she doesn't remember anything during certain periods. She will return to the paintings she started to finish or an entire meal prepared and have no memory of doing those things. One of Sybil's teachers notices that she sometimes acts strangely and sends her to a psychiatrist, Dr. Wilber. Dr. Wilber diagnoses Sybil with multiple personality disorder resulting from her mother's extreme abuse when she was a child. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay This film does a great job of showing how physical and psychological abuse can affect people throughout their lives. In Sybil, she uses each of her personalities to manage the emotions that she is unable to manage on a daily basis. Sybil herself has erased all memories of her mother's abuse as a child and denies that her mother ever did such a thing. It's his other personalities who remember everything and have to deal with the trauma. Sybil shows the daily struggle of a person dealing with a psychological disorder and how it can completely change a person's life. She can't even maintain a normal relationship because her disorder has taken over her life. Multiple personality disorder occurs when there is more than one personality within the same person and it is also a dissociative disorder. Dissociative disorders are defined as disturbances in a person's memory, consciousness, or identity. In Sybil's case, there are disturbances in all three areas. Sybil is the "host" personality and her sixteen other alternate personalities have experiences, traits, and memories different from hers. In the film Sybil, it appears that her personality changes under stress or anxiety. This is common in dissociative disorders, as the host tries to block the feelings that bring back the memories of the trauma and project them elsewhere. A fight between two of Sybil's personalities is what pushes her to give Dr. Wilber a chance. Sybil's father always taught her not to trust doctors because they would just try to hypnotize you and give you medicine. Once Dr. Wilber starts talking to Sybil, she realizes that it is difficult to get information about Sybil, but that is not the case with some of her other personalities. Dr. Wilber concludes that stress is the cause of these personality changes when Sybil tells him that she passed out when her grandmother died, which is a huge stress, and that she woke up with two years older. Dr. Wilber ends up taking Sybil home, hypnotizing her and all of her personalities finally coming together. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay While watching Sybil, I found the depiction of the psychological concept to be very accurate. Although multiple personality disorder is not a common disorder encountered on a daily basis, it is still a major disorder that can lead to mental, physical, emotional and psychological abuse. This film is a great example.