permission from author of review to post:
Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case
This book "reads like fiction" as the cover says.
But is it "fact" as the cover claims?
On page 222 of "Sybil Exposed," Nathan says, "Roseanne Barr . . . would later describe her twenty alter personalities. They included `Piggy,' `Bambi and `F . . . . . '" Nathan's cite for this statement is People Magazine, October 7, 1991.
However, there is no mention of any alter personalities in the 1991 article (pp. 84-88) by correspondent Vickie Bane. None of these names are mentioned in the article. Nathan also says that Barr "forgot about it until she entered therapy." But in the People Magazine article, Barr says she started to recover memories of abuse after her then-fiancé Tom's telephone call from rehab in 1989 telling her he was molested by a babysitter (p. 85). After she began to recall, then Barr saw a therapist.
On page 225 of her book Nathan says, "The state of Texas closed Peterson's dissociative disorders unit after determining it had overused physical restraints . . . " This claim may have originated with Frontline's 1995 documentary, "Divided Memories." In 1996, when I reviewed this Frontline documentary for a news journal, I contacted the Texas Department of Health. A spokesperson there denied any such closing of the unit. The review was published in 1996.
Nathan fails to mention that the trial of US v. Peterson et al. on mail and insurance fraud vindicated Peterson and the others of all charges. Here's what happened in this Houston trial. By February 1999, the federal government had been presenting its case for six months. The government's first expert, Dr. James Hudson, had just undergone a rigorous cross-examination by Peterson's attorney. The jury was down to 12 members and the defense was prepared to continue. The government dropped all the charges.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Precursor to Sybil Exposed - Nathan book
The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis - Jan 2008
The bifurcation of the self: The history and theory of dissociation and its disorders by Lawrence, Mark
"In fact, from my perspective, it is Rieber who has distorted the evidence to establish his case. For example, the appendix includes a long letter which includes a short section in which Sybil refers to having written something to the effect that she had made up everything about being a multiple personality, but this was presented in her letter in the context of trying to find a way of not needing Dr. Wilbur. Rieber calls this a "letter of denial" of MPD/DID. There are many more instances in which Rieber misrepresents the material in the appendix to support his case."
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1418542941.html
The bifurcation of the self: The history and theory of dissociation and its disorders by Lawrence, Mark
"In fact, from my perspective, it is Rieber who has distorted the evidence to establish his case. For example, the appendix includes a long letter which includes a short section in which Sybil refers to having written something to the effect that she had made up everything about being a multiple personality, but this was presented in her letter in the context of trying to find a way of not needing Dr. Wilbur. Rieber calls this a "letter of denial" of MPD/DID. There are many more instances in which Rieber misrepresents the material in the appendix to support his case."
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1418542941.html
Inaccuracies in Nathan's book, Sybil Exposed
Inaccuracies in Nathan's book, Sybil Exposed
October 19, 2011, Statement from Dr. Patrick Suraci
I went to the Special Collections Library at John Jay College of Criminal Justice to verify statements made by Debbie Nathan in her book SYBIL EXPOSED.
1. On pages 99-100 Nathan writes: “Connie would carry her apparatus to Shirley’s apartment and climb in bed with her. She would clamp the paddles to Shirley’s temples, twirl the dials, and press the buttons. Connie’s gadget was an old electro-convulsive machine she had retired years earlier.”
Nathan cites the evidence for this in her “Notes: Chapter 8, No.38.. FRS Box 37, Files 1081, Tape 124.” In this document on January 26, 1955, Shirley writes about “electric shock” along with her other treatments. There is absolutely no documentation of Nathan’s outrageous claim.
2. On page 71 Nathan writes: “Completely inexperienced with men, she had little idea of how to take Gene’s (O’Neill) measure. He noticed her ignorance and didn’t like it. Too‘girlish’ he called Flora, particularly when it came to sex. In a sheaf of notes she wrote to herself, she described feeling pain at having his finger inside her, let alone his penis. ‘Be an animal,’ Gene would urge her, and he blamed her reticence on the fact that she had a profession. ‘You bring Adelphi College into the bedroom. It is not that career women don’t want to go to bed – it is that they don’t know how,’ he scolded Flora.”
To prove this Nathan cites in: “Notes: Chapter 6, No.11, FRS Box 34, File 1051” In this document Schreiber writes about Eugene O’Neill: “His complaint – Be an animal – give – you bring Adelphi College into the bedroom – we’re close friends in the living room and the moment we go into the bedroom you become a stranger…he says that it is not that career women don’t want to go to bed – it is that they don’t know how. Outcome might have been different if she had gone to bed with him on the last Saturday after he told her about _____” Schreiber at no time writes about O’Neill’s “finger” or “penis.”
3. On page 232 Nathan writes: “…She (Shirley Mason) died quietly in her home, surrounded by nurses, on February 26 of that year. She was seventy-five years old. It was early evening when she died.”
In my book SYBIL in her own words: The Untold Story of Shirley Mason, Her Multiple Personalities and Paintings. On page 261 I write:
“The penultimate time I phoned Shirley’s home was on February 26, 1998, at 12:07 PM. In the background I heard her weak voice pleading to Roberta ,(Guy) ‘Tell him I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’ Roberta informed me that Shirley was too sick to speak on the phone. I mumbled, ‘Please tell her that it’s okay, it’s okay. I’ll call later.’ …
“When I called later that day at 3:01 PM Roberta stunned me with the news than Shirley had just died.”
Dr. Suraci has the telephone records of that day, February 26, 1998.
October 19, 2011, Statement from Dr. Patrick Suraci
I went to the Special Collections Library at John Jay College of Criminal Justice to verify statements made by Debbie Nathan in her book SYBIL EXPOSED.
1. On pages 99-100 Nathan writes: “Connie would carry her apparatus to Shirley’s apartment and climb in bed with her. She would clamp the paddles to Shirley’s temples, twirl the dials, and press the buttons. Connie’s gadget was an old electro-convulsive machine she had retired years earlier.”
Nathan cites the evidence for this in her “Notes: Chapter 8, No.38.. FRS Box 37, Files 1081, Tape 124.” In this document on January 26, 1955, Shirley writes about “electric shock” along with her other treatments. There is absolutely no documentation of Nathan’s outrageous claim.
2. On page 71 Nathan writes: “Completely inexperienced with men, she had little idea of how to take Gene’s (O’Neill) measure. He noticed her ignorance and didn’t like it. Too‘girlish’ he called Flora, particularly when it came to sex. In a sheaf of notes she wrote to herself, she described feeling pain at having his finger inside her, let alone his penis. ‘Be an animal,’ Gene would urge her, and he blamed her reticence on the fact that she had a profession. ‘You bring Adelphi College into the bedroom. It is not that career women don’t want to go to bed – it is that they don’t know how,’ he scolded Flora.”
To prove this Nathan cites in: “Notes: Chapter 6, No.11, FRS Box 34, File 1051” In this document Schreiber writes about Eugene O’Neill: “His complaint – Be an animal – give – you bring Adelphi College into the bedroom – we’re close friends in the living room and the moment we go into the bedroom you become a stranger…he says that it is not that career women don’t want to go to bed – it is that they don’t know how. Outcome might have been different if she had gone to bed with him on the last Saturday after he told her about _____” Schreiber at no time writes about O’Neill’s “finger” or “penis.”
3. On page 232 Nathan writes: “…She (Shirley Mason) died quietly in her home, surrounded by nurses, on February 26 of that year. She was seventy-five years old. It was early evening when she died.”
In my book SYBIL in her own words: The Untold Story of Shirley Mason, Her Multiple Personalities and Paintings. On page 261 I write:
“The penultimate time I phoned Shirley’s home was on February 26, 1998, at 12:07 PM. In the background I heard her weak voice pleading to Roberta ,(Guy) ‘Tell him I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’ Roberta informed me that Shirley was too sick to speak on the phone. I mumbled, ‘Please tell her that it’s okay, it’s okay. I’ll call later.’ …
“When I called later that day at 3:01 PM Roberta stunned me with the news than Shirley had just died.”
Dr. Suraci has the telephone records of that day, February 26, 1998.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)