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.


Information about Dr. Suraci:

“SYBIL In Her Own Words: The Untold Story of Shirley Mason, Her Multiple Personalities and Paintings” by Patrick Suraci, Ph.D.

SYBIL is a new book about Shirley Mason who had 16 personalities. It tells the story of her life after her cure depicted in the book SYBIL and TV movie starring Sally Field. This book contains paintings by 5 of Sybil’s alternate personalities. The author’s interviews with Shirley Mason report her own words and her new whole personality.

In the book, the author presents evidence refuting Dr. Spiegel’s claim to have hypnotized Shirley Mason. Dr. Suraci discovered an audio cassette where Ms. Mason and Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, her therapist, discuss how it was impossible for Dr. Spiegel to hypnotize Shirley, because she did not trust or like him.

--

Dr. Leah Dickstein, who worked with Mason in her later years, stands by her assessment of Mason as a multiple. Professionals and staff at Wilbur's Lexington, Kentucky clinic confirm that Mason was multiple, and that she attempted to integrate several times, without success. Dr. Leah Dickstein, whose mentor was Dr. Wilbur

Dr. Dickstein also stated that she was in touch with Mason for many years after Wilbur died. She remembers Mason telling her that "every word in the book is true." She stated that Wilbur had "no need to make this up." Ritter, Malcolm Doubt Cast on Story of `Sybil' AP 8/16/98

Dr. Leah J. Dickstein
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/changingthefaceofmedicine/physicians/biography_85.html


The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis - Jan 2008 The bifurcation of the self: The history and theory of dissociation and its disorders, The
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://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4087/is_200801/ai_n21279759/


"SYBIL In Her Own Words: The Untold Story of Shirley Mason, Her Multiple Personalities and Paintings" by Patrick Suraci, Ph.D.

SYBIL is a new book about Shirley Mason who had 16 personalities. It tells the story of her life after her cure depicted in the book SYBIL and TV movie starring Sally Field. This book contains paintings by 5 of Sybil's alternate personalities. The author's interviews with Shirley Mason report her own words and her new whole personality. (video of Dr. Suraci explaining the book.)
http://bea11.mapyourshow.com/3_0/exhibitor_details.cfm?exhid=331445&markcamefrom=y

"SYBIL In Her Own Words: The Untold Story of Shirley Mason, Her Multiple Personalities and Paintings" by Patrick Suraci, Ph.D. presents evidence refuting Dr. Spiegel's claim to have hypnotized Shirley Mason. Dr. Suraci discovered an audio cassette where Ms. Mason and Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, her therapist, discuss how it was impossible for Dr. Spiegel to hypnotize Shirley, because she did not trust or like him.

SYBIL In Her Own Words: The Untold Story of Shirley Mason, Her Multiple Personalities and Paintings (2011), a book written by Patrick Suraci, Ph.D. ISBN: 978-0-615-44600-4
http://members.authorsguild.net/psuraci/

Born May 31, 1936 in Rochester, New York, Patrick Suraci received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Assumption College, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the New School for Social Research, New York in 1981.

His latest work, Sybil In Her Own Words: The Untold Story of Shirley Mason, Her Multiple Personalities and Paintings is being launched at Book Expo America at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York City on May 24, 2011....Dr. Suraci was a Staff Psychologist for the New York Police Department and is now in private practice in Manhattan. He has taught at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Baruch College at the City University of New York.

Sybil In Her Own Words: The Untold Story of Shirley Mason, Her Multiple Personalities and Paintings
Dr. Suraci developed a friendship with Shirley Mason (Sybil) after she was cured from Multiple Personality Disorder. She gave him personal effects and paintings made by five of her personalities which all appear in the book. He discovered evidence to disprove the critics who were attempting to attack the veracity of her case.
http://members.authorsguild.net/psuraci/

Sybil In Her Own Words on facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sybil-In-Her-Own-Words/108610352553254