Sybil

Sybil Dorsett is shy, young graduate who suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), also known as multiple personality disorder, due to her childhood trauma.This film illustrates on the onset of the disorder and the process of discovering and resolving it with Sybil's psychiatrist, Dr. Wilbur.

Portrayal of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) symptoms
According to DSM-V, below are the criteria to diagnose DID.
1. Disruption of identity characterized by two or more distinct personality states, which may be described in some cultures as an experience of possession. The disruption in identity involves marked discontinuity in sense of self and sense of agency, accompanied by related alterations in affect, behavior, consciousness, memory, perception, cognition, and/or sensory-motor functioning. These signs and symptoms may be observed by others or reported by the individual.
 - Peggy, Vicky, Vanessa, Marcia, Ruthie, Nancy, Clara and etc, all of them had introduced themselves as different identity and person, where they had different personalities and needs. For example, Vanessa was very outgoing and she portrayed herself (Sybil) as young and vibrant. She tried to help Sybil in building a relationship with Richard, whom she fell in love with.

2. Recurrent gaps in the recall of everyday events, important personal information, and/or traumatic events that are inconsistent with ordinary forgetting.
 - Sybil revealed that she had a two-year-gap in memories and she could not recall what had happened. It would not be logical to say that it is merely an episode of forgetfulness.

3. The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. 
 - What Sybil was experiencing had even led her to killing herself, which is seriously impairing her life.

4. The disturbance is not a normal part of a broadly accepted cultural or religious practice.
Note: In children, the symptoms are not better explained by imaginary playmates or other fantasy play.
 - It was obviously abnormal to the cultural practice as Sybil was suggested to consult psychiatrist when she broke down in front of her students.

5. The symptoms are not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance (e.g., blackouts or chaotic behavior during alcohol intoxication) or another medical condition (e.g., complex partial seizures).
 - Sybil was not seen to be indulging in any substance or suffering from another medical condition in the movie.

All in all, I think the film accurately depicted the symptoms of DID through Sally Field's acting skills.

Form of therapy 
As portrayed in the film, Dr Wilbur had adopted the method of hypnosis to assist Sybil to recall her memories as I think the focus of the therapy was mainly on uncovering her past traumatic experiences and trying to resolve it. Hypnosis is known as a mean to understand or even alter the repressed memories in psychoanalysis approach. It seemed to be the only way to help Sybil to recall her memories, but as mentioned, hypnosis could unintentionally/unknowingly alter her memories too. Thus, the use of hypnosis is still questionable but it was good to see that Sybil had benefited from it in the end.

Ethical challenges
I find the relationship between Sybil and Dr. Wilbur being quite controversial. Although in this case, I could see no other way to get deeper understanding in Sybil's story and help her, I think Dr Wilbur demonstrated a very motherly care towards Sybil. She was even warned by her colleague to not get attached to her. This could be one of the ethical challenges where Dr Wilbur could have been more careful with her behavior and attitude towards Sybil to avoid attachment which might lead to unnecessary ethical issues.