Sybil: A Short Film Analysis

Today there has been an increase in the awareness of mental health. In the sense that society has begun to take notice of how mental health effects each individual differently. The media has begun to incorporate a variety of illnesses to entertain to their audience. However, many have questioned if the media is accurately portraying these mental disorders. I chose to compare two popular movies Frankie & Alice and the 2007 version film Sybil. Both movies describe the progression of two women who were both diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorders. According to Comer (2015), “people with dissociative identity disorder, once known as multiple personality disorder, have two or more separate identities that may not always be aware of each other’s

Dr. Wilbur concluded that Sybil was denied the ability to show her true emotions after each tragic event. Sybil was an individual who never truly had the love and support needed in her life. This caused her spilt personalities to compensate the void. However, Sybil is not the only film that demonstrates how dissociative identity disorder affects an individual.
While watching Frankie and Alice film, Frankie underwent a series of session to uncover that the root of multiple personality disorder was the death of her true love Pete and the lost her child. Alice is a white southerner that demonstrates a side of Frankie where she desired to be white and rich so escape the segregated life she lived in. The name Alice represented the baby girl she would’ve had with Pete. While Genius represented the intelligent and innocent side of Frankie. Frankie’s mind had locked up those painful memories and yet her personalities were aware what occurred to

208).” Both films they use psychodynamic therapy by questioning the depth of this small fragments of memories. The purpose is to understand how certain memories affected the patient’s ability to emotionally respond. For example, in the film Sybil confesses that her true loved challenged her to fall in the hay inside the barn. She said kindly said no and Dr. Wilbur asked if they were close, she responded no. Suddenly one of her personalities said he fell on a pitch fork and died in front of her eyes. They claimed Sybil was in love and her mother did not give the emotional support she needed to cope with her loss. In the film Franke and Alice, Dr. Oz used a combination of injections and hypnosis to treat Frankie. In most of the sessions Frankie seem to be in a drowsy state, only remembering fragments of her memories. According to the textbook, “Amytal and pentothal are injections that have been used to help patients with dissociative amnesia regain their lost memories (Comer,2015, p. 208).” The purpose of these drugs is to help patients relax so that they can recall the traumatic events that triggered the spilt