David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
On the incidence of multiple personality disorder: A brief communication (by the early therapists for “Eve”) 1984
by Jeanette Bartha
December 12, 2013
The Three Faces of Eve
According to two of the psychiatrists who treated Chris Sizemore (The Three Faces of Eve), they found only one (1) case that fit the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder until this article was published in 1984.
Given this analysis of the medical literature it seems there was a huge explosion of misdiagnosed patients after 1984. Why is this information tucked in old medical journals? Because it would not serve the needs and wishes of some contemporary theorists and psychotherapists – and patients who desperately want to fit into what they perceive as a romantic and highly- intellectualized diagnostic category.
Chris Sizemore was an interesting clinical case study for her first two psychiatrists, Corbett H. Thigpen & Hervey M. Cleckley, but mundane in comparison to the multiple personalities displayed by Shirley Mason AKA Sybil, years later.
Sizemore, the earlier face of multiple personalities, claimed that successive tragedies she merely witnessed as a three-year-old caused her personality fragmentation. She did not claim to have been sexually abused during childhood.
Why then, do nearly 99% of people diagnosed with multiple personalities or dissociative identity disorder claim to have survived childhood sexual abuse? Where are the people like Chris Sizemore who have multiple personalities due to other reasons? Are other non-sexually abused cases of multiple personalities going unreported other that Hershel Walker, famed football player? Perhaps they simply vanished or didn’t exist in the first place.
If we look at Shirley Mason and the character of Sybil that grew from her therapist, Cornelia Wilbur’s, imagination and clinical observations, Chris Sizemore’s life played out in The Three Faces of Eve pales in comparison. In comparing these two cases, it must be remembered that both women behind the flamboyant theatrical characters had other therapists who treated them. Withholding this information to the pubic only serves to perpetuate the mystery and entertainment value behind these iconic folk legends. If it was widely known that these women had other doctors on their treatment teams who disagreed with the multiple personality diagnosis, and stated so, would it have made as much money at the box office? Note too, that the therapists of Chris Sizemore banked the money, not Chris.
Read the summary of the article below written by Chris Sizemore/Eve’s first two therapists who were responsible for the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder. And let’s not forget that it was they who led their patient to Hollywood and reaped the financial rewards – not their patient. Read their own words, not mine or anyone else’s. Find out for yourself and reach your own conclusions.
In hindsight, this is a profound warning to the psychiatry industry who chose to ignore warnings of impending disaster to their profession as the diagnosis of multiple personalities and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) proliferated and continues to do so.
On the incidence of multiple personality disorder: A brief communication
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis
Volume 32, Issue 2, 1984
Corbett H. Thigpen & Hervey M. Cleckley
Pages 63-66
Available online: 31 Jan 2008
Abstract
Since reporting a case of multiple personality (Eve) over 25 years ago, we have seen many patients who were thought by others or themselves to have the disorder, but we have found only 1 case that fit the diagnosis. The other cases manifested either pseudo- or quasi-dissociative symptoms related to dissatisfaction with self-identity or hysterical acting out for secondary gain. One particular form of secondary gain, namely, avoiding responsibility for certain actions, was evident in a recent legal case where the person was diagnosed as having the disorder and successfully pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. We urge that a diagnosis of multiple personality not be used in such a manner and recommend that therapists consider the hysterical basis of the symptoms, as well as the adaptive dynamics of personality before diagnosing someone as having the disorder. If such factors are considered, the incidence of the disorder will be found to be far less than the “epidemic” recently claimed.
Retrieved 7/24/11
by Jeanette Bartha
December 12, 2013
The Three Faces of Eve
According to two of the psychiatrists who treated Chris Sizemore (The Three Faces of Eve), they found only one (1) case that fit the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder until this article was published in 1984.
Given this analysis of the medical literature it seems there was a huge explosion of misdiagnosed patients after 1984. Why is this information tucked in old medical journals? Because it would not serve the needs and wishes of some contemporary theorists and psychotherapists – and patients who desperately want to fit into what they perceive as a romantic and highly- intellectualized diagnostic category.
Chris Sizemore was an interesting clinical case study for her first two psychiatrists, Corbett H. Thigpen & Hervey M. Cleckley, but mundane in comparison to the multiple personalities displayed by Shirley Mason AKA Sybil, years later.
Sizemore, the earlier face of multiple personalities, claimed that successive tragedies she merely witnessed as a three-year-old caused her personality fragmentation. She did not claim to have been sexually abused during childhood.
Why then, do nearly 99% of people diagnosed with multiple personalities or dissociative identity disorder claim to have survived childhood sexual abuse? Where are the people like Chris Sizemore who have multiple personalities due to other reasons? Are other non-sexually abused cases of multiple personalities going unreported other that Hershel Walker, famed football player? Perhaps they simply vanished or didn’t exist in the first place.
If we look at Shirley Mason and the character of Sybil that grew from her therapist, Cornelia Wilbur’s, imagination and clinical observations, Chris Sizemore’s life played out in The Three Faces of Eve pales in comparison. In comparing these two cases, it must be remembered that both women behind the flamboyant theatrical characters had other therapists who treated them. Withholding this information to the pubic only serves to perpetuate the mystery and entertainment value behind these iconic folk legends. If it was widely known that these women had other doctors on their treatment teams who disagreed with the multiple personality diagnosis, and stated so, would it have made as much money at the box office? Note too, that the therapists of Chris Sizemore banked the money, not Chris.
Read the summary of the article below written by Chris Sizemore/Eve’s first two therapists who were responsible for the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder. And let’s not forget that it was they who led their patient to Hollywood and reaped the financial rewards – not their patient. Read their own words, not mine or anyone else’s. Find out for yourself and reach your own conclusions.
In hindsight, this is a profound warning to the psychiatry industry who chose to ignore warnings of impending disaster to their profession as the diagnosis of multiple personalities and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) proliferated and continues to do so.
On the incidence of multiple personality disorder: A brief communication
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis
Volume 32, Issue 2, 1984
Corbett H. Thigpen & Hervey M. Cleckley
Pages 63-66
Available online: 31 Jan 2008
Abstract
Since reporting a case of multiple personality (Eve) over 25 years ago, we have seen many patients who were thought by others or themselves to have the disorder, but we have found only 1 case that fit the diagnosis. The other cases manifested either pseudo- or quasi-dissociative symptoms related to dissatisfaction with self-identity or hysterical acting out for secondary gain. One particular form of secondary gain, namely, avoiding responsibility for certain actions, was evident in a recent legal case where the person was diagnosed as having the disorder and successfully pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. We urge that a diagnosis of multiple personality not be used in such a manner and recommend that therapists consider the hysterical basis of the symptoms, as well as the adaptive dynamics of personality before diagnosing someone as having the disorder. If such factors are considered, the incidence of the disorder will be found to be far less than the “epidemic” recently claimed.
Retrieved 7/24/11
