The whole Sybil thing - and Patty Duke's BP - all broke into the media about the same time: back when I was "poor Twigs" and dealing with some of the worst of my mom's worst symptoms. The good thing about that, was that previously this was one of many things that simply wasn't discussed "out loud" in those days -- right along with integration, civil rights, women's rights, etc. It was stigmatized as "shameful"; more a character flaw, moral weakness, developmental issue. Social awareness - and acceptance (though that's still a work in progress) - of psychological and emotional difficulties or illness actually created the level of empathy & understanding that now exists in some measure, in our society. Dr. G will perhaps remember how things changed from the professional perspective as far as diagnosis, definitions and treatment of the person is concerned.
As far as Sybil's story now being debunked as a fraud... well, someone recently claimed to have proof that Einstein's theory of relativity is wrong, too. It seems (to me) that on all fronts of life right now, there is this energy in world that wants to reinvent the wheel in almost every place I look. That the old truths that were once so "evident", the old social etiquette and manners, the significance (and mathematical result) of 2+2 simply aren't good enough, true enough, or "something" enough for this era and the people in it... and there is the movement of searching for, experimentation with, longing for... something concrete, immutable, absolute "truth". Even words are morphing - the meanings, denotation and connotation - so that it's even having an impact on people's thoughts, which we all know... is the "usual suspect" for influencing our feelings for both good and bad. (or at least, that's the THEORY...)
I have the feeling, that eventually, things will evolve right back to where they once were, are now. What the Tibetans call the "The Wheel of Life".
[Aside to Hops: Hey, Hon don't feel too bad. I can think of someone else who was here, that also fits the DID profile... but the old brain just isn't coming up with her name AT ALL. There is only so much hard drive space that I can utilize at once... and now I have to figure out which "external drive" I archived all that info/data on... too!]
