Documentary
"SYBIL in her own words"
Directed by: Maria Soccor
A depiction of Shirley's mind going through her Multiple Personalities
First there was the movie about SYBIL with Sally Field playing her. JoAn Woodward brought the empathy & wisdom of Dr. Wilbur who cured SYBIL performing a miraculous intergration of her 16 personalities. Now a documentary of "SYBIL in her own words" telling the true story. Conversations and interviews with SYBIL aka SHIRLEY MASON are heard in her voice for the first time. Shirley remained anonymous all the years that she lived after her cure.
A portrait of Shirley emerges as a bright and talented artist who made her living by teaching and painting in her own style. She developed a unique style after the intergration of her 5 personalities' paintings.
2nd cousin of Shirley Mason
In the documentary Naomi tells of her experiences with Shirley and her family. She met Dr. Wilbur and Flora Schreiber when Shirley told her about their book. Shirley was concerned about any danger that their book might bring to Naomi's family. Shirley always was considerate of other people. Naomi shows examples of Shirley's character in Christmas cards, letters, etc.
Nancy was a student in Shirley's art class. They developed a friendship which lasted until Shirley's death. Nancy wrote a book about their relationship and correspondence titled "After Sybil... From the Letters of Shirley Mason".
Julia McComb Fluharty
Shirley worked at Lakin State Hospital near Pt. Pleasant, West Virginia, where Julia lived. Julia took Shirley's art class for children. While there Shirley asked Julia's parents if she could tutor her privately because Julia was so insecure. Julia remembers having fun with Shirley. When Shirley had an exhibit in Columbus, Ohio, Julia was in college and went to see Shirley and Dr. Wilbur.
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As a member of the Authors Guild he has received invaluable information. He is honored to be included in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World and Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare.
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. His first non-fiction book, Male Sexual Armor: Erotic Fantasies and Sexual Realities of the Cop on the Beat and the Man in the Street in 1992. In 2005, his play Bless Me Father was produced at the National Arts Club in New York City. From his former career as an actor, he is still a member of the Actors Equity Association.
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.
The American Psychiatric Association has published the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, 2013. It reaffirms the Dissociative Identify Disorder (DID) diagnosis.
In 1973 Flora Schreiber wrote SYBIL, a case history of a person with DID. After Schreiber’s death in 1988 there have been several unsuccessful attempts to prove this case was a fraud. Some of these people, enflamed by the success of the book, have falsified and distorted documents in Flora Schreiber’s archives to prove their theories. Furthermore, some did not engage in logical thinking. If the three women in “SYBIL” were clever enough to dupe the whole world, would they would not be clever enough to destroy so-called incriminating documents which Flora Schreiber bequeathed to John Jay College?
Some people, who never engaged in any research about DID, claim that there is no connection between child abuse and DID. Then they unwittingly contradict themselves by stating DID doesn’t even exist.
DSM-5 concluded from the rigorous research into DID: “Interpersonal physical and sexual abuse is associated with an increased risk of dissociative identify disorder. Prevalence of childhood abuse and neglect in the United States, Canada and Europe among those with the disorder is close to 90%.”
TRUTH EVENTUALLY TRIUMPHS
A writer may use all the tricks of a con artist, but in the digital age, Amazon ultimately reveals the true work of a book. That is aparent in a used paperback of "Sybil Exposed" selling for $.20.
When I did research for my doctorate, I learned that I had to produce proof for every statement of fact made in my conclusion. As a reader, when I pick up a book of non-fiction, I expect that the author has documents or proof of some nature to verify each fact stated in the book. I take for granted that a well-known publisher, especially its legal division, would have vetted everything in the book. The author can also give her opinions and beliefs so long as they are stated as such and not confused with hard evidence and facts.
This is not the case with a new book “Sybil Exposed” by Debbie Nathan. The untrue statements begin at the very beginning – the dust jacket of the book. On the inside back flap it states: “The Sybil archive became available to the public only recently, and Nathan is the first person to have examined all of it and to provide proof that the story was an elaborate fraud…”
The following letter is in the Special Collections Library at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan (click on images to view them larger):
After my lawyer presented this letter to Simon & Schuster, this is an excerpt of their response:
Here is a typical example of how Ms. Nathan did her research:
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”
This is the complete document. Nathan quotes Schreiber's actual words about Eugene O’Neill, Jr.: “Be an animal", "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" You can see that at no time does Schreiber write about O’Neill’s “finger” or “penis.”
"A Dream Life" to be Highlighted at the Milford Readers and Writer's Festival!
Patrick Suraci will read from his novel "A Dream Life" on September 21st at 11:00 AM, as part of the Milford Readers and Writers Festival's "Love is in the Air" Panel. He will be reading about the gay romance between two soldiers in his book.
Just go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble and type in my name, Patrick Suraci