Read my full review here:https://tessasworldofthings.blogspot.de/2016/12/sybil-by-flora-rheta-schreiber.html When Sybil was a child she lost time. She just blacked out, but time seemed to go on and she apparently went along with it, since people kept telling her about the things she has done, but couldn't remember. Not knowing, what was wrong with her, Sybil imagined the worst. That she's crazy, that she's bad and her parents, it's been the 1920s when Sybil was born, didn't believe in metal health problems. Only after some persuasion by her "normal" doctor, Sybil was allowed to see a psychoanalyst, Dr. Wilbur. Alone. For the first time, her mother was not allowed to accompany her. Although Dr. Wilbur did not yet see the real illness behind Sybil's behavior, she started to attend sessions on a regular basis. Then one day, shortly before Dr. Wilbur went out of town, Sybil got sick and couldn't keep her appointment. Then, Dr. Wilbur was gone.Years later Sybil's mother, while being on her deathbed, confessed, that she never reported Sybil being sick to Dr. Wilbur, but just didn't want her to go see the psychoanalyst any longer, although it clearly made her feel better. Sybil, after so many years of believing that Dr. Wilbur just left her, decided to find her and resume therapy. When she moved to New York, Sybil finally went back into treatment and Dr. Wilbur soon gained knowledge of the real illness: Sybil's a multiple personality. Years went by during which Dr. Wilbur tried to find the root of Sybil's dissociation, met all the personalities and finally tried to put the pieces back together, so Sybil could become one true self.Sybil is a true story. Flora Rheta Schreiber knew both, Dr. Wilbur and Sybil personally and they allowed her to write this book. They even helped her get all the facts straight. In order to protect her anonymity, Sybil Isabel Dorsett was used as a pseudonym for Shirley Ardell Mason, who is the "real" Sybil. This was released during the final minutes of the 2007 movie adaption. Over the years many other therapists questioned Dr. Wilbur's diagnosis of Sybil being a multiple personality. Some of them even claim that she herself talked Sybil into believing that she had different personalities, that Dr. Wilbur created the case so she could sell a book. I'm not familiar with the matter, so I clearly have no idea whether or not it is true. Also, I'm not exactly sure if it actually matters. Does it matter? If it's real it's a story about a child who dissociated into different personalities after being raised by a cruel, horrible, disgusting mother, after growing up in an environment of hate, fear and bigotry. If it's not real, well then she just wasn't a multiple personality, but she still grew up this way.While the book both fascinated and shocked me, to read about Sybil losing time, about the concept of different people, real, actual individuals, sharing one body, it also made me sick. Reading about what Sybil's mother Hattie put her daughter through made me sick. I read about how she physically, emotionally and sexually abused her child, how she hurt her, how she almost killed her. It still makes me sick to know that a mother could be so cruel to her child. Well, and then it made me sick to know that nobody noticed. Sybil clearly couldn't speak up out of fear of punishment (and punished she was a lot), but nobody cared about why she was suffering from malnutrition or how the hell she was able to hurt herself that badly, just by falling over her own feet. Not even her father noticed. He didn't care really. A mother takes care of her daughter. No matter what. No matter what kind of crazy person she is. Such a nitwit. First I thought Hattie was just over-protective of her only child, but as therapy went on and Sybil's other selves revealed the truth about her childhood, I just (I know I'm repeating myself... "We are not amused by textual repetition. Not. Amused.") felt really sick.