Can you elaborate on dissociation? What do people who dissociate do, or behave?

Wait. "Sibyl" was proven to be fiction? (I know the story was dramatized for the TV movie with Sally Fields, but I thought the core of the story was real. Did someone disprove it?)

The person exists, but the case is another horrible example of therapy-gone-wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybil_(book)#Publication_history

"The book is believed by Mark Pendergrast and Joan Acocella to have established the template for the later upsurge in the diagnoses of dissociative identity disorders.

Audiotapes that recorded conversations between Schreiber and Wilbur were examined by Dr. Herbert Spiegel and later by John Jay College of Criminal Justice academic Robert W. Rieber. Both these professionals concluded that Dr. Wilbur suggested multiple personalities to her client, whom they saw as a simple "hysteric". They also claimed that Wilbur and Schreiber fabricated most of the book, *which is not a psychiatric case history but a novel with many details of the real case changed or removed*. The American Psychological Association recommends that Shirley Mason's case should no longer be cited as a 'classic example' of Multiple Personality Disorder.

A review of Rieber's book Bifurcation of the Self by Mark Lawrence states that Rieber repeatedly distorted the evidence and left out a number of important facts about Mason's case, in order to advance his case against the validity of the diagnosis.
The case remains controversial, as Wilbur's psychiatric files are sealed, and both she and Mason are deceased."

So yes, apparently the book/movies that set the tone for what the public thinks of as "multiple personality disorder" are lousy, exploitative trash.

I don't think many will have gotten this, but I did, Doctor... LOL!

yes-and being with that friend was sometimes scary but mostly it was just...sorrowful. On the flip side after many, many years of hospitalizations, treatment, etc. I had the distinct pleasure of watching my friend integrate to the point where one personality was truly dominant, no suprises, & 'everyone' was talking to eaxh other/aware of each other. My friend came from an ongoing nightmare of abuse that lasted well into early adulthood-classic DID case study. I also have several family members who work in the mental health field. This is a very real & devestating disorder for those who suffer from it. It's hard to watch but that is a pittance compared to what these people go through.