The Case of Sybil in the Teaching of Psychology

Abstract

What do psychology professors today typically tell their students about the case of Sybil (F R. Schreiber, 1973}—once considered the classic case of multiple personality disorder (MPD), until gradually revealed to be afraud by new evidence (R. W Rieber, 1998)? A 14-item survey was completed by a national sample of 125 college psychology teachers. It was found that a sizable minority of teachers discussMPD (35%) or Sybil (23%) in their classes, 40% continue to regard Sybil as a classic case of MPD, and83% report being only slightly or not at allfamiliar with new revelations about the Sybil case. Psychology teachers are offered 5 guidelines for accurately teaching about Sybil today.

Key Words:

• Sybil
• teaching psychology