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Quote by Sady Doyle

“Not only is the actual word "hysteria" gendered — it once referred to an exclusively female disease, a mental illness thought to be caused by a malfunctioning uterus — there is a very long history of critics using accusations or innuendo about women's mental health or emotional stability in order to shut down their political voices.”

Quote by Sady Doyle

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Sady Doyle

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“[...] let us note that a so-called "Sociobiologist" - this word is a whole project by itself - pushed the ingeniosity to the point of replacing matter by "genes", whose egoist selfishness, combined with ant and bee instincts, would have managed to constitute not only bodies but also conscience and at the end, human intelligence, miraculously able to dissert on the genes that amusingly created it.”

“The story of Sybil is true, not fictional or fraudulent. One early commentator actually suggested that Sybil and Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, her treating psychiatrist, were a case of folie à deux, or shared psychosis (Victor, 1975). Having met Dr. Wilbur, listened to her presentations on multiple personality (now known as dissociative identity disorder), and read the many critiques and reviews of Sybil, I have concluded that Sybil was not iatrogenically created by Dr. Wilbur.”

“A problem is that Nathan documents Shirley Mason as suffering from a variety of symptoms of a complex dissociative disorder prior to her first contact with Dr. Wilbur, although Nathan denies the dissociative nature of these symptoms. The symptoms described as real by Debbie Nathan include fugue states; blank spells; spending hours playing with imaginary companions with names far beyond the age when this occurs in nontraumatized children; pretending to be “Vicky,” one of her “imaginary companions” at times; her mother calling her by the same names of alter personalities later identified in adult therapy; talking in a high, childish voice when she was no longer a child; numerous symptoms consistent with somatoform dissociation throughout her childhood and adulthood; going downtown to bars to drink with men and not remembering afterward; suddenly becoming comatose in public; and suddenly acting dramatically out of character. All of these symptoms were described to Debbie Nathan in interviews with people who knew Shirley Mason well. Thus, Debbie Nathan’s book actually inadvertently provides documentation of a range of psychological and physical symptoms that would be expected beginning in childhood for someone with a burgeoning dissociative disorder.”

“As a single case from half a century ago, Sybil Exposed cannot tell us anything about the reliability, validity, etiology, epidemiology, or typical treatment outcome of a mental disorder. Nathan’s alternative theory of pernicious anemia is implausible and supported by no corroborating evidence; Debbie Nathan advocates a hypothetical explanation of Shirley’s pre-1945 symptoms that is less evidence based than the trauma dissociation theory she rejects.”

“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.”

“Have you ever seen Russian nesting dolls?” Thrown by the questions, she opened her eyes. Why would he suddenly speak about a child’s toy? “I own a few of them.” “Then you must understand that undressing you is like playing with one of those dolls. I open one to find another beneath it. I took away your gown to find you are still as clothed as you were a moment ago and I wonder how many more layers I will have to work through to get down to you—the doll I’m searching for.”

“Cependant, la nouvelle organisation aura beau être structurellement bien pensée, elle pourra être remise en question par les humains dont elle est censée améliorer la condition et le destin. Car si l’être humain ne change pas quotidiennement pour atteindre générosité, compassion, éthique et équité, la société ne pourra changer durablement. On peut manger bio, recycler ses déchets et ses eaux usées, se chauffer à l’énergie solaire et exploiter son prochain. Cela n’est pas incompatible.”