Shirley Ardell Mason

Shirley Ardell Mason (January 25, 1923 – February 26, 1998) was an American art teacher who was reported to have dissociative identity disorder (previously known as multiple personality disorder). Her life was purportedly described, with adaptations to protect her anonymity, in 1973 in the book Sybil, subtitled The True Story of a Woman Possessed by 16 Separate Personalities. Two films of the same name were made, one released in 1976 and the other in 2007. Both the book and the films used the name Sybil Isabel Dorsett to protect Mason's identity, though the 2007 remake stated Mason's name at its conclusion. Mason's diagnosis and treatment under Cornelia B. Wilbur have been criticized, with allegations that Wilbur manipulated or misdiagnosed Mason. Mason herself eventually told her doctor that she did not have multiple personalities and that the symptoms had not been genuine, although whether or not this statement accurately reflected Mason's views later in life remains controversial. Biography Shirley Mason was born and raised in Dodge Center, Minnesota, the only surviving child of Walter Wingfield Mason (a carpenter and architect) and Martha Alice "Mattie" Atkinson. In regard to Mason's mother: "...many people in Dodge Center say Mattie" — "Hattie" in the book — "was bizarre," according to Bettie Borst Christensen, who grew up across the street. "She had a witch-like laugh.... She didn't laugh much, but when she did, it was like a screech." Christensen remembers Mason's mother walking around after dark, looking in the neighbors' windows. At one point, Martha Mason was reportedly diagnosed with schizophrenia. Shirley Mason graduated from Dodge Center High School in 1942 and became an art student at Mankato State College, now Minnesota State University, Mankato. In the early 1950s, she was a substitute teacher and a student at Columbia University. She had long suffered from blackouts and emotional breakdowns, and finally entered psychotherapy with Cornelia B. Wilbur, a Freudian psychiatrist. Their sessions together are the basis for Flora Schreiber's book on Shirley Mason. From 1970 to 1971, she taught art at Rio Grande College in Rio Grande, Ohio (now the University of Rio Grande).