Transcript Eve Black

A CASE OF MULTIPLE
PERSONALITY DISORDER
Thigpen & Cleckley (1954)
Sybil
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Sybil’s real name was Shirley Mason
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Her case made Personality Disorder
famous (especially after the 1973
miniseries starring Sally field)
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Sybil had 16 separate personalities
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Her personality fragmented as a result of
extreme child abuse
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She was treated by Dr. Cornelia Wilbur a
Freudian Psychologist
According to the book
"she probed the child's vagina with a knife and a
buttonhook. She hung her upside down and,
using an enema bag, filled her bladder with icecold water, then tied her to the family piano and
forbade her to urinate while she, the mother,
played Chopin." This, apparently, had caused
Sybil to split into alters who were able to deal
with various life situations on her behalf.
What is Multiple Personality Disorder?
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Now known as Disassociative
Identity Disorder.
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It is not Schizophrenia.
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Essential feature is two or
more distinct personalities
within the same body.
•
The core personality is
unaware of the other
personalities.
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Amnesia is another common
symptom.
It’s a Controversial Disorder
• There is evidence that
people can fake this
disorder.
• Is it due to suggestion?
• Reporting of cases is
sporadic.
• Reliability of diagnosis is
poor.
• The above points are
important since a
diagnosis of DID can be
used in a plea of NGRI.
The Aim
• To provide an account of the treatment of a
25 year old woman who was referred to
Thigpen and Cleckley because of blinding
headaches
The Study
• Case study of
one woman Eve
White
• Original presenting
symptoms were
anxiety, headaches,
blackouts and
general
dissatisfaction with
her stressful life.
Start of the Study
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The symptoms were
headaches and subsequent
blackouts.
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Increasing stress at home.
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Husband requests she sees
therapist due to unusual
behaviour.
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In a particular session she
puts both hands to her head
and switches into ‘alter’
personality Eve Black
A bright voice says ‘Hi there
Doc.’
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Differences between Eve White
and Eve Black
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Gestures
Expressions
Posture
Eye brow tilting
Eye movement
Voice
Language structure
Eve White
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•
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Demure
Simple and
conservative
clothes
Soft voice
Passive/lacking
initiative
Industrious
Limited
spontaneity
Eve Black
• Party Girl
• Shrewd
•Childish
•Erotically
mischievous
•No stress
• Prankster
• Taunting
• Whim-like attitudes
• Never contemplative
The letter
• Several days after the first session a letter
appeared at the therapists office
• The letter was in Eve White’s usually
writing, but at the bottom of the page there
was a paragraph that looked like a child had
written it
• Eve white remembered starting the letter but
denied having sent it
The interviews
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Over the next 14 months they conduced 100
hours of interviews
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Information was also collected from Eve’s
husband, parents, friends
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Eve Black could sometimes pop out during
hypnosis
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After a few sessions therapists could ask to speak
to Eve Black under hypnosis
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After more sessions hypnosis was no longer
necessary
Traumatic events
Birth of twin sisters, EW loves them, EB hates them
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EW witnessed her mother cut her hand when she was
a child and found the incident traumatic
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EW quit school to work and support her family, she
sent home money to buy sisters overcoats, denying
herself a watch she really wanted
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The money was spent on two wrist watches and EW
reacted with repressed hostility
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This was seen by EW as rejection from family
Findings from the therapy sessions
• EB bought expensive dresses and two
luxurious coats, EW’s husband lost his
temper when he found out and abused his
wife
• EB would go out and get drunk and EW
would wake up with a hangover and not
know why she felt so sick
Findings from the therapy sessions
• A distant relative insisted that before she met
her husband a previous marriage had taken
place
• EW had no memory of this
• After some pressure EB admitted she had
been in control during this period and it was
she that married and lived with another man
Findings from the therapy
sessions
• EB claimed she had no desire for sex but
enjoyed frustrating EW’s husband by
denying him sex
• He savagely beat her as punishment and EB
avoided the pain by ‘going in’ and letting
EW take the blows
Eve Black
• Present since early childhood.
• Eve White had no knowledge of the alter
(amnesia).
• In childhood Eve Black often got into trouble
and Eve White was punished (later backed
up by parents and husband)
• Eve Black was clever enough to conceal her
identity from Eve White’s husband and her
parents
Eve Black
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Eve Black denied being married to Eve White’s
husband, and denied any relationship with Eve
White’s Daughter
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During her long periods of being ‘OUT’ she avoided
family and friends and spent time with strangers
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She could remain unrecognised by imitating Eve
White
The information collected
• Interviews
• EEG – measuring brain activity
• Projective tests –Qualitative data
Rorsarch Ink Blot test
Drawing a Human Figure
• Psychometric tests – Quantitative data
Wechsler-Bellevue intelligence test
Wechsler memory scale
Eve White
Eve Black
IQ Test
Memory Test
110
Superior
104
Inferior
Drawings
Less healthy
than EB
Healthier than
EW
EEG
11 cycles per
sec
Repressive,
Showing
obsessive
compulsive
traits
Easy
12.5 cycles
per sec
Regressive,
Unable to
deal with her
hostility
Personality
Hypnosis
Not Able
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When Eve White became
aware of Eve Black she
became able to prevent
her from ‘getting out’
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Negotiation became
necessary for Eve Black
to get time out
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After 8 months Eve Black
was making progress
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Her black outs had
stopped and she was
making good progress in
her job.
Jane
• After a period of progress Eve White had
increased headaches and blackouts.
• Eve black denied responsibility and claimed
during these blackouts she too couldn’t
remember what happened
• In a session focusing on early childhood
traumas, Jane emerged.
• This personality is an approximate balance
between the other two – assertive and
mature.
Jane
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Jane showed compassion for
EW’s daughter
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Jane had not found a way to
displace EB or communicate
through her
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Jane was aware of both Eves
thoughts and behaviors but did
not have full access to their
memories before she appeared
Eve White
Eve Black
Jane
IQ Test
110
104
N/A
Memory
Test
Superior
Inferior
N/A
Drawings
Less
Healthy
than EB
Healthier
than EW
N/A
EEG
11 cycles
per sec
12.5 cycles
per sec
11 cycles
per sec
Personality
Repressive Regressive
N/A
Hypnosis
Easy
N/A
Not Able
Results of tests
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There was a clear
difference in the EEG
tests between Eve
Black and the other two
personalities
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It was not clear if there
was a difference
between Eve White and
Jane’s EEG’s
The conclusion
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Thigpen and Cleckley were convinced that they had
witnessed a case of Multiple Personality Disorder
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They recognised that they could have been conned
by a successful actress but believed that the
performance could not have continued for so long
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They decided that if Jane took over that would be
the most appropriate solution to the troubled mind
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The case of Eve was made into a film
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In 1975 Eve revealed that she had experience other
personalities after the therapy had ended
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In total she claimed she had a total of 22 different
personalities
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In 1977 in a TV interview Eve revealed who she
was, real name Christine Sizemore, and wrote the
book ‘I’m Eve’
Evaluation
• Validity: The people interviewed could have
mislead the researchers, or their memories
may be inaccurate, the information collected
was very subjective
• Reliability: Did the study have control? Could
it be replicated with the same results?
• Generalisability: can the findings be
generalized
• Ethics: Could Thigpen and Cleckley act
effectively as both therapists and
researchers? Was Eve treated as more of a
subject than a patient? (Action research)
Bias
• P: The close relationship between
researcher and therapist may introduce
bias
• E: For example in this case study when
Eve Black first appears and crosses her
legs the therapist noted that there was
something attractive about them, and this
was the first time he had noticed this
• C: Therefore this may not be a change in
her personality, but rather a change in
the way he sees her
Advantages of a case study
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P: Case studies provide highly detailed and in depth data
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E: For example a great deal of information was collected from Eve, her
husband, and also from their friends and family members, they collected
both quantitative data with the psychometric tests and qualitative data with
the projective tests on Eve, they also did EEG scans on all of the
personalities
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C: Other superficial methods might not have this much detailed
background information on participants
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P: a case study produces highly ecologically valid information
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E: For example
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C: The case study method is true to life and has mundane realism
Disadvantages of a case study
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P: Case studies have low generalisability
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E: For example we have no way of assessing how typical Eve is of other
people with Multiple Personality Disorder
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C: Therefore the findings may be unique to one case and cannot be
generalised to others with multiple personality disorder
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P: Case studies are impossible to replicate
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E: For example the information was all collected from Eve and her family
recalling past events, their memory could be distorted and things could be
remembered incorrectly, or they could deliberately mislead the researchers
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C: Therefore the case study method is very unreliable as it could not be
replicated with similar results