Herbert Spiegel is the guy who gave an interview to the New York Times Review of Books in 1998 sneering about how he 'debunked' the Sybil case. This is apparently his entire claim to fame, and he has appeared on a few talk shows as the token skeptic, repeating the same lines. He is one of those people who believes multiplicity is all about self-hypnosis and that all of us are gullible, highly suggestible "Grade Fives" and "fantasy-prone personalities."
I wasn't convinced by his evidence against Sybil, either. Don't get me wrong, the book (and, even more so, the movie) is a sensationalistic exaggeration with many events probably totally invented for dramatic value, but several people who knew the real Shirley Mason said that she was really multiple, and remained so even after her therapy with Connie Wilbur (she said she "invited the others back" because she was lonely without them). Just because Wilbur had a lot of dubious and shady practices doesn't mean she coerced all her clients into multiplicity.
His son David Spiegel, who co-authored the book quoted from, does believe in multiplicity and has published a lot of papers, even though he thinks it's all dissociation and no one really has more than one personality, etc. We saw his office once when we were in therapy with someone at the Stanford clinic, although he was on the phone when we came by.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: I want this book
Date: 2005-11-23 03:24 am (UTC)I wasn't convinced by his evidence against Sybil, either. Don't get me wrong, the book (and, even more so, the movie) is a sensationalistic exaggeration with many events probably totally invented for dramatic value, but several people who knew the real Shirley Mason said that she was really multiple, and remained so even after her therapy with Connie Wilbur (she said she "invited the others back" because she was lonely without them). Just because Wilbur had a lot of dubious and shady practices doesn't mean she coerced all her clients into multiplicity.
His son David Spiegel, who co-authored the book quoted from, does believe in multiplicity and has published a lot of papers, even though he thinks it's all dissociation and no one really has more than one personality, etc. We saw his office once when we were in therapy with someone at the Stanford clinic, although he was on the phone when we came by.