This 12-minute video introduces students to the story behind “Sybil,” a sensational but scientifically-fraught case study on multiple personality disorder that became the subject of a best-selling book and popular movie. Chronicling the questionable research and treatment procedures that led to a crisis of misdiagnosis and maltreatment of patients, the video explains how the now-debunked concept of multiple personality disorder came to be replaced by the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder. Useful for setting up a class discussion on the fallibility of diagnostic labels and their evolution over time, the video fits in well with any unit on clinical psychology, and provides students with a deeply-contextualized introduction to the basic elements of dissociative identity disorder.

NOTE: This video contains a description of a sexual assault from 4:50-4:55. Please screen before playing this video in your classroom.