# Sybil Exposed--It was all a case of pernicious anemia **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2013, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sybil-exposed-it-was-all-a-case-of-pernicious-anemia/654526 "2013-04-01T13:30:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Renifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Renifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renifer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sybil-exposed-it-was-all-a-case-of-pernicious-anemia/654526/41 "2013-04-06T16:45:28Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I wonder if kids who survived the Holocaust or the Killing Fields or other world class atrocities often had repressed memories, or if the fact that what happened was usually pretty public (i.e. no need to put on a mask for the neighbors) assisted in coping. The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich: A Son’s Memoir by Howard Reich > **[The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich: A Son's Memoir: Reich, Howard:...](https://www.amazon.com/First-Final-Nightmare-Sonia-Reich/dp/B000VYVL5I)** > > The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich: A Son's Memoir \[Reich, Howard\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich: A Son's Memoir Prisoner of Her Past by Howard Reich (same author) In this case Sonia Reich is experiencing some dementia in her advanced age, which transports her back to her youth when she was a prisoner in Buchenwald. In libraries it is usually categorized with the books on PTSD. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sybil-exposed-it-was-all-a-case-of-pernicious-anemia/654526/42 "2013-04-06T17:19:31Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > It was at this time that Billy Milligan, a serial criminal, beat three rape charges be claiming to be a multiple and that a female lesbian personality commited the rapes. Depends what you mean by “beat” the charges. [He was committed to a mental institution for ten years](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Milligan) - probably a similar length as his prison term might have been (especially with respect to parole). I absolutely loved ‘[The Minds of Billy Milligan](http://www.amazon.com/Minds-Billy-Milligan-Daniel-Keyes/dp/0553263811/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365268698&sr=8-1&keywords=minds+of+billy+milligan)’. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sybil-exposed-it-was-all-a-case-of-pernicious-anemia/654526/43 "2013-04-06T20:27:21Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > I agree. > > And I’m glad that you responded as my reaction to your post #28 was a strong one so I consider you equally guilty. Heh. > > All the things you listed in that post somewhat mockingly, as though they could be considered unbelievable, are not so to police, judges, social workers, hospital workers. Even in small, midwestern towns. The things Shirley Mason said about her mother were never substantiated by anything or anyone contemporaneously or afterward, and if you read all of them in full and in that context, they deserve that kind of response. The only source was a psychologically malleable woman who was doped out of her mind and was being analyzed by a therapist who loathed her own parents. I realize that people sometimes do horrible things to their own children. At least one of the abuse claims was literally impossible (Dr. Wilbur didn’t understand what a corn crib is), many others were also implausible or were modified as the situation dictated, and when Shirley Mason recanted everything she’d said in therapy to that point, Dr. Wilbur did not even stop to consider whether that might be true. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sybil-exposed-it-was-all-a-case-of-pernicious-anemia/654526/44 "2013-04-07T00:01:03Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I wonder if kids who survived the Holocaust or the Killing Fields or other world class atrocities often had repressed memories, or if the fact that what happened was usually pretty public (i.e. no need to put on a mask for the neighbors) assisted in coping. It’s debatable at best whether or not repressed memories even _exist._ ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sybil-exposed-it-was-all-a-case-of-pernicious-anemia/654526/45 "2013-04-07T01:50:16Z")
> [@Renifer](#): > > In this case Sonia Reich is experiencing some dementia in her advanced age, which transports her back to her youth when she was a prisoner in Buchenwald. > In libraries it is usually categorized with the books on PTSD. That sounds like pure unmitigated hell for the caregiver. Hm, I would guess that I would make plenty of food available, stuff that could be hoarded without rotting, that would at least help with the food deprivation memories. I am very glad for my brothers sake my Mom doesn’t have any traumatic events to relive. I like one German home’s [reaction](http://www.expatica.com/de/health_fitness/healthcare/Waiting-for-the-bus-that-will-never-come_12131.html) to patients that wander off, a fake bus stop at the entrance. The patients are so conditioned by the German mass transport system to wait patiently until a bus comes past that the patients calmly sit there and the staff go out and round up the missing people when someone goes missing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sybil-exposed-it-was-all-a-case-of-pernicious-anemia/654526.md?page=2)