Sybil (1976)

Sybil is a film about a young introverted woman who suffers from a mental disorder called Multiple Personality Disorder or also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder. The root of her suffering and her disorder comes from her abusive childhood (something which she could not remember well now).

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is a mental disorder listed in the DSM-5. However, there are still many psychologists and psychiatrists who tend not to believe that DID is real. In my personal opinion, I want to believe that DID is actually real and it is indeed a very disturbing mental disorder. Some people may think that DID may seems very scary, it is as if the patient or client has been possessed. To be fair, it does feel like the patient is being possessed by something because they have split personalities or to be accurate, identities. Patients who suffer from DID could sometimes do things that they usually do not do. Some could even speak a foreign language which the host (the owner of the body) do not actually know. For example, Sybil in the film has many different identities and each of them is very different from one another. Sybil (the host) is actually a very timid, shy and introverted person. By the end of the film we could see that the reason for her to behave such way is probably because of her past abusive childhood. However, her alternative known as Victoria (Vicky) seems like a super confident woman - so much different than who Sybil usually is. This alternative, Vicky happens to be the one who does mostly everything that Sybil usually will not have the courage to do. Other than that, Sybil's other alternative known as Vanessa could play the piano. Sybil would always claim that she can no longer play the piano (probably was scarred by her abusive mother). However, Vanessa's presence shows that Sybil actually still knows how to play the piano but she has been repressing her talent all the time. 

There we go, I have said it. The word "repressed". 

Personally, other than wanting to believe that DID is actually real, I happen to like this mental disorder very much too. Not that I like what DID does to people but I really find DID very fascinating. It is not possession - the patient who suffers from DID is definitely not being possessed by something supernatural or etc. Their split personalities or identities are actually personalities or identities that the host is repressing! This is why most DID patients actually used to suffer from child abuse. Most the abused victims tend to repress their past memories or information that remind them of their past suffering. Just like Sybil, as a child, she used to be abused by her own mother. When her mother used to lock her in the green kitchen (kitchen which was painted in green), she would always want to break free by breaking the window. When she grew older, this part of the memories has been repressed by Sybil. By doing so, unconsciously, Sybil has created an alternative known as Peggy who is responsible for her dark childhood. Thus, in order to repressed this suffering, Sybil has let Peggy bears the abuse on her own. Whenever the situation triggers Sybil to think of her past abuse, she would want to escape and she would let Peggy 'come out' to bear the pain for her.

Similarly, Sybil has always loved music and she loves playing the piano. But because when she was younger, she was so scared that her mother was going to be angry, she stopped herself from doing things that she loved and which she found enjoyable such as playing music. But then, you can never unlearn something which you have learned. But because Sybil was scarred so badly and horribly, she created another alternative known as Vanessa who keeps her musical talent and the fun side of her. The same thing goes to Victoria. Sybil is always so scared, timid and has no confident with herself. In my opinion, I think that Sybil has created Vicky to look after herself. Unlike the other alternatives, Vicky wants to help Sybil and she listens well to Dr. Wilbur (Sybil's psychiatrist). 

Other than that, there are a few parts in the film which I think have really illustrated DID well. 

#1 Loss of memory -  the part where Sybil would be always looking at her watch. Most of the time, patients with DID would not know when their alternatives are going to take over. They would not even realize that it happen until they have 'woken up', Hence the only way to actually keep track is to keep checking the time. Similarly, at the beginning of the film when audiences have yet to know that it was DID, we could see that Sybil kept checking her watch whenever she zones out.

#2 Fear - It is quite sad to know that DID patients live in fear most of the time because they cannot seem to control when their alternatives would appear. In the film, Sybil once told Dr. Wilbur that she was really afraid because there was once when she woke up and found out that she was two years older.

#3 Denial - Most of the alternative identities in a DID patient like to deny that they are of the same person. They all like to claim that they are separate individuals. In the film, Vicky for example has always been telling Dr. Wilbur that she is not Sybil and the way she looks at herself in the mirror shows that she thinks that she is a different person. When Dr. Wilbur tried to test Vicky by asking her, "how come Peggy and Sybil both experience hurt in their throats if they are of different people?", Vicky avoided the question.

I like how the film illustrates Sybil and her alternative identities and personally I think that the film has done quite well. Compared to the other films related to DID which I have watched previously, this film is considered quite disturbing for me. The parts when Peggy comes out and when they revealed Sybil's past abuse, I felt really disturbed and stressed. But I do believe that the nature of the real patient with DID is indeed disturbing. Besides that, another interesting part of film which I really like was when Sybil was considered recovered and she would like to meet all her alternatives through hypnosis. I find it really fascinating that she had finally got the opportunity to meet them and to talk to them. Other than Peggy, I feel that most of her alternatives were created to protect her and it was really touching to watch Sybil finally meeting them. 

(Among all the other alternative identities of Sybil's, I like Victoria (Vicky) the most)

The Sixth Sense (1999)

'The Sixth Sense' is an American supernatural horror-thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. I remember that it was my parents who first introduced me to this film when I was younger. During then, it really seemed like a horror film to me and I used to be so scared (I know, why would my parents show a kid a horror film in the first place). But as I continued watching this film from time to time as I grow up (because it is such a good film), I understand that it was not so much of a horror film anymore, but more like a psychological thriller. Every time when I show it to my other friends or my younger siblings or cousins, I could not help but to be a spoiler, just like how my parents used to spoil it for me. 

I would say: "It's so sad when Dr. Malcolm finds out later that he's actually dead!" - there you go, I did it again!

This film is actually the closest to heart among all the other films that I have watched in this class. Other than the reason because my parents and I watch this together all the time, another reason would be because of the meaning and the ending of the film. I personally really love the ending of 'The Sixth Sense'. So today, for this particular film, I may not want to analyze so much about the psychological reasonings or any theories behind this film. Instead, I really want to reflect and to share how I feel about this film and which part of the film touches me the most.

Cole is a character in this film whom I really sympathize with. I realized how much struggles this little boy actually went through all by himself and it touched me. Due to the fact that he knew no one would actually believed him, Cole kept the secret (that he can see and talk to ghosts) to himself for such a long time no matter how afraid or terrified he was. Even though I think that Cole was really brave to have endured all these experiences alone, I feel very sad and sorry for this character at the same time. In the scene where Cole was having breakfast while his mother, Lynn went to fetch him a new tie from the laundry and then suddenly all the kitchen cabinets were opened, it was obvious that the ghosts did it. But because Cole knew that his mother would not believe him if he had told her so, he took the blame himself and said that he was looking for something. When he left the table, the handprints and sweats on the table showed how much this little boy was terrified. Another scene where Cole was shivering and crying in his tent because he had just saw a ghost also showed how much this poor boy was scared. But still, no matter how scared Cole was, he could never tell anyone because if he did, people would send him away, teachers would have meetings with his mother and classmates would look at him in the way he never want them to. So the only things that he could do was to take refuge in the church and to steal figurines from the church to build his very own refugee tent in his room. It touched me most to have to imagine the amount of fear and stress a child like Cole would be experiencing to have to endure all these by himself and still cared a lot about what other people think of him. For example, Cole would constantly ask his mother about what she thought of him throughout the film. He cared a lot about what his mother thought of him. Fortunately, even though Cole may seemed like a troubled child, Lynn would also constantly reassure Cole about what she thought of him and that she loved him very very much. As a mother, she was always there to protect and to care for him - the random 'trolley scene' in the film seemed to want to show how much Lynn wanted to try to make Cole happy.

Initially Cole did not want to open up and to let Dr. Malcolm help him because he thought that Dr. Malcolm would not believe him either. But surprisingly, when Dr. Malcolm began to share his personal issue in which his wife would not talk to him, he began to bond and to build a certain degree of trust with Cole and that was when Cole decided to tell him his secret. This showed how sometimes it is possible and wise for therapists to cross certain boundaries with the client if it would bring benefits such as building rapport and trust with the client. However, even after Cole had revealed his secret, Dr. Malcolm did not fully trust him. In fact, he even diagnosed Cole as having delusions (which is rational because it is quite hard to believe that it was all supernatural). 

This brings back to the matter which we can all reflect as therapists - how much do we actually believe in our clients and will the amount of trust we have on our clients influence our judgement and affect how much we can help them?

In this film, the answer is YES. In Cole's case, the only way to help him was to get rid of the ghosts and there was no possible way for Dr. Malcolm to help him if he did not believe him in the first place. Just as what Cole would say; "How can you help me when you don't believe me?"

Anyhow, I am glad that Cole was given a happy ending in the film. From being terrified by the ghosts, Cole became really brave to have faced his fear and to confront the ghosts. By confronting, Cole was able to help the ghosts with their unfinished business and most importantly, he was no longer terrified by them anymore. We can actually learn from Cole's experience in the film and apply it to our lives. In our lives, there are certainly many things that scare us or terrify us to move on. But only if we allow ourselves to have courage and to confront the matter, anything and everything can be solved.

Besides Cole, the story between Malcolm and his wife, Anna also touched me a lot. I do agree that the plot twist would be much more effective for first-time viewer however, no matter how many times I watch this film, I still feel the pain. Other than the beginning and the ending of the film, this entire film was showing how the relationship and the marriage between Malcolm and Anna was breaking apart. She would not talk to him, she ignored him all the time and there was a chance that she was going out with another man. Malcolm thought that it was because of his job. Cole suggested to him that maybe he should try to talk to her while she was asleep. He did, and that was when he discovered the reason why she had been ignoring him all the while. While she was asleep, she asked Malcolm why did he leave her and she dropped his wedding ring. The moment when he finally realized that the reason Anna would ignore him all the time was not because she was angry at him but because he was dead, there were certainly some mixed feelings that he was going through at the moment. Thanks to Cole, Malcolm was able to complete his unfinished business - to rectify his failure to help his ex-client, Vincent. Similarly, thanks to Cole's suggestion to talk to Anna while she was asleep, he also had a chance to tell his wife that she was never second and that he had loved her very very much. After all the happenings in the film, it turns out that Malcolm was also another ghost in need of Cole's help to complete his unfinished business. 

Lastly, towards the end of the film, Cole had decided that he finally would like to communicate with his mother. Even though she was happy that Cole was finally opening up to her, she was not very glad to hear about his 'gift'. However, when Cole started telling her about her mother (his deceased grandmother), again, I could not hold back my tears. In our day-to-day lives, sometimes, being a grown-up child to our parents, we would say things that hurt our parents' feelings or there are things that we keep to ourselves and which we do not tell our parents often - things like how much we love them. Come to think of it, we should definitely tell our parents how much we love them before it is too late. Just like in the film, Lynn's mother never had a chance to tell her that she was so proud of her. Thanks to Cole, Lynn finally had a chance to know her mother's unsaid words.

There are certainly many great things that I loved about 'The Sixth Sense'. Besides the wonderful storyline and the plot twist, I admired Cole's character for his courage and I sympathized with Cole's experience. Most importantly, I learn one very important thing from this film , that is, never have regrets in life. We should say things that we want to say to our loved ones and do things that we want to do when we still have the chance. No one knows exactly how long we get to live so we should appreciate the things and people around us while we can.