Cornelia B. Wilbur

Cornelia B. Wilbur (1908–1992) was an American psychiatrist. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1930 and was one of eight women medical college graduates in 1939. She was the first female medical student extern at Kalamazoo State Hospital, which is where she first treated an agoraphobic "hysterical" girl and consequently learned she could treat the "hysteria" and not just the symptoms.[1] Dr. Wilbur was a pioneer clinician, as well as an educator, researcher, and mentor for many people.

Dr. Wilbur is best known for her work with Shirley Ardell Mason, a woman purportedly abused as a child who supposedly had developed 16 different personalities as a result. A book and movie, both titled Sybil were fictional accounts of the psychiatric treatment received by Mason while in the care of Wilbur. She diagnosed and treated Mason for dissociative identity disorder beginning in 1954 and continuing for 11 years.

Wilbur's diagnosis of Mason was later called into question. She was also accused of manipulating Mason for financial advantage, though nothing has been proven. She nevertheless remained friends with Mason for the rest of her life.

Dr. Wilbur lectured around the world about child, spouse, and elder abuse and their repercussions, and advocated parenting education to prevent child abuse. She also was interested in increasing admission of women to medical schools.[2]

In the late 1970s, Dr. Wilbur consulted on the case of Billy Milligan, the first man to be acquitted of a crime in the United States by reason of insanity due to multiple personality disorder.

References

• Ace Weekly Magazine Article – August 2, 2001
• Images In Psychiatry: Cornelia B. Wilbur

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Name	Wilbur, Cornelia B.
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Date of birth	1908
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Date of death	1992
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