Corbett Thigpen & Hervey Cleckley, 1957 (Updated 8 December 2012)

BACKGROUND & AIMS

The client (called ‘Eve White’ in the study’) was a 25-year-old married woman who had moved back to live with her parents when her marriage got into difficulties. She was referred for therapy in Summer 1951 to the psychiatrist, Corbett Thigpen, because of ‘severe and blinding headaches’,  for  which her doctor could find no physiological cause. At the first interview she also complained of ‘blackouts’ following her headaches, although her family were not aware of anything that would suggest a real loss of consciousness or serious mental confusion.

During interviews several emotional difficulties were revealed. Thigpen and his colleague, Hervey Cleckley, believed that she had a number of complex but relatively commonplace marital conflicts and personal frustrations.

Eve White’s letter, with Eve Black’s paragraph at the bottom

However, they were puzzled that Eve White had no memory of a recent trip. The therapists used hypnosis and the amnesia was cleared. Eve seemed to be making progress.

Several days after a visit to the therapists, a letter from Eve White appeared at the therapists’ office. The letter concerned her therapy and was written in her usual handwriting. However, at the bottom of the page there was a paragraph that looked like a child had written it.

On her next visit Eve White denied sending the letter, though she recalled having begun one which she never finished and thought she had destroyed. During the interview, Eve White who was normally very self-controlled became distressed and asked whether hearing an occasional imaginary voice made her insane.

She reported that she had on several occasions over the last few months briefly heard a voice addressing her. During this conversation Eve White, as if in pain suddenly put both hands to her head. After a tense moment of silence her hands dropped and the therapist observed a “quick, reckless smile” and in a bright voice she said: “Hi there, Doc!”

To the therapist it seemed that the usually conventional and retiring Eve White had changed into a carefree person. She also seemed to have a very different physical presence in terms of manner, gestures and eye movements. When asked her name, she immediately replied that she was ‘Eve Black’.

The therapist noted that this new person “…had a childish daredevil air, an erotically mischievous glance, a face marvellously free from the habitual signs of care, seriousness and underlying distress.”. The voice and language structure were also very different - and to the therapist it appeared to be an entirely different woman.

PROCEDURE (METHOD): This case study consisted of interviews with the patient and her family, hypnosis, observation and 4 psychometric and projective tests administered by an independent expert: a drawing human figures test, the Weschler Memory Scale, the Rorschach (‘ink blot)’ Test and the Weschler-Bellvue Intelligence (IQ) Scale. At a later stage, Thigpen & Cleckley administered Charles Osgood’s Semantic Differential Attitude Scale and electroencephalogram tests (EEG) were used.

Over the next 14 months, during a series of interviews totalling approximately 100 hours, extensive material was obtained about the behaviour and experience of Eve White and Eve Black.

The therapists found that although Eve Black could sometimes ‘pop out’ unexpectedly, she could only be ‘called out’ by the therapists when Eve White was under hypnosis. Similarly, after a few hypnotic sessions the therapists could request Eve Black to let them speak to Eve White.

After more sessions they found that hypnosis was no longer needed for obtaining the changes. However, the therapists stated that this did complicate Eve White’s life considerably as Eve Black found herself more able to ‘take over’ than before.

FINDINGS (RESULTS): The therapists believed that Eve Black had enjoyed an independent life since Eve’s early childhood and when she was ‘out’ Eve White was not aware of what was happening. In contrast, when Eve Black was not out she was aware of what was happening.

Eve Black told the therapists about a number of incidents in childhood where she engaged in acts of mischief or disobedience, which Eve White was unaware of and was punished for. Some of these incidents were later backed up in interviews with her parents and her husband

According to the therapists, Eve Black’s behaviour was “,,,characterised by irresponsibility and a shallowly hedonistic desire for excitement and pleasure.” She succeeded in concealing her identity not only from Eve White, but also from her parents and husband. Eve Black denied marriage to the man whom she despised and denied any relationship to Eve White’s daughter except that of an unconcerned bystander. She even claimed to have married another man - though she never had sex with him which led him to beat her. To Eve White’s husband, daughter and parents, her unpleasant behaviour, harshness and occasional acts of violence were explained in terms of “…unaccountable fits of temper in a woman who was habitually gentle and considerate.”

During Eve Black’s longer periods ‘out’ she avoided her family and close friends and sought the company of strangers and she was also able to remain unrecognised when it suited her by imitating Eve White. Eve Black explained Eve White’s inability to remember such activities by claiming she could selectively erase her memory. Thigpen & Clackley claimed they had confirmed this selective erasing via several experiments.

The following results were obtained from the psychometric and projective tests:-

• IQ test results: Eve White obtained an IQ of 110 and Eve Black 104;
• Memory Test results: Eve White’s memory function was far above her IQ while Eve Black’s was equivalent;
• Rorschach test and drawings of human figures results: the profile of Eve Black was far healthier than Eve White. Eve Black, though, was regressive (to childlike behaviour) and displayed a hysterical tendency.  Eve White was repressive and

           repressive and anxious, showing obsessive-compulsive traits, rigidity and an inability to express her hostility towards her mother. (Which Eve Black had little             problem doing!)

During the therapy sessions it became clear that Eve Black had little compassion for Eve White, was intolerant of her marital problems and could not be persuaded to help with the therapy. Eg: the therapists noted that Eve Black had  “…often misled the therapist into believing she was co-operating when, in fact, her behaviour was particularly detrimental to Eve White’s progress.”

As Eve White became aware of Eve Black’s existence through the therapy, she became able to prevent her ‘getting out’ on occasions and so negotiation was necessary for Eve Black to get more time ‘out’. After 8 months of treatment Eve White seemed to be making progress. Her ‘blackouts’ had ceased and she was working well at her job (as a telephone operator) and “…was reaching some acceptable solution to her marital problems.” This ‘solution’ involved deciding to leave her husband and her daughter going to live with her grandparents. The voices also disappeared.

However, as the treatment progressed, Eve White’s headaches returned and so did the ‘blackouts’, with Eve being found on the floor unconscious a few times - a new symptom. Eve Black denied all responsibility and said that she also experienced lack of awareness during these ‘blackouts’. Eve White’s general state of mind was deteriorating, she became increasingly distressed and confinement was considered. It became easier for the therapist to call up whichever personality he wanted to examine;, and childhood experiences were investigated under hypnosis. During one such episode, Eve White appeared to relax into a sleepy state. “After two minutes, her eyes opened, blankly staring about the room, trying to orient herself. When her eyes finally met those of the therapist, slowly, with an unknown husky voice and immeasurable poise, she said, ‘Who are you?’”

The therapists believed that another personality had emerged who called herself ‘Jane’. The other personality, they argued, was more responsible than Eve Black and more confident, mature and interesting than Eve White. Superficially Jane appeared to be a compromise between the 2 Eves.

Eve White

Eve White

Jane

Film stills copyright © 1957 Corbett Thigpen & Hervey Cleckley

After Jane appeared the 3 personalities were given EEG tests. It was possible to make a clear distinction between the readings of Eve Black and the other two personalities. Eve Black’s EEG was borderline normal, with evidence of restlessness and muscle tension. It was not possible make a clear distinction between Eve White and Jane’s EEGs, both of which were normal

Thigpen & Cleckley administered the Semantic Differential Attitude Scale to all 3 personalities and then repeated the test 2 months later and  found:-

• Eve White was socialised, construing the world ‘normally’ but showing a dissatisfied attitude towards herself;
• Eve Black achieved a “violent kind of adjustment, saw herself as perfect and the world ‘abnormally’.”
• Jane had the ‘healthiest’ perception of the world and the most satisfactory self-evaluation.

(Charles Osgood himself calculated the scores on the scale but did so ‘blind’ and assumed they were 3 totally different people.)

Having been able to work with the 3 personalities for several months the therapists concluded that, if Jane could take control of the personalities, the client would regain full health and find her way to a happy life. Jane had awareness of both Eves’ thoughts and behaviour but did not have complete access to their memories prior to her appearance. Jane had learnt to take over many of Eve White’s tasks at home and work to help Eve White and showed compassion to Eve White’s daughter. However, although the therapists could work with Jane to determine whether Eve Black had been lying, Jane had not found a way to displace Eve Black or to communicate through her.

It was decided that Jane was the person most likely to bring a solution to the troubled mind and that her growing dominance over the other personalities to be an appropriate resolution.

However, some time later, a fourth personality, ‘Evelyn’, appeared during another crisis in Eve’s life. Evelyn had access to the memories of the others,  was again more mature and responsible, and was altogether a more complete person than the others.

CONCLUSIONS:

Thigpen &  Cleckley were convinced that they had witnessed an example of Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) - see: Dissociative Identity Disorder or Multiple Personality Disorder? - that these ’personalities’ were the same person at different stages of her life

The researchers came to agree the ‘White’ and ‘Black’ pattern had started at an early age. ‘Black’ was her maiden name. When Eve White’s twin sisters were born, she felt rejected by her parents – though she loved them dearly. Eve Black’s role, it appeared to Thigpen & Cleckly, was to embody all those angry feelings, being intolerant and self-centred. This enabled Eve White to maintain a ‘nice’, loving persona.

Although Thigpen & Cleckley do not point to the cause of MPD, it appears that the trigger for the first of Eve’s alternate personalities to emerge was Eve witnessing 3 horrific incidents in less than 3 months while still not 3 years old. She saw a drowned man being pulled from a ditch, a sawmill worker sliced into 3 pieces and her own mother cutting herself severely on a piece of broken glass. During this time Eve saw a red-headed girl watching events whom nobody else seemed to notice. When her mother cut her arm accidentally and blood poured everywhere, Eve was shocked but it was the red-headed girl who went for help. Eve had been born with red hair and nicknamed ‘Carrot Top’. The red-headed girl was her first ‘alter’ or split personality.

Her alter would do all the forbidden things that Eve was inhibited about - stealing apples, being cruel to her sisters, failing school tests and wandering away from home for long periods. Her parents noticed her "strange little habits" .

After leaving home, Eve had a wild lifestyle and had a bigamous relationship with a hard-drinking racing driver who was sexually exciting but violent towards her. Not for the first time she moved back with her parents. Her second relationship was with the safe-but-boring Ralph White. He fathered her child but otherwise showed her little tenderness. As her frustration mounted she began hearing voices urging her to "knock his block off". Once she obeyed the voices and pulled the tablecloth away, tipping Ralph's meal over him.

CRITICISMS (EVALUATION):

Case studies are particularly useful in revealing the origins of abnormal behaviour. Through building up a long and detailed case history, case studies can be used as an aid to understanding and helping the client. Such research can also be called action

research as the researchers’ involvement is consciously trying to change the person’s behaviour.

A major strength of this case study was that it provides lots of data. It contained an in-depth picture producing rich qualitative data – eg: the interviews and hypnosis - and also lots of quantitative data such as the results from the psychometric tests. Thigpen & Cleckley also involved Eve's relatives to help verify certain recollections and to add information, to throw light on the case. They also asked independent experts to give a variety of tests including an EEG test, psychometric tests and projective tests.

However, case studies only relate to one individual and , therefore, caution is needed in any attempt to generalise from the findings. There is no way of assessing how typical this individual is of other people with MPD and whether this study is unique to Eve or it - or elements of it - can generalised to other cases.

Also, if the study is retrospective, then memory may not be accurate and, indeed, people may deliberately mislead the researcher. Therefore, the data may be unreliable.

The close relationship between researcher and participant may introduce bias. Eg:  in this case study, the moment that Eve Black appears can be seen in a different way to that described by the therapist. For example, as Eve crossed her legs, “…the therapist noted from the corner of his awareness something distinctly attractive about them, and also this was the first time he had received such an impression.”  For the therapist , this is a change in her personality; but, more objectively, it could be explained as a change in his perception of her.

In terms of ethical issues,  it could be argued that Eve White was treated more as a subject than a client. The therapists also recognised the dilemma of deciding what their involvement should be in helping their client when they noted that “…we have not judged ourselves as wise enough to make active decisions about how the drama should develop…” when they note the moral problems with ‘killing’ one or more of the personalities.

It is, of course, possible that the therapists could have been conned by a successful actress. Thigpen & Cleckley did recognise this possibility but asserted that the performance could not have continued for so long and so consistently. In 1969 William Condon, William Ogden & Larry Pacoe analysed a 30-minute film of all 3 personalities frame by frame and found that all 3 showed transient microstrabismus, the deviation of one eye from the axis of the other, but different patterns of the deviation. Eve Black had 5 times as many strabismic occurrences as the other 2. The condition had been found in some schizophrenics but was unknown in ‘normal’ people. Thigpen & Cleckley (1984) argued that this was physiological evidence for Eve White, Eve Black and Jane being 3 distinct personalities.

Eethical issues are also raised by Thigpen persuading Eve to sign away to 20th Century Fox "forever" the film rights to "all versions of my life story heretofore published or hereafter published"  for just $7,000. With some uncredited input from Eve, Thigpen & Cleckley had already written the 1957 high profile account of her case which attracted the interest of Fox.

The subsequent movie, ‘The 3 Faces of Eve’ (1957), for which Joanne Woodward as Eve won an Oscar, was a huge success and did much to raise public awareness of MPD.

The public did not hear anything else about the case until 1975 when Christine Sizemore came forward to reveal herself as the famous Eve in TV interviews. She disclosed that she had approximately 22 personalities, at least 9 of which she experienced before the therapy while others appeared after it. Sizemore reported that, with the help of her eighth psychiatrist, Tony Tsitos, she had gradually learned to assimilate all her separate selves and to successfully cope with the pressures of life. She believed that the fragmentation of her personality had been to protect herself from things she could not bear.

In 1977 Sizemore, wrote the book, ‘I’m Eve’, with cousin Elen Pitillos, to reveal how treatment had finally enabled her to cope with having multiple personalities. (1958’s ‘Strangers in My Body’, under the pseudonym of ‘Evelyn Lancaster’,  had largely glossed over just how ill she still was.) In 1989 she successfully sued Fox to get back the film rights to her life story. The same year Thigpen revealed that he had waived his fee so Sizemore could afford his services.