Schreiber, who aspired to a literary career and at one time was romantically involved with the playwright Eugene O’Neill’s oldest son, wrote celebrity profiles and pop psychology pieces for outlets such as Cosmopolitan. And Wilbur, who had treated the actor Roddy McDowall — Case 129 in a book she co-authored about the causes and “treatment” of male homosexuality — craved the kind of broad audience that magazines then attracted. Rather than telekinetic powers, she develops a preternatural ability to assume different personas. Wilbur by any modern metric crossed the line from transference to enmeshment. She crept into her patient’s bed to administer electroshock treatment with an outdated device, doled out Pentothal (a barbiturate then wrongly thought to act as a truth serum) to the point of addiction, and took her on creepy road trips.

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Persons: Schreiber, Eugene O’Neill’s, Wilbur, Roddy McDowall —, —, ’, Sybil ”, Dora, Truman Capote’s “, ”, “ Sybil Dorsett ”, Stephen King’s, Carrie, ” Sybil, dissociating, “, Peggy, Mike ”, Sid ”