Bill Tillier studied with Kazimierz Dabrowski from 1976 to 1980 while working on his Master of Science at the University of Alberta. He worked as a forensic psychologist for over 20 years before developing inclusion body myositis. In 1995, he created the website positivedisintegration.com, which he maintains to this day; he also published a book on the theory in 2018, as well as a book on inclusion body myositis in 2022. He lives in Calgary with his wife, Angela, and his caregivers, Rene and Nancy.