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Therapist
The author describes how her psychotherapist took advantage of her dependency to sexually exploit her
- GenresPsychologyNonfiction
224 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 29, 2024
AN INDICTMENT OF A SUPPOSED “OBJECTIVIST” PSYCHIATRIST
Author Ellen Plasil wrote in an introductory section of this 1985 book, “There are some words that have been spoken to me during the course of my life that I will never forget---no matter how hard I may sometimes try… They are stored in memory exactly as they were delivered at their moment origin. The quotation marks about THOSE words represent a verbatim conveyance. But most conversations in this book, as in life, were remembered by their essence. It was the meaning of the communication that was retained, not the precise sentences that were used to declare it. It is, therefore, only the meaning that can be relayed to the reader. I have reconstructed those conversations as close to verbatim as is possible but human memory being what it is, I cannot claim verbatim accuracy of all the dialogue. I do, however, claim complete accuracy of the meaning of the speaker’s message as I heard it and recall it. So… the quotation marks serve to represent my recollection of the dialogues and not the exact words that were used.
“License was also taken in the identification of some therapy sessions in that the date given for a particular therapy session may sometimes represent more than that one session. As my therapy occurred in real life, some similar sessions ran so close together in time and in content, that distinguishing one from another was either not necessary or possible. In those cases, I have merged two or more such sessions into one, but only when I was certain of the date of at least one of those sessions, the close time proximity between two or more of them, and a similar, if not identical, subject matter. Such liberty had no substantive effect on the story.”
She recounts how, in 1972, “I learned about Objectivist Psychology through the writings of Allan Blumenthal, M.D., and Nathaniel Branden. Both contributed articles to the monthly newsletter devoted to Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, to which my father had a subscription… By my late teens… I was introduced … to a whole social structure revolving around Objectivism and, eventually, my entire support system of friends and acquaintances came to be composed of men and women who embraced the same ideology as I. At least, so they said and so I believed. Having made the decision to reenter therapy, my natural choice for a therapist was Dr. Blumenthal… But when I telephoned Dr. Blumenthal… ‘My waiting list for new patients is three years long,’ he politely informed me… ‘Can you recommend anyone else?’ I asked. ‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘there is a doctor I can recommend. Actually, he is the ONLY psychiatrist I would recommend.’ … I scribbled the name he gave me on a piece of scrap paper… In the weeks that followed… My marriage… was causing increased discontentment. I felt trapped in the relationship, and …my new baby’s demands.” (Pg. 6-7)
She continues, “My frustration was only heightened by my friends’ exodus to New York… learning of [Blumenthal’s] three-year waiting list upon arrival, most opted to see therapy from the man whom Dr. Blumenthal was recommending… Their therapist, they believed, would do nothing short of revolutionizing psychotherapy… Not wanting to waste any more of my life than was necessary, we were packed and relocated within weeks… I would finally meet him: Lonnie Franklin Leonard, M.D.” (Pg. 7)
She admits, “Almost all of my friends now were patients of Dr. Leonard… those values that didn’t involve our therapist usually involved Objectivism. My perspective was narrowing, my world was shrinking. Objectivism, Objectivists and Objectivist Psychotherapy were becoming all I knew… I was both suffocating under and helping to propagate the rules that seemed to accompany my acceptance by other students of Objectivism.” (Pg. 44)
She explains, “there seemed to be rules for right and wrong for EVERYTHING in Objectivism. There was more than just a right kind of politics and a right kind of moral code. There was also a right kind of music, a right kind of art, a right kind of interior design, and right kind of dancing. There were wrong books which we could not buy, and right ones which we should… There were plays we should not see, records we should not listen to… And on everything, absolutely everything, one was constantly being judged, just as one was expected to be judging everything that was around him… It was a perfect breeding ground for insecurity, fear, and paranoia.” (Pg. 45)
During one session, her therapist told her to ‘wrestle’ with him; when she didn’t comply, “I had fallen short of his expectations of me… I was being judged as psychologically less perfect, less at his level then he had judged me before… and that was clearly a symptom of a deficiency in my psychology… I had never expected to relive those kinds of experiences with my Objectivist psychologist. That I was, gave me the feeling that the world was disintegrating.” (Pg. 63) But later, “Nude jaunts became common practice for Dr. Leonard as he greeted his first morning and first after-lunch patients in this manner. Only female patients, however, were privy to this spectacle.” (Pg. 73)
She recounts, “It was in November of 1972 that … I first learned that sexual relations between a therapist and his patient were considered to be a breach of the professional ethics set forth by the American Psychiatric Association. This information proved to be a turning point in my relationship with Dr. Leonard. I had never before considered the sexual activity between Dr. Leonard and me as an issue of professional indiscretion or a violation of ethical standards… I began, for the first time, to doubt Dr. Leonard… I wondered if my resistance and reluctance had really been signs of neurosis. I wondered about it all.” (Pg. 92) She attempted to talk with Dr. Blumenthal about her doubts, but he was not very helpful (pg. 93-95).
Eventually, Dr. Leonard called her, and said, “I’ve suspected for a long time that what I have done to you has damaged you.” She told him, “There’s nothing in it for me at this point, you’re no longer my doctor.’ … In a tone of resignation, he said, ‘I hope that when you get done weighing all the benefits of the therapy against the damage I have done to you, that the benefits will come out ahead.’ ‘That kind of determination takes time, Dr. Leonard. Right now, I can only see the harm,’ I replied.” (Pg. 152)
She ultimately concludes, “The roles of Objectivism and Objectivists seemed inseparable as I contemplated their separate effects on past events… My friends and acquaintances, the students of Objectivism, behaved no more honorably, independently, bravely, than did the Objectivist, Dr. Blumenthal. They spoke eloquently about morality, ethics, and independent thinking. But being loyal to Objectivism and to their Objectivist psychiatrist kept them from practicing at least the last, just as it had me for so long. Further, being so loyal seemed to convince them that they were all the more ethical, moral, and independent for being so. I had once known that delusion as well.” (Pg. 215)
She continues, “Objectivism played into both sides of the self-doubt coin. It told us we were better than others for we had found the truth, but it kept us in constant fear of being judged as less good than what we should be, the consequence of which was abandonment… But Objectivism and therapy had not occurred in a vacuum. I brought to them a breeding ground for exploitation that had been my upbringing…” (Pg. 217) She goes on, “there were two lessons learned well. Never, never again would I let anyone tell me they know me better than I know myself. I have learned to trust my emotions---and to act on them… And I have learned never to tolerate abuse that goes unapologized for or unacknowledged… I’ve also learned that I deserve better.” (Pg. 219)
We are now much more aware of the harm caused in such abuse cases; for that reason, this passionate book has a very “modern” feel, and will be of great interest to those studying psychiatric abuse, and perhaps even some studying Objectivism.
Author Ellen Plasil wrote in an introductory section of this 1985 book, “There are some words that have been spoken to me during the course of my life that I will never forget---no matter how hard I may sometimes try… They are stored in memory exactly as they were delivered at their moment origin. The quotation marks about THOSE words represent a verbatim conveyance. But most conversations in this book, as in life, were remembered by their essence. It was the meaning of the communication that was retained, not the precise sentences that were used to declare it. It is, therefore, only the meaning that can be relayed to the reader. I have reconstructed those conversations as close to verbatim as is possible but human memory being what it is, I cannot claim verbatim accuracy of all the dialogue. I do, however, claim complete accuracy of the meaning of the speaker’s message as I heard it and recall it. So… the quotation marks serve to represent my recollection of the dialogues and not the exact words that were used.
“License was also taken in the identification of some therapy sessions in that the date given for a particular therapy session may sometimes represent more than that one session. As my therapy occurred in real life, some similar sessions ran so close together in time and in content, that distinguishing one from another was either not necessary or possible. In those cases, I have merged two or more such sessions into one, but only when I was certain of the date of at least one of those sessions, the close time proximity between two or more of them, and a similar, if not identical, subject matter. Such liberty had no substantive effect on the story.”
She recounts how, in 1972, “I learned about Objectivist Psychology through the writings of Allan Blumenthal, M.D., and Nathaniel Branden. Both contributed articles to the monthly newsletter devoted to Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, to which my father had a subscription… By my late teens… I was introduced … to a whole social structure revolving around Objectivism and, eventually, my entire support system of friends and acquaintances came to be composed of men and women who embraced the same ideology as I. At least, so they said and so I believed. Having made the decision to reenter therapy, my natural choice for a therapist was Dr. Blumenthal… But when I telephoned Dr. Blumenthal… ‘My waiting list for new patients is three years long,’ he politely informed me… ‘Can you recommend anyone else?’ I asked. ‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘there is a doctor I can recommend. Actually, he is the ONLY psychiatrist I would recommend.’ … I scribbled the name he gave me on a piece of scrap paper… In the weeks that followed… My marriage… was causing increased discontentment. I felt trapped in the relationship, and …my new baby’s demands.” (Pg. 6-7)
She continues, “My frustration was only heightened by my friends’ exodus to New York… learning of [Blumenthal’s] three-year waiting list upon arrival, most opted to see therapy from the man whom Dr. Blumenthal was recommending… Their therapist, they believed, would do nothing short of revolutionizing psychotherapy… Not wanting to waste any more of my life than was necessary, we were packed and relocated within weeks… I would finally meet him: Lonnie Franklin Leonard, M.D.” (Pg. 7)
She admits, “Almost all of my friends now were patients of Dr. Leonard… those values that didn’t involve our therapist usually involved Objectivism. My perspective was narrowing, my world was shrinking. Objectivism, Objectivists and Objectivist Psychotherapy were becoming all I knew… I was both suffocating under and helping to propagate the rules that seemed to accompany my acceptance by other students of Objectivism.” (Pg. 44)
She explains, “there seemed to be rules for right and wrong for EVERYTHING in Objectivism. There was more than just a right kind of politics and a right kind of moral code. There was also a right kind of music, a right kind of art, a right kind of interior design, and right kind of dancing. There were wrong books which we could not buy, and right ones which we should… There were plays we should not see, records we should not listen to… And on everything, absolutely everything, one was constantly being judged, just as one was expected to be judging everything that was around him… It was a perfect breeding ground for insecurity, fear, and paranoia.” (Pg. 45)
During one session, her therapist told her to ‘wrestle’ with him; when she didn’t comply, “I had fallen short of his expectations of me… I was being judged as psychologically less perfect, less at his level then he had judged me before… and that was clearly a symptom of a deficiency in my psychology… I had never expected to relive those kinds of experiences with my Objectivist psychologist. That I was, gave me the feeling that the world was disintegrating.” (Pg. 63) But later, “Nude jaunts became common practice for Dr. Leonard as he greeted his first morning and first after-lunch patients in this manner. Only female patients, however, were privy to this spectacle.” (Pg. 73)
She recounts, “It was in November of 1972 that … I first learned that sexual relations between a therapist and his patient were considered to be a breach of the professional ethics set forth by the American Psychiatric Association. This information proved to be a turning point in my relationship with Dr. Leonard. I had never before considered the sexual activity between Dr. Leonard and me as an issue of professional indiscretion or a violation of ethical standards… I began, for the first time, to doubt Dr. Leonard… I wondered if my resistance and reluctance had really been signs of neurosis. I wondered about it all.” (Pg. 92) She attempted to talk with Dr. Blumenthal about her doubts, but he was not very helpful (pg. 93-95).
Eventually, Dr. Leonard called her, and said, “I’ve suspected for a long time that what I have done to you has damaged you.” She told him, “There’s nothing in it for me at this point, you’re no longer my doctor.’ … In a tone of resignation, he said, ‘I hope that when you get done weighing all the benefits of the therapy against the damage I have done to you, that the benefits will come out ahead.’ ‘That kind of determination takes time, Dr. Leonard. Right now, I can only see the harm,’ I replied.” (Pg. 152)
She ultimately concludes, “The roles of Objectivism and Objectivists seemed inseparable as I contemplated their separate effects on past events… My friends and acquaintances, the students of Objectivism, behaved no more honorably, independently, bravely, than did the Objectivist, Dr. Blumenthal. They spoke eloquently about morality, ethics, and independent thinking. But being loyal to Objectivism and to their Objectivist psychiatrist kept them from practicing at least the last, just as it had me for so long. Further, being so loyal seemed to convince them that they were all the more ethical, moral, and independent for being so. I had once known that delusion as well.” (Pg. 215)
She continues, “Objectivism played into both sides of the self-doubt coin. It told us we were better than others for we had found the truth, but it kept us in constant fear of being judged as less good than what we should be, the consequence of which was abandonment… But Objectivism and therapy had not occurred in a vacuum. I brought to them a breeding ground for exploitation that had been my upbringing…” (Pg. 217) She goes on, “there were two lessons learned well. Never, never again would I let anyone tell me they know me better than I know myself. I have learned to trust my emotions---and to act on them… And I have learned never to tolerate abuse that goes unapologized for or unacknowledged… I’ve also learned that I deserve better.” (Pg. 219)
We are now much more aware of the harm caused in such abuse cases; for that reason, this passionate book has a very “modern” feel, and will be of great interest to those studying psychiatric abuse, and perhaps even some studying Objectivism.
September 13, 2008
Courageous book to have been written by a woman, abused by Objectivist parents, and abused by an Objectivist therapist. Dr. Leonard, rather than testify in self-defense left the state. As other women came forward, more lawsuits were settled. Sad, one of the, "Collective," Allen Blumenthal refused to acknowledge he played a role in Ms Plasil's therapeutic abuse.
March 15, 2024
This true story by the author of being abused sexually and emotionally by her therapist from 1972 onwards.
I obtained this book from a friend whose mother read it when it first came out in Australia. She was a feminist and funny enough reading this book I gained a very good insight into her husband's abusive ways, which then the son seemed to emulate.
A story about power, male power, a story of a therapist whose own warped sense of right and wrong overstepped the boundaries of patient/doctor care. Anyone who fails to understand how the women (and men) in this book could have not just said no, then you have never been abused.
A book I know I will remember for a very long time.
Written exceptionally well, and thoughtfully put together so nothing is missed and all the timelines match so you feel you are along for a very emotional journey.
I obtained this book from a friend whose mother read it when it first came out in Australia. She was a feminist and funny enough reading this book I gained a very good insight into her husband's abusive ways, which then the son seemed to emulate.
A story about power, male power, a story of a therapist whose own warped sense of right and wrong overstepped the boundaries of patient/doctor care. Anyone who fails to understand how the women (and men) in this book could have not just said no, then you have never been abused.
A book I know I will remember for a very long time.
Written exceptionally well, and thoughtfully put together so nothing is missed and all the timelines match so you feel you are along for a very emotional journey.
May 27, 2021
Incredible and unbelievable true story of a therapist sexually abusing a client. It is amazing what the "True Believer" syndrome can do to people. They will literally abandon their souls for their idols. Great read and very eye opening.
February 11, 2026
3.5 stars.
February 21, 2013
I find memoirs about psychological issues to always be compelling. This one is no less so. It's out of print, but you can pick up a used copy on Amazon for a song (or 99 cents) plus postage. The author tells about her therapist, who violated most rules of doing therapy that I can think of. Another interesting tie in is to Ayn Rand and Objectivist theory.
August 7, 2009
An illuminating book on the dangers of the paternalistic model so common in psychotherapy and the author's success extracting herself from its grip.
August 2, 2011
Quite a scary look at the liberties taken by some in the name of "therapy".
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews