I got a frantic phone call from Dr. Gail this week.
"Rob," she said, clearly anxiety-stricken. "I don't want to alarm you, but one of the clinicians here at the practice has been getting threatening voicemails from one of our clients. We just had a meeting to discuss our recourse."
I'm rarely at Gail's office these days so I'm never invited to the meetings. At the last one I attended Dr. Allison and Dr. Mike got into a fight over how to spell 'Zyprexa,' (an antipsychotic drug) and both initially refused to even look it up because each was so convinced of his/her position. Eleven minutes later, dictionary.com proved them both wrong. It was neither 'Zipprecksa,' nor 'Xyprekksa.'
"What did the client say?" I asked.
"I don't want you to get upset, but she said, get this: I'll see you in hell!"
You might remember that I had received some highly vague threats as well as a more direct one so I'm not a stranger to a client's potential for a strong reaction to his mental health provider.
"And what exactly is the problem?" I said.
"Rob! This is a direct threat and a crime!"
"How is it a threat? You're probably not going to hell anytime soon and even if you are she just said she'll see you there. What's the big deal?"
"Can't you read between the lines? This is aggression, a violent impulse! Don't you see? You're so naïve!"
Yes I see. In fact I'm having a violent impulse right now.
"So what are you doing to subdue this obviously homicidal maniac?"
"Well she's called and left the same message five times in two days so I'm going to hire a lawyer to handle it from here."
In defense of Gail the psychological/psychiatric community has been more vigilant recently following the horrific murder Dr. Kathryn Faughy. However there is a difference between being reasonably self-protective and paranoid. In fact this paranoia is essentially glorified narcissism: Gail sees herself as the focus of her clients' world, some infallible and exalted Pope of mental health which she cloaks as a fear of being attacked.
"Gail, clients (and shrinks) say things in anger all the time. I know it's been over the course of two days but could she be just acting out? She's not describing any intent to do anything harmful to anyone. Do you even know why she's angry?"
"We raised her fee."
"Why don't you just call her and tell her to stop the antics or else she won't be able to attend sessions anymore?"
"Attend sessions??? Are you crazy? She is no longer welcome here! I will be following formal protocol for a threatening client and providing her with referrals. Through my counsel of course."
"So the woman gets pissed off for having a fee hike, leaves a couple of silly messages and therefore you're cutting off her services? Aren't her actions a sign that she might need more help instead of less?"
"You know Rob, you can be very smug and condescending when you disagree with your peers."
Unfortunately this is true. I'm working on it but sometimes it's hard.
"I was just trying to warn you," Gail said, "so that you could take protective measures when you come to the office."
"Protective measures. Should I buy a bullet proof vest due to the imminent danger that we are all in? Obviously this woman is consumed with us all."
"God you're so difficult. Just forget it!" Click.
In keeping with the paranoia/narcissism theme of the day I then got a call from Dr. Jane.
"Rob, I just read your review of that chauvinism book. Do you realize you put your email in it?"
"Right."
"Your email is online! Anyone can contact you now. That's so scary."
"Anyone could have contacted me before. There's a direct link on my site to reach me."
"Man I wouldn't want my readers or clients or whomever contacting me."
"Jane it's really not that big of a deal."
"Yes it is! Like, I have this one guy in my practice who asked me out on a date. He's obsessed with me. I had to reject him, of course, but I was so afraid of what he might say."
"So what happened?"
"He said he understood, that he wasn't entirely clear about the therapist-client relationship rules and that he hopes it doesn't impact our work."
"Wow he sounds like a complete stalker. I hope you have your mace next time."
"After reading your post I've been picturing my clients emailing me incessantly. It's freaking me out."
"I'm sure your clients have better things to do than email you throughout their day."
"I need to figure out what to do."
"How about you get over yourself?"
"Just shut up! I need a Xanax now. This is too much." Click.
To all my colleagues who have written in saying how wrong I am about shrinks having "issues": I apologize. You are clearly right and I'm wrong. We are much more normal than the rest of the world.
Posted by Rob Dobrenski at 10:33 PM