Posted by RealMe on September 29, 2007, at 13:41:30
In reply to memories of Menningers » RealMe, posted by twinleaf on September 29, 2007, at 2:22:44
Actually there is a book written about Menninger's by a guy who came to research when I was a patient there. He started working on the book in 1982, I believe, and it was copyright in 1990. Dr. Karl Menninger saw the draft before he died and was not happy with it as there was little focus on the hospital and research done there after the mid 60's. There is only one brief chapter devoted to the time period from the mid 60's to around 1980. I found that rather sad. So did lots of folks, but the old history is very interesting.
The book is called, "Menninger, The Family and the Clinic" and was written by Lawrence J. Friedman, copyright 1990 and published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. It is the book that Dr. Karl hoped would tell the story of Menninger's, and for the most part it does. Friedman was given access to all sorts of information and letters, etc that no one else had seen.
RE being a patient there in the early to mid 80', I had very good insurance for mental health, $1 million dollar policy strictly for mh services. So, cost was not an obstacle. It was traditional at that time to offer long-term inpatient psychiatric treatment and analyasis to people. So, I was there for 2.75 years. I had lots of problems with dissociation the first year, but not later. I wasn't anymore crazy than I am now!!! LOL. I entered the hospital in June 1981 and left the hospital in March 1984 and was in outpatient treatment until 1988. I went back to outpatient treatment in around 1990 or 1991 and continued with outpatient treatment until 1994 when I finished my postdoctoral training. I was not on med's since around 1992. Even when I was a postdoctoral fellow in clinical psychology, they were still getting famous people as patients, very wealthy millionaire type people and movie stars or their kids. This has always been the case over the years from the beginning. So, yes they were hurting some financially, but they also had huge endowments of multimillion dollars left to them by wealthy families. And, had they affiliated with KU med center they would have been fine. Walt Menninger was one narcissistic prick in my opinion. So, they moved in 2003 I believe it was. There is hardly anyone there now who actually trained at Menninger's when it was in Topeka, KS.
Yes, if trained at Menninger's, a therapist learns to keep strict boundaries. No hugging, no going overtime with sessions, no divulging personal information, etc. Now I will say that some of this re personal inforamation was not always strictly adhered to. I knew my T liked opera, for example, because he was always pushing to watch it on PBS (when I was in the hospital and he was my hospital doctor and not my T). I knew other stuff too, like he gave me the name of his vet for my cats, and a few other things like that. No one kept their address or home phone number secret, and I think in all the time I saw him I only called him once at home.
My current T/analyst is the same way with boundaries, very strict in terms of the time given for appointments. Days and time when seen stay the same; if I have to miss an appointment, and he cannot fill the time, I am responsible for the time. The times are mine. So. He has said a few things about personal life like volunteering at the Jewish Center seeing patients who would not be able to afford to see someone like him otherwise. He has done a lot of work with trauma and eating disorders, and he has even worked with Holocaust survivors. Otherwise besides the program he runs for "emerging adults," I don't know anything else about him other than what I could probably find if I googled his name. I thought he was in a different location when I called for an appointment. So, I am surprised when I read about people here who say their T goes over and gives them an extra 10, 15, or 30 minutes. I am lucky if I get one extra minute. He starts to wrap up, if I need it around 10 minutes before we end so I am not left hanging and in complete distress. He knows how to do that very well which I appreciate.
You definitely have a very well trained analyst. I am glad for you, and he is right; he won't do to you what your previous analyst did. I hope he has helped you to understand too that it wasn't you. This other guy should have known better, is sounds like than to do what he did. He felt threatened by you???? HUM; I wonder if he was starting to have sexual feelings about you and then blamed you for him having these feelings.
RealMe
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URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20070929/msgs/785901.html