Psychoanalysis: The Magic and The Lie
Diary of a Five Day A Week Analysis
by  Esther Altshul Helfgott, Ph.D.
This page was last updated on: June 6, 2011
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In the end, I thought I would commit suicide.
That I didn't had more to do with my husband's stability
and his commitment to me and our marriage
than it did to anything I may have gotten
out of the psychoanalytic process.
Sept. 1, 1996




I was not alone. Had I been, I don't
know if I would be sitting here today
documenting the history
of my psychoanalysis.
My devotion to my mother and children, their closeness to me, was life-saving.  I could not have withstood the anguish of termination without their need for me.


If I thought I could have suicided after termination, what does that say about an analysis for people less strong than I? Not a good methodology, I'd say. Even more so, a lousy analyst. The profession is not good at checking its
own.

Copyright2005Esther Altshul Helfgott
His job was to help me leave,
and he refused.
I should sue him ... lotta good that would do