Professional Life
I am a general adult psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, who until 2011 had a private practice in a University-based, full-service medical building. My wholly out-patient practice involved frequent referrals and collaboration with primary care physicians as well as other specialists. As a matter of protecting confidentiality and freedom to deliver quality care, as well as protest against exploitative contracting, I did not contract with any managed care organizations or participate in discounted insurance plans other than Medicare.
About a third of my office time was spent doing psychoanalysis. I did psychotherapy with the rest of my patients, strongly believed in talking with patients to whom I give medications, and treated people in an age range from 18 to the 90’s. Many had episodes of illness that respond to treatment in a relatively short time. Others had multiple symptoms along with personality problems, and some worked hard at managing chronic, severe mental illness.
I continue to supervise residents and psychoanalysts in training and to consult with other professionals.
Formal psychoanalysis and teaching as a training analyst are a major focus. In 2002 the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Institute and the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Society merged to form the Cleveland Psycho-analytic Center. In five years as the first president of the Center, I helped to build a strong organization with a strong Board of Trustees, half of whom were community leaders and half analyst members. We built much more attractive new quarters, professionally upgraded a major library, organized successful fund-raising campaigns, and bolstered our training programs.
I have written a history of psychoanalysis in Cleveland, available on the web site of the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center, www.psychoanalysiscleveland.org. I foresee a strong future in Cleveland for contemporary psychoanalysis, as a revitalized Center strengthens its presence in the greater community.
My wife, Julie, is an accomplished fabric artist whose quilts demonstrate a fine sense of color. Two of them adorned my office space. She also does extensive work in studying the butterflies of Ohio, and in evaluating rare and unusual books for the annual book sale of the Association for Continuing Education of Case Western Reserve University.