Participants and Members of the Audience: General Discussion

Audience: I have a question for Dr. Spotnitz. Something was said about therapists actually driven to suicide by patients. I wanted a little more detail. It seems inconceivable.

Spotnitz: You want to know how a therapist is driven to suicide?

Audience: Yes.

Spotnitz: I will tell you one story. I was working in my office with a group and one of the ladies said, You know, my therapist wants me to have a suicide pact with him. I went to him for a couple of years and then I seduced him. We had an affair; I left my husband and he's leaving his wife. He wants me to live with him and then to kill ourselves. He doesn't think we can go on living in the present situation.

He betrayed his family. She betrayed her relatives. They have both been isolated. She asked me what she should do. You heard Dr. Sternbach say you have a right to make suggestions, so I made a suggestion. I said, Never see him again. She never saw him again, and two weeks later he killed himself. Is that enough of a story? You want more details? What more details would you like?

Audience: What happened?

Spotnitz: What happened to whom?

Audience: The therapist.

Spotnitz: He killed himself. She never saw him again and he killed himself. You want to know what happened to her with me?

Audience: I would like Dr. Shulman to take up the suicide of therapists from the Adlerian point of view.