Carol Pogash

My summary of this case is this: Therapist has sex with girl (his patient) thereby destroying any chance the girl had of having any kind of mental stability, Therapist marries girl (this makes the sex alright, right?), many years later, because he can’t treat her and her mental instability just gets worse, she kills him. End of story.

The title of this book intrigued me. By halfway through the book I hated it but I was trapped, determined to finish it just to find out what happened. We are told that Felix Polk was obsessed with Susan, he couldn’t live without her (this is why, even though she threatened his life, and he was sure she meant it, he wouldn’t leave), we are told this over and over again. We are treated to a day by day account of her delusions until I was ready to scream, “I get it! The woman was nuts!”

The trial is recounted in the same way, from an accounting of every witness called, what Susan wore, the daily battles between Susan and the D.A., we just needed to know they happened, not how often or what was said each time.

This was a cautionary tale to therapists to not have sex with their patients. Beyond that I see no use for it. Avoid it.… (mere)