From 1986 until his death in 2008, I was a student of the world-renowned, brilliant, charismatic, authoritarian group psychotherapist, Dr. Louis R. Ormont; but in addition to his genius, Ormont was also an ethical mess. Ormont had fluid ego boundaries; he treated and trained the same people. Though this practice started with Freud, it is now considered unethical by professional organizations. Because of my untoward experience with this type dual relationship in my first analysis, I never entered a dual relationship with Ormont despite his invitation, on several occasions, that I do so. I stayed with him as his trainee because there was no one better when it came to understanding unconscious process and because I genuinely liked him. Ormont had some wonderful qualities. He was funny, erudite and charming and I knew that he liked me too. On one occasion, he told me, in front of the group, that I reminded him of himself in his younger days. He said that I was fiercely independent and would not be anyone’s toady. But he could also be a bastard. During one group meeting in which I disagreed with his playing fast and loose with boundaries, he turned on me and said that I was ‘a nut’. Or on another occasion, in the service of his aggression toward me, Ormont publicly diagnosed me as an ‘obsessive-compulsive clinician who insisted on sterile boundaries in treatment’. I sublimated my rage and got revenge by publishing critical articles about him and his followers at his ‘cult-like’ institute. This went on, back and forth, for years. Clearly, we had a complicated relationship; it was love/ hate for the both of us. And when friends and colleagues asked me why I stayed, I said: “Because I need the eggs”.
Recently, while preparing for a presentation on group therapy, I called the administrator of his institute and asked if there were any videos of Ormont leading a demo group. I was told that old VHS tapes existed but there needed to be converted to DVDs. As a faculty member of NYIT, I offered to have that job done. When I watched an Ormont lecture, taped almost 20 years ago, I was startled when he used an example of his technique called Progressive Emotional Communication. He told his audience of an episode that had occurred in one of his groups. The group member that he referred to was me. Ormont reported an interaction that I had had with the women in that group and even went so far as to refer to me by name! I was shocked, flattered, taken aback and furious all at the same time. Right before my eyes, I watched as I recalled this episode from long ago. My first feeling was child-like glee; I was special. But then I thought; “I’ll sue the bastard for violating my confidentiality but how could I? –He’s dead almost 8 years”.
