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"I Hate My Mother..." Sob! "...and I Sold Amazon at $50."
Ed Brown
12/07/98
Fortune Magazine
Time Inc.
Page 60
(Copyright 1998)
If Wall Street's recent gyrations have you reeling, imagine what they've done
to those who work in the financial services industry: bonuses slashed, jobs
cut, clients bailing. It's enough to make a sensitive broker a tad manic. Or
depressed. Or both.
Enter Dr. Robert Leahy, a Manhattan-based psychotherapist who specializes
in treating Wall Street types. Not surprisingly, the market's swings have kept
him busy. "Some people feel better now that the market has bounced back a
bit," says Leahy. "But there's also a kind of general seepage of pessimism
and caution because of what's happened in the last few months."
Leahy attributes his popularity to his no-nonsense approach: Instead of
having clients free-associate about, say, a dream they had last night, he
favors a more pragmatic, problem-solving technique. But these aren't your
standard problems: One high-strung fellow slept with three phones in his bed
because he was so worried about missing a call from Japan. Leahy diagnosed
this patient as having a "messianic illusion." "It's the idea that you're
omnipotent and can do all these incredibly great things that are going to
transform the world," he says. Other clients have grandiose visions of
themselves as "players" who can single-handedly move the markets. One
patient continued to boast that he had this ability even after he lost $400,000
in a single week. "It's an illusion gamblers have too," says Leahy. "They
think they have a lot more knowledge and power than they actually have."
Lately, Leahy has seen some of these players fall victim to what he calls the
"Vietnam syndrome." Leahy's definition: "It's when you try to rescue your
self-esteem by buying more of something that's failed, in the hopes that it
will go up and redeem you."
Leahy's a bit of a player himself--the affluence of his clientele allows him to
charge $200 per 45-minute session. But there are limits. At the end of his
therapy, the guy who kept three phones in his bed offered Leahy a Ferrari as
a bonus. Leahy had to refuse-- accepting it would have betrayed "undue
influence" on his client.
--Ed Brown
COLOR PHOTO: ANNA CURTIS Dr. Leahy, Wall Street analyst {Robert
Leahy} |
