"Celebrity Therapist" Nightmare | Eugene Landy & Brian Wilson Case Analysis

hello this is dr grande today's question is can i analyze the relationship between eugene landy and brian wilson just a reminder i'm not diagnosed in this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoy this video please like it subscribe to my channel and consider supporting me on patreon i will put the link to patreon in the description for this video so first i'll start with the background in this case then i'll move to my analysis eugene landy was born in pittsburgh pennsylvania on november 26 1934 he went by the name jean both his parents were professors of psychology in addition his mother was a physician gene claimed that his intelligence was tested at age five and his iq was 150. this claim is very difficult to believe for a number of reasons including the fact that this score is over three standard deviations above the mean gene dropped out of sixth grade ostensibly due to dyslexia at some point he decided he wanted to be in the entertainment business he produced a nationally syndicated radio show at the age of 16 and promoted a few records gene returned to school and earned an associate's degree in chemistry he then went to medical school but decided to pursue psychology instead he graduated in 1964 with a bachelor's degree he earned a master's degree in 1967 and a phd in 1968 all of his degrees were in psychology after briefly working in the peace corps jean took a job as a drug counselor at a hospital in los angeles he started developing a treatment protocol called 24-hour therapy the idea behind it is that a team of therapists would treat clients 24 hours a day for several days weeks months or even years it was basically like inpatient care except out in the world there was constant exposure to his so-called therapy gene spent a lot of his time experimenting with teenage substance users and eventually regarded himself as an expert on teenage culture even published a book on hippie jargon in 1971. gene started his own clinic in beverly hills he called it the foundation for the re-channeling of emotions and education or free for short he taught interns his special 24-hour counseling method gene became very active in the celebrity culture in los angeles and offered his services as a consultant he charged celebrities 200 an hour and consulted to a number of television shows including the bob newhart show among his celebrity clients was rod steiger and alice cooper gene did end up treating a number of famous people but it sounds as though he exaggerated how many he claimed that he could relate to celebrities and that's why he was so successful this brings us to the relationship between eugene landy and brian wilson which started in october of 1975 and would last for several years on and off brian wilson is an extremely famous musician among his many achievements he was a member of the beach boys brian had been suffering with various mental health symptoms for some time he had a series of what were referred to as nervous breakdowns starting in 1964 right after he married marilyn rovell brian had mood swings and would be physically inactive his weight increased dramatically brian also used substances like cocaine and marijuana for many years which caused him financial difficulties among many other problems marilyn had tried to get treatment for brian for some time she hired gene believing that he could understand brian gene diagnosed brian with schizophrenia he agreed to treat brian for ten thousand dollars a month gene personally spent a lot of time with brian but jean also hired a number of assistants who helped brian with the therapy which may explain some of the fee the remainder could be explained through greed later we find out that brian had schizoaffective disorder this disorder essentially is a combination of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder typical symptoms of schizoaffective disorder include hallucinations delusions and disorganized thought from the schizophrenia component and depression and mania from the bipolar component after participating in the 24-hour therapy program brian wilson appeared to feel much better he was more productive his mood stability increased he started socializing again over time gene raised his rate to 18 000 a month in 1976 beach boys manager steve love fired gene after the fee was raised to 20 000 a month it doesn't sound like steve love was getting good vibrations from eugene landy by the middle of 1978 brian wasn't doing very well he was using drugs and alcohol and ended up in a detox due to alcohol poisoning not long after this he allegedly attacked a therapist and was involuntarily admitted to a mental health facility after he was released he continued to struggle brian and marilyn divorced in 1979. in 1982 brian's family convinced him to go back to eugene landy which he did gene had a few rules that brian was going to have to follow brian needed to stay in treatment for at least two years gene would have full control over brian's finances and gene raised his fee to 35 000 a month after spending some time being treated in hawaii brian returned to los angeles in 1983. gene was isolating him from friends and family as part of the therapy brian appeared to recover somewhat he became productive and recorded an album with the beach boys brian met a woman named melinda ledbetter at a car dealership in 1986. they would get married in 1995 but they had several periods in there where they were apart they didn't see each other because jean would not permit it ryan became a solo artist in 1987 that same year brian and jean formed a recording company they called brains and genius jean was taking an active role in brian's artistic career eugene was sharing the profits from music recording films and books in 1988 jean surrendered his license to practice psychology in the state of california after receiving numerous complaints he discontinued representing himself as brian's therapist but it seems clear that the therapeutic relationship persisted assistants working for jean took over the direct treatment but jean still had control in 1991 some of brian's family members filed a lawsuit to prevent gene from influencing brian they wanted to break gene's hold on brian i guess the family was thinking wouldn't it be nice if gene was out of the picture the court ruled in their favor in 1992 and gene was no longer allowed to contact brian he did one time later on on a birthday and was fined a thousand dollars for doing that two years earlier gene had actually been given a license to practice psychotherapy in new mexico and hawaii so he was back to working as a therapist eugene landy would die on march 22 2006 in honolulu hawaii he had lung cancer he was 71 years old at the time making this video brian wilson is 79 and lives in beverly hills california now moving to my analysis eugene landy was not a particularly creative individual when he started off his mental health career he looked at the difficulty of treating mental disorders including substance use and came up with the obvious but impractical solution that occurs to almost everybody who is in the psychotherapy profession that is people suffering from disorders would have a better chance of recovering if they were in therapy all the time if every move they made was supervised and monitored if every decision was reviewed day and night during every moment of their lives a therapist would be there to tell them what to do this includes not only counseling strategies as far as modifying thinking and emotions but physical behavior as well working out getting exercise was a key part of eugene landy's strategy socializing was another important part the truth is that gene had an accurate idea he was in one sense correct but as i mentioned it's not practical most people do not have the resources to pay for a therapist to hang out with them 24 hours a day in addition the strategy robs the client of their autonomy they become dependent on the many counselors who attend to them as soon as the therapy is removed the client is at risk to return to their old behavior learning and improving skills would be a way to reduce this risk but it doesn't really seem like that was part of eugene landy's vision for his therapy he wanted to make his clients dependent on him he didn't want them to learn skills that they could use in the future another danger with this therapy is that the therapist could easily exploit a client which is exactly what happened in the case of jean and brian for a long time eugene landy had a desire to be in the entertainment industry he was actually in it briefly but it didn't work out and he found work as a therapist gene wanted to be in hollywood he viewed himself as a celebrity he thought that he was one of the few mental health clinicians who could understand the mind of a celebrity gene believed himself to be special just as he believed that celebrities were special i think what happened in this case is that gene really failed to become a therapist to the stars the truth is that he was just another service provider to celebrities just like a famous actor or musician might hire a driver an accountant a gardener a yoga instructor or an attorney they might hire a psychotherapist unwilling to accept that he was just a man doing a job eugene landy built this grandiose image of himself he believed that his wisdom advice and counseling were of critical importance to celebrities he was truly building a deep and personal relationship with them when gene had the opportunity to provide counseling to brian he finally had his big chance to be a star when gene was rehired after initially being fired he made a decision that he was not going to let brian go he was not going to give up his chance at being a real celebrity within two years brian was jean's only client gene exerted tremendous influence over brian he manipulated him and controlled him one time when referring to brian gene said i influence all his thinking i'm practically a member of the band we're partners in life gene determined who brian could visit and who it could not this tremendous amount of control wasn't enough for gene he wanted even more he named himself as a chief beneficiary of brian's will jean would have received 70 percent of brian's wealth when brian died jean entangled himself with brian both financially and creatively gene started to think of himself as a great songwriter and producer the case of eugene landy and brian wilson highlights an unusual feature of psychotherapy the emotional connection mental health clinicians make with clients is different than any other relationship clients often see clinicians out when they are vulnerable they reach out to a therapist because things are not going too well they look to the therapist for advice and trust that the clinician will be unbiased and helpful if the clinician happens to have boundary problems the result can be disastrous ryan wilson was particularly vulnerable because he was wealthy and famous gene saw brian as a way that he could become wealthy and famous too what lessons can we learn in this case the first lesson is how seductive and dangerous fame can be if a person like eugene landy wants to be famous due to some narcissistic desire then fame will likely destroy them and those around them if the fame is just a consequence of being good at something like being a talented actor or musician then it is somewhat less dangerous however being a celebrity increases the risk of interacting with narcissistic people i think this is what happened to brian wilson he's an extremely talented individual who wanted to write music and perform but ended up entangled with a mental health clinician driven by narcissism the second lesson is how resilient people can be brian wilson was diagnosed with a serious condition schizoaffective disorder can wreak havoc on a person's life yet even with this serious disorder and after being manipulated by an unethical clinician for years brian wilson managed to have an extremely productive and successful career earning a place in history as a musical genius those are my thoughts on the relationship between eugene landy and brian wilson please put any opinions and thoughts in the comments section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always i hope you found my analysis to be as intriguing as good vibrations thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

Views: 68,978

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Id: 3ig8NOjLiHA

Length: 14min 14sec (854 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 22 2021