WEBVTT - Bloomberg and Wondery Present: The Shrink Next Door 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:04.920 Psychiatrists see us in our most vulnerable moments, all of 0:00:04.920 --> 0:00:08.640 our problems and dysfunctions laid bare to a stranger. We 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:10.920 hope that they keep our secrets and help us solve 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:15.040 our problems. We place our inherent trust in them, But 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:17.600 what if they use that knowledge against us for their 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:21.960 own benefit. In a brand new podcast from Wandering and Bloomberg, 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:25.759 The Shrink next Door, host Jonah Sarah takes you deep 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.160 into what it looks like when a psychiatrist becomes something 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:33.880 much more. You'll hear of extravagant parties attended by movie stars, 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:36.760 a lavish home in the Hampton's, and the man at 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:39.159 the center of it all. You're about to hear a 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:41.720 preview of The Shrink next Door, which you'll meet host 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.199 Jonah Sarah and hear about a relationship that would go 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:47.519 on to affect two people's lives for twenty nine years. 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:51.000 While you're listening, go subscribe to The Shrink next Door 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.120 on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening now. There's also 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:56.440 a link in the episode notes that will take you 0:00:56.480 --> 0:01:06.679 there by any measure. Marty Markowitz was a success. He 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:10.200 had an Ivy League diploma, a law degree. His own 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:14.840 business and plenty of money, but when he hit thirty eight, 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:20.440 he found himself feeling seriously overwhelmed. His rabbi recommended a 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:24.880 therapist he knew who had an office on Manhattan's East Side. Well, 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:27.520 I go into his office, which was, you know, a 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.679 modestly furnished office with a desk and a chair and 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:36.280 a couch. The therapist name was Dr Isaac Hirshkoff, but 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.479 he told Marty to call him Ike. He was a young, 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:43.279 handsome man with a round face, a close crop beard, 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:47.400 and curly black hair. He was dressed casually in an 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:51.560 open collar shirt and shorts. I sat down right across 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.120 from him, and we looked at each other, and he said, okay, 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:57.800 why are you here. Marty had seen a therapist before, 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:00.120 the kind you would listen while you lay down on 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:04.760 the couch and talk about your dreams. This therapist was different. 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:09.880 His modus operandi was basically, I'm your pal, tell me 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:12.840 what's bothering it, and let's take it from there. Marty 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.320 spent the whole session laying out his problems. He told 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:19.760 Ike how his father and mother had recently died, how 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:22.680 he had inherited the family business, how he was having 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:27.520 a hard time dealing with his new responsibilities. When he finished, 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:32.120 Marty says, Ike looked at him and said, I'm gonna 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:36.160 take you on as a patient, and I said, okay. Nice. 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:39.280 Not only was I taking him on as a patient, 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:42.840 but he made Marty a promise. He said, don't worry, 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:46.920 I'll take care of everything. I was overwhelmed and to 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:51.600 have someone say to me, don't worry, calm down, this 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:54.440 is nothing to get upset about. We're gonna straighten everything out, 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:58.560 and we're gonna do it fast very comforting to me. 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:00.720 Marty wrote him a check. I think it was for 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:03.600 a hundred and sixty dollars something like that. Back back 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:07.920 in the day. It was June. Marty had come to 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.840 Ike because he needed help, But if he had known 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:15.160 what his new therapist had in store for him, he 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:19.000 probably would have walked out the door and never come back. 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:35.600 From Wonderie and Bloomberg, I'm Joe, No Sarah a columnist 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:39.600 with Bloomberg Opinion, and this is the shrink next year. 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:56.520 This is episode one. Welcome to the neighborhood. Every neighborhood 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:59.720 has its share of mysteries. We can live our entire 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.800 lot fives and barely know the people just one door down. 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:06.960 I have a summer house in Southampton, a couple of 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:10.720 hours outside of New York. This part of the Hamptons 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:15.720 is called the Bay Side. It's quiet, peaceful, a place 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:19.760 to escape from the city in the hot summer months. 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:22.560 Sampson and Jackie Guillatt have a house on the same 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:26.960 street as me. My name is Jacqueline Guillott and we're 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:33.320 married thirty five years. We're married fifty two years. They've 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:36.760 been coming here since the eighties. Most of the houses 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:40.840 on our street are single story with wooden clappered fronts. 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:44.120 Sampson and Jackie's house is no different, so lovely home. 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:47.880 But there's one house on the street that stands out 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.279 for starters. It's just bigger than most of the other houses. 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.760 It's two stories instead of one, and it's the only 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.400 one on the street with a separate guesthouse out back. 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:02.560 And then there's the way it books. The house is spectacular, 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:07.039 with windows and windows and windows. Everything about it is 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:12.120 over the top. This pond with goldfish, lots of fish, 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:16.680 and a waterfall to the pond too. It's bigger, bolder, 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:21.520 brasher than anything else on the Street. In two thousand 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:23.880 and ten, my wife Dawn and I bought the house 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:28.360 next door. It wasn't long before a man popped over 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:31.400 to our house to introduce himself. He was dressed like 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:35.480 a maintenance man, green khaki pants, a long sleeve workshire 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:39.719 and a faded baseball cap. He welcomed us to the neighborhood, 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:42.400 and then he handed us a folder of press clippings 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:45.200 and I literally just took them and said thank you. 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:47.839 And but he wanted us to have them, you know, 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:50.640 he really wanted Joe to have him. There were articles 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:55.080 that a psychiatrist, Dr Isaac Hirshkoff had written and articles 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:58.720 that had been written about him. In mid August, an 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:02.760 invitation arrived to a summer barbecue next door, hosted by 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.280 Dr Hirshkoff. I this would be the last of three 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:09.799 big summer parties he threw every year. I went alone. 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:12.880 To reach the front door, I had to cross a 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.440 bridge over a fish pond. There were maybe forty or 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:20.080 so guests hanging out in the backyard. I roamed about, 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.799 stopping here and there to chat. I spotted the actor 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:26.440 Richard Kind, just in time to see him do a 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:30.440 belly flop into the pool. There were a handful of 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:34.320 other people too, people I recognized as prominent New Yorkers, 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:38.120 like Dr Ruth, the TV personality and sex expert. It 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.480 was a warm afternoon. I chatted with a few people, 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.159 sipped on my glass of wine, and began to wander around. 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:49.880 At some point I found myself in the living room. 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:54.000 There was a fake to draft bust Veoenician masks, plastic 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:58.680 parrots hanging from the ceiling, even a giant gong. But 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:03.760 what struck me most the photographs. Lots and lots of photographs, 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.400 and in nearly every one of them there was Ike 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:10.760 Hirshkoff with a different celebrity, Ike with Henry Kissinger, Ike 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:14.880 with Ellie Wizell, Ike with Brookshields, Ike with Gwyneth Paltrow, 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.400 even ike with O. J. Simpson. It was like one 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:21.400 of those diners where the walls are covered with pictures 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:26.320 of celebrity patrons. At that moment, the man himself appeared. 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:29.840 He greeted me like a long lost friend and said 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:31.920 that my wife and I should come over soon for 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:37.400 a drink, and then he was gone. Sure enough, a 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:40.280 few days after the summer party, the same maintenance man 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:43.680 we've met before, showed up at our door again. This 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:48.560 time he brought an invitation for drinks. It was very formal, 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.240 as if he was reading from a script. I mean 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:54.560 like Dr Hirshkoff would wants you to come over at 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:56.520 such and such a time on such and such a day. 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.520 And the formality of it blew me away. And he 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:04.000 was very, very exacting about how it had to go. 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:07.720 So we went one of the strangest evenings I've ever 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:10.720 had in the Hampton's, or anywhere else for that matter, 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:17.800 but definitely the Hamptons. It was pouring rain. We headed 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.960 over umbrellas in hand to get to the front door. 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.280 We crossed a bridge. We could see COI circling in 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:28.040 the water below. Ike and his wife, Becky welcomed us 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:31.360 in and ushered us to a round kitchen table. There 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:35.960 were snacks laid out, carrots and salary. I served white wine. 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:41.520 So what I remember is him talking incessantly about being 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:45.160 a sex therapist and a celebrity therapist. And I can't 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:47.720 remember the details, but that that it just really sticks 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:49.640 in my mind that he kept going on and on 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:53.520 about that it was more like a monologue than a dialogue. 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.400 That's what I remember, what do you remember. I just 0:08:56.480 --> 0:09:04.040 remember thinking these people are I felt suffocated. I talked 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:06.240 about his work. I've never say thing like it, but 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:10.559 I remember thinking it was very brazen about the details 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:13.440 of his life, considering we were strangers, and also considering 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.000 what he does. He did talk about an NBA sports 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:22.280 guys and somebody a Yankees player. I just thought he 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.959 lacked a lot of discretion given his field. We listened 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:29.280 politely as he went on and on. I just remember 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:33.880 looking towards the door. Finally, after about an hour, I 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:36.800 said we needed to get home, and we got up 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:41.960 to leave, and it was very clear that I wanted 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:47.280 a photograph, a photograph of me. I think he came 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.800 out and said, what we'd like to get a picture 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:54.040 of you? And it was just Joe. It wasn't Joe 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:57.800 and I. So I let I take my picture, hint 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:00.880 it to his wall, and then we left as fast 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:05.280 as we could. I remember getting to her home, collapsing 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:09.120 on a couch or something. Dawn told me she never 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:12.240 wanted to go back. There was no sign of the 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:15.120 maintenance man the night Dawn and I went over, but 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:18.680 I knew he was still around. Sometimes we'd be on 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.559 our deck, and we'd see him outside working in the yard. 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:25.280 When I returned to the Hamptons the following summer, I 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:28.800 noticed something strange at the house next door. I would 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:31.360 see the maintenance man out on the property doing his 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:36.080 usual work in the backyard, but Ike karsh Coough was gone. 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:39.600 I would never see him, or his wife, Becky, and 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:44.040 the Hamptons again. There were no more summer parties. It 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:48.960 was as if they had simply disappeared. And that's when 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.720 I learned that everything I had thought i'd known about 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:56.600 my neighbor was wrong. It's it's a wild story. That's 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:00.200 the maintenance man, the guy who came to our war 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:03.160 with the press clippings, the guy we saw working around 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:08.760 the yard. That was Marty Markoitz, the same guy who 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:11.920 had first gone to see Dr Isaac Hirstkoff as a 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:22.280 patient nearly thirty years earlier. That was just a preview 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:25.000 of The Shrink next Door. To listen to the rest, 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.840 subscribe to The Shrink next Door on Apple Podcasts or 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:30.439 wherever you're listening right now.