An article mentioning I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and discussing the Osheroff case appeared in The Psyciatric Times on May 16th 2025. BitcoDavid and rosegardenwriter.com would like to thank Stephen Koenigsberg for bringing it to our attention.
“In 1980, Rafael Osheroff, a nephrologist and father of three, sued Chestnut Lodge for negligence. In his complaint, Osheroff claimed that “the staff failed to prescribe drugs and instead treated him according to the psychodynamic and social model.”[13] The lawsuit was settled in 1987 by an agreement between the two parties.[14][15]” (Courtesy Wikipedia).
Here’s the link to the Psychiatric Times article: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/curious-chronological-convergences
Here is Joanne Greenberg’s response:
An article which appeared in ‘The Psychiatric Times’ May 16, 2025, mentions the
Osheroff vs. Chestnut Lodge law case which purportedly was the beginning of a plea for
evidence-based psychoanalysis. Osheroff, who was suffering from depression, came to
Chestnut Lodge – a mental hospital employing psychotherapy, but not psychoanalysis as
treatment – which used sleep medication, dance and occupational therapy, hydrotherapy, but
no psychoactive medications. Osheroff nonetheless demanded such drugs.
I was at Chestnut Lodge from 1948 until 1951 and was successfully treated there.
Osheroff declared that my book, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, published in 1964, had
been his reason for seeking help from the hospital. I’m unhappy with this ascription. The man
was a medical doctor. His Advisor was a pharmaco-psychiatrist. They both knew going in that
the hospital used no psychotropic medications, yet Osheroff demanded them. This is the
equivalent of going to a gourmet Chinese restaurant and demanding a burger and fries, then
continuing this demand after they explain, and then suing the restaurant for not providing
them. His lawsuit and one other caused the Lodge to have to close, denying non-drug
treatment to those in extreme states
He defended his behavior by claiming his power struggle was not egotism but rather a
call for evidence-based therapy. Almost all the patients who were there in my time had already
been challenged by previous drug therapies, electric and chemical shock, and even lobotomies.
Such evidence-based studies would have been impossible under those circumstances.
~Joanne Greenberg
June 1, 2025