And, as with all life-altering experiences, anxiety and calamity played key roles. It was a crisp September morning when I hopped my first bus to Manhattan-the trip that would change my life forever. But with one step left, I was determined to stay in control, good or bad gut notwithstanding. Because of this repeated experience I was concerned that a negative transference would blow my cool and ruin my opportunity to study with Kaplan. Apparently, her psychic compromise was to make me an obligatory meal, but give me stomach problems as a side dish. I loved my mother dearly, but one very annoying thing she used to do when she was mad at me was to cook me dinner and then start a fight as soon as I sat down to eat. The entire process was nerve racking, but I especially deplored the idea of being interviewed while I was trying to digest a meal. Kroop-for a grilling at a restaurant (no pun intended), then be whisked away to meet the great one herself, and sit in on one of her famous Wednesday seminars at what was then The Payne Whitney Clinic at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center on East 68th Street. The itinerary: Meet one of her esteemed captains on the Upper East Side-a Dr. But as fate would have it, I received a letter from her summoning me to New York for an interview. Kaplan told me I should give up psychotherapy and sell dental insurance, I probably should. But my fascination with the Peter Principle compelled me to continue with the application process. Kaplan could be pretty tough when she wanted to be. I also hadn't been to New York in many years, and the more you stay away from it, the bigger it seems to get. There's something about New York City that's quite intimidating-you know what the song says: "If I can make it there I'll make it anywhere." I believed it. I was fresh out of my doctoral program and I was feeling confident enough to tackle training in the "Big Apple." Well.make that semi-confident. In the fall of 1986 I applied to study sex therapy under one of the greatest sex therapists of our time-Helen Singer Kaplan.
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