Yes the mental health profession in NYC has many elements akin to a mafia network. It is very had to remain free of it if you want to work maintaining some sort of academic association, can be easier completely self-employed and staying away from all that but then many people feel isolated and dissatisfied. Not going into it but this issue has been a big part of some things I struggle with myself and still haven't made a clear decision, let alone action. Of course it is much more complicated than just thriving or failing as an academic or clinician as the field is intertwined, in many ways, with hardcore money and politics. I can easily imagine why it took so long for Marty to break free, I am certain it is not just emotional factors but the involvement of serious business that he probably could not cut off and resolve without some serious losses as well. Having made those early decisions and investments must have brought consequences for a long time.

My first T actually made that decision to cut ties with most of the psych-related institutions and investors quite early in his career and do everything solo. In that case, I think it just turned him into a greater evil and more dangerous practitioner because there is no one to control him even slightly, except the licensing board I guess, but he seems to be very good at getting rid of accusations of all kinds, amazing good in fact (I know because I tried in smaller ways as well). But going solo did not abolish his enormous need for attention, coupled with a failure of actually producing work good enough to be recognized and appreciated by the academic community (he is just inherently sloppy and also not very smart, I think). So he targets a certain population of clients that are much less likely to scrutinize him. I think he reacted to the conflicts with me so extremely because I do not fall in that population and did not buy his shady maneuvers and manipulations but, instead, told him many things that must have pierced into some of his biggest insecurities. He really produced emotional reactions in response that I had never seen from anyone, very extreme. But I could not do much to formally interrogate him and I also just did not have the desire to engage in such a crap and make life worse for myself. He actually pretty much damaged his own reputation by himself with all the *** he does on the internet. That also shows he is obsessed with attention seeking but not very smart. I expect Ike to be much smarter, given the scale of manipulations he has managed to execute and maintain.