E.James Lieberman, M.D. -- The Caliban Complex

E. James Lieberman, M.D. is a retired Washington, D.C. psychiatrist/psychoanalyst, the author of Acts of Will: The Life and Work of Otto Rank.  Dr. Lieberman used to be a clinical professor of psychiatry at The George Washington University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry.

In the summer of 1989 I mailed Dr. Lieberman a copy of my self-analysis: The Caliban Complex: An Attempt at Self-Analysis.

Dr. Lieberman acknowledged my submission with a handwritten note that reads:

8/28/89

Dear Gary Freedman:

Thanks for writing.  I find your work too intellectual for me.  Reminds me of my pre-Rankian (more Freudian) days.  The above cartoon expresses my view of therapy.  May I keep your essay or would you like to have it back?

JL

The attached cartoon depicts a very large egg sitting on a psychoanalyst's couch.  The egg is just beginning to crack open.  The analyst says to the egg (patient): "This is very good, Mr. Carter!"

I formed the paranoid belief that Dr. Lieberman spoke to Akin Gump's senior managers about me in 1989.