The doctor is Out: How to cope when you therapist goes on vacation.

Publication: Newsday (Melville, NY)

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COPYRIGHT 2006 Newsday

Byline: Pat Burson

Jul. 31--With the start of August, many people are planning vacations, including many psychotherapists who'll shutter their offices and leave their patients to fend for themselves.

For decades, metro-area mental-health professionals have been getting away during August, sometimes to symposiums in Cape Cod and other picturesque parts of the country that promise continuing education and a relaxing summer vacation.

Some used to leave for the entire month, local therapists say, but such a lengthy hiatus appears to no longer be the norm.

"Still most of us take some break in the summer," says Dr. Carolyn Robinowitz, a psychiatrist in Washington, D.C., and president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association. "That's when it's easier to get away; children -- if you have them -- are out of school, and other people are willing to cover for you. And I know my own patients take time off in the summer."

If you're in therapy, experts say, you needn't come unhinged at the thought of your therapist going on vacation, or morph into the nightmare patient in the 1991 comedy "What About Bob?" who was so dependent on his psychiatrist that he tracked him down during his family vacation.

While the movie went for laughs, some patients do struggle when their therapists are away.

The therapist-patient bond is often "an intense and vital relationship," says Jonathan Jackson, director of the Center for Psychological Services at...

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