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Title: Psychiatrist overstepped; did it help?
Review: Patient records are privileged; Dr. Orne justifies releasing tapes of Anne Sexton's therapy because the daughter of A.S. approved. He wrote the preface to the book, displaying a rather passive attitude to the malfeasance of the therapist who slept with A.S. And does the end--understanding creativity/a poet's life and death--justify the means? Do outpourings in therapy tell readers about where creativity comes from, how it is shaped, the interplay of life and art? I doubt it. People "edit" their therapy talk, too, though differently from their public utterings. Readers may be seduced by these secrets, hoping to find answers that cannot be given, even--maybe especially--by therapists. I think the biographer overplays her hand, and might have done a better book without the controversial tapes.
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