Joe Nocera, a seasoned business journalist, bought a house in Southampton, New York, in 2010. He thought his next door neighbor was a psychiatrist from New York, Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf. Another man, Marty Markowitz, who lived in the house, seemed to be a caretaker.
Except that Marty Markowitz actually owned the house, and for nearly 30 years, the psychiatrist had taken over his life.
Herschkopf separated Markowitz from his family. Herschkopf became the co-signer on his patient’s million-dollar Swiss bank account. The psychiatrist threw lavish, star-studded parties in Markowitz’ home, with the owner acting like a waiter, pouring drinks and cleaning up after the guests.
Nocera tells the whole wild story in a podcast called, The Shrink Next Door. It’s a classic story of sociopathic power and control, with the really scary dimension that the perpetrator was a mental health professional that the victim turned to for help.
Story suggested by a Lovefraud reader.
Facebook made a video of me without my permission
There are so many interesting podcasts that look at disordered people and the damage they do. Some that I have enjoyed and learned from are Root of Evil, Dr. Death, Dirty John, Over My Dead Body, S-Town, and Broken Harts.
Root of Evil was particularly interesting for the way it shows how sociopathy is passed from generation to generation. And, how the abuse perpetrated effects family behavior and culture. It does have some very graphic descriptions of torture, but they are brief, and needed to show a level of depravity.
Slim
This psychiatrist is disordered but there are some who really are good like Dr. Leedom, a psyxhiatrist I know who is an expert witness in custody battles where there is incest and one who specializes in helping teachers.