G ilad’s life was crumbling fast.
It was only a short while ago that he was living the American dream. With his promotion at the hedge fund he’d purchased a gigantic house in a Boston suburb for his grateful wife and happy kids. Like so many secular Israelis living overseas Gilad didn’t have too much time for spirituality between his work his family obligations and the new golf-and-tennis club they’d joined.
And then all the glory collapsed practically overnight after his boss disagreed with some judgment calls that Gilad had made. There were a few meetings and then quicker than it went up everything came crashing down. After being abruptly fired Gilad had no problem finding another job at a slightly decreased salary. And yet the shame and the frustration remained inside and it was dragging him down. Being a responsible father and husband Gilad knew this wasn’t a good place to be and so decided to come into my clinic in Boston for an evaluation with the goal of preventing his anger from returning home with him at the day’s end. After ruling out a primary mental illness we discussed the role of mindfulness relaxation and cardiovascular exercise to let off some steam. A week later Gilad called to let me know that there was no need for a follow-up appointment and I was happy to trust his judgment.
I didn’t think too much about it until I received a call from him a few months later requesting an emergency appointment. After confirming that he wasn’t in a dangerous spot we scheduled a time for early in the evening.
