ABSTRACT
For almost a century, Chestnut Lodge hospital was a leading institution for the psychoanalytic treatment and care of persons suffering from psychotic disorders. It opened in 1910 and had four medical directors during its existence: Ernest Bullard, then his son Dexter Sr, then the latter’s oldest son Dexter Jr, and finally Wayne Fenton. It had six directors of psychotherapy: Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, Otto Will, Ping-Nie Pao, Robert Cohen, E. James Anthony, and Christopher Keats. Its staff had a lot of success in treating patients most other institutions considered incurable. They took care of the patients with empathy and understanding, resisting introduction of psychotropic medication for many years, and redefining the notion of analytic setting. The hospital was sold in 1997, with the plan that it be converted to condominiums. It burned to the ground in 2009.
