NOTE FROM Ann Blake-Tracy:
Those in the psychiatric community report that 75% of those doctors and nurses they work with are on antidepressants as well. Drug reps are telling them they are in a very stressful profession and sooner or later will need to start on antidepressants so they may as well start now! So chances are high that the therapist was also on medication leading to the affair.
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Paragraph 8 reads: “In February 2009, after the therapist broke up with the victim, the woman tried to commit suicide while sitting in her car in Meriden, swallowing numerous anti-depression pills. But, she changed her mind after looking at a picture of her young child, according to the warrant.”
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009/10/29/news/shoreline/a1_–_therapist.txt
Therapist faces sex assault charges in affair with patient (with document)
Published: Thursday, October 29, 2009
By Susan Misur, Register Staff
GUILFORD After allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a depressed and suicidal patient for more than a year, a New Haven-based therapist was arrested this week on a sexual assault charge, police said Wednesday.
Alan M. Shulik, a 58-year-old town resident, turned himself in to police Monday, and is accused of second-degree sexual assault, Chief Thomas Terribile said. The victim reported the incident Aug. 31.
Shulik met the victim when she and her husband went to Shulik for marriage counseling in Shulik’s New Haven office, Bishop Street Counseling. The Cheshire couple attended four to five sessions together, and Shulik requested the husband and wife come separately to appointments, according to Shulik’s arrest warrant.
He soon told the victim that she should e-mail him daily with her feelings about her marital situation, and he would tell her she was “wonderful and beautiful and her husband was not good to her,” the arrest warrant says. It adds that Shulik found the woman to be clinically depressed and sent her to a psychiatrist for medication.
The woman told Shulik she was beginning to have feelings for and becoming dependent on him, and at a mid-June 2008 therapy session, Shulik “had her sit on his lap, holding her hands, hugging and kissing her,” the warrant continues.
Shulik said he was ending their patient-doctor relationship, and the two started dating in late June 2008, frequently calling, texting and e-mailing each other, and having intercourse at Shulik’s Durham Road home. Shulik allegedly told the victim he would break up with his girlfriend so they could be together and get married, the warrant says.
The pair would meet two to three days a week for intercourse at Shulik’s home and office, and also traveled to Boston, New York City and Meriden to have sex in hotels, the warrant reads.
In February 2009, after the therapist broke up with the victim, the woman tried to commit suicide while sitting in her car in Meriden, swallowing numerous anti-depression pills. But, she changed her mind after looking at a picture of her young child, according to the warrant.
When she saw Shulik in May, they began having sex again, but in August, he sent her a text message to say he was out of the state and newly married to his girlfriend. A few days into his marriage, Shulik sent another text message the victim to say he loved her, the warrant says.
In late August, the two saw each other again, but when the victim saw Shulik with another woman at his home, she decided to report him to police.
The warrant provides therapy notes from the victim’s new therapist that say Shulik “violated her trust by having a sexual and romantic relationship with her … he has devastated this family.”
The warrant says Shulik went to police Oct. 12 and voluntarily told them he had had a consensual sexual relationship with the victim. Terribile said the investigation continues, and police are documenting the trips and hotel visits with receipts.
Second-degree sexual assault is defined as a situation in which a psychotherapist and a patient engage in sexual intercourse during a psychotherapy session; a patient or former patient is emotionally dependent on the psychotherapist; or the patient or former patient have sexual intercourse by means of therapeutic deception.
Shulik was released on a promise to appear and is scheduled to be in court Tuesday.
A message left for Shulik at his office was not returned Wednesday.
Susan Misur can be reached at 789-5742 or smisur@nhregister.com.
Ann Blake-Tracy:
Your comment is very strange, as it seems you are justifying the therapist’s action (Alan Shulik). You wrote “… the therapist was also on medication leading to the affair”. If you read the warrant arrest, which is also available on the web and on the newspaper website that you quoted the article, you will see that the therapist misused the patient for over one year, got married to old girlfriend while he was misusing the patient, and he was seen with another women in his house. In addition, the therapist told police, as indicated in the arrest warrant, that he stopped the therapy to start dating the woman. The whole story shows that this man does not believe in the principle of marriage counseling and foundation of family and helping patient. It is reticules to say he got his patient to an affair for more than a year because he was in antidepressant medication himself. Surely, there were lots of moments in that period that he could think about what he was doing and stop the misuse. Also, the warrant says that he told police that he was aware of self-reporting, but he never did. Or he told the women in a text message that he would not reveal her identity (perhaps threatening the woman about consequences of talking to others about the affair). I am sorry, but you presented a very naive analysis of this case. The man is a sex abuser, that is all. If you search the web, you will see he is an artists, who has been putting up many art exhibitions while he was abusing the patient.
(Comment has been edited and revised).
Ann Blake-Tracy:
Your comment is very strange, as it seems you are justifying the therapist’s action (Alan Shulik). You wrote “… the therapist was also on medication leading to the affair”. If you read the warrant arrest, which is also available on the web and on the newspaper website that you quoted the article, you will see that the therapist misused the patient for over one year, got married to old girlfriend while he was misusing the patient, and he was seen with another women in his house. In addition, the therapist told police, as indicated in the arrest warrant, that he stopped the therapy to start dating the woman. The whole story shows that this man does not believe in the principle of marriage counseling and foundation of family and helping patient. It is reticules to say he got his patient to an affair for more than a year because he was on antidepressant medication himself! Surely, there were lots of moments in that period of time that he could think about what he was doing and stop the misuse. He never took any action to stop the abuse until he was cut and reported. Also, the warrant says that he told police that he was aware of self-reporting, but he never did. Or he told the women in a text message that he would not reveal her identity (perhaps threatening the woman about consequences of talking to others about this affair). I am sorry, but you presented a very naive analysis of this case. The man is a sex abuser; that is all. If you search the web, you will see he is an artist as well, who has been putting up many art exhibitions while he was abusing the patient. Right now, he is probably seeing other patients and talking to people in the art galleries as an artist, and who knows what he is planning for them!
Ann Blake-Tracy
Are you suggesting that rapists, sex offenders and murderess should all claim that they have been taking antidepressant and that is why they have committed those crimes? More than half the people in US take anti depressants. Does it mean that they can do whatever they want to? I believe that supposedly ‘professionals” like Alan Shulik, who are trusted by public because of their profession, should shut their offices down if they suspect that antidepressant “MAKE” them commit a crime before they are actually caught by the police. However, everyone knows that Alan Shulik and people like him, are educated and trained in their profession. They know exactly what they are doing and plan for their actions way ahead of time. Their actions are not justifiable by the type of medicine they take but by their intentions and short-term sexual gratifications and wants.