Letter to Dr Gottleib about Danielle February 2009

Dear Dr. Gottlieb,

We are writing this note to help you care for daughter Danielle.  Some of what we say can not be easily said in front of Danielle.  We feel that this additional information will give you our perspective in an efficient manner.

We have not been overprotective parents for over five an one half years.  Danielle left home to study abroad in Spain during the summer between her junior and senior years in high school.  She went to undergraduate at the University of Florida in Gainesville which is over four hours drive form our home in Fort Myers, Florida.  Danielle made all her own decisions about academics.  Her decision to go into law was totally her own.  We supported her and told her that we thought she would fit well in the legal profession because of her debating skills.  Danielle lived off campus in an apartment for much of her undergraduate life.  She had her own car and a scooter that she won at a school raffle.   We weren’t happy about the scooter. We paid for its insurance, nevertheless.  We were not involved with her day to day activities after she left home.  She had a three and one half year relationship with a young man at the U of F.  We were supportive of that relationship.  We paid for their plane ride to Arizona for them to see the Florida Gators win the National Football Championship.

After completing college one semester early Danielle did an externship at a law firm in Washington DC for several months.  We visited her there and she appeared happy and adjusted to life in that cold big city.   She applied for law school and was accepted at Loyola and the  University of Miami.  She was offered a full academic scholarship to the University of Miami.  She turned it down to leave Florida and go to Chicago.  We had told her that if she got her BA from a Florida Public University we would pay for her graduate school of choice.

That summer she broke up with her longstanding boyfriend and became a counselor at a summer camp.  It is a camp for well to do Jewish kids.  Danielle’s Aunt and cousins have attended there.  Danielle was very happy there as well.  It was there that she met Marshall and fell in love.  Marshall drove Danielle from camp in Pennsylvania to law school in Chicago in the fall of 2007.

Danielle had difficulty adjusting to law school, Chicago and her new love.  She expressed this to us during the Christmas break 2007-8.
We told her that she did not have to continue law school in
Chicago and that she could transfer to a Florida law school or do something else if she wanted.  Danielle stated that she wanted to continue at Loyola and during the spring semester she seemed happier.  She got a job as a legal aid to a prominent law firm in Chicago where she got along well.  Marshall moved up to Chicago from Florida to live with her.  We helped Marshall move up here by driving his belongings here from Florida.  We helped them shop for furniture for their new apartment.  The second year of law school appeared to be easier for Danielle.  She was reporting that she was getting A’s in her courses.

She and Marshall began to travel to cities hundreds of miles from Chicago.  During Christmas break 2008-9 Danielle was only able to spend two days with us in Fort Myers.  She spent five days with friends in New York City during the New Years Holiday.  The time we spent together was difficult with Danielle experiencing crying spells.

Danielle’s long time friend, Amy Blitzer informed us that Danielle and Marshall had been attending concerts given by a techno-rock group called Disco Biscuits which according to the urban dictionary means “seeking the drug ecstasy.”   (Marshall changed his computer network password to “disco-biscuits.”)

Friends who gathered at Danielle’s apartment the day that she had her psychotic break report bags of marijuana and numerous drug paraphernalia. 

Marshall has a history of ADD. He has been prescribed Strattera which he had stopped taking because he “did not have insurance to pay for it.”  The night before Danielle was admitted to the psychiatric hospital I spoke to Marshall on the phone concerned that Danielle sounded manic.  He downplayed her symptoms and stated that she was just under a lot of stress.  We asked him to watch Danielle carefully until we could get to Chicago and help her.  He left Danielle to go to work the next day and had plans to fly to Atlanta to attend the next Disco Biscuits concert.

Danielle’s long time friends, law school classmates, and family feel that she is being isolated by Marshall.

Marshall has other history.  A prior girlfriend was gang-raped by men in his college fraternity.  When Marshall could not convince the girl to drop her charges he felt pressured to transfer out of his school.

Marshall has many problems of his own.  We witnessed his behavior when Danielle returned to her apartment after her discharge from the psychiatric hospital.  He was not supportive.  He was upset about the television show that she was watching (Top Chef.)   He left in a huff, leaving Danielle slumped over on a couch.   Danielle stated, “I just got home, can’t you stay?”  Marshall responded,  “Order what you want.  Call me when it gets here.”

There is a very strong possibility that  LSD,  MDA, Marijuana and ETOH may have triggered the psychotic break.  Danielle states that she used marijuana before she met Marshall but it is our suspicion that her illicit drug use increased to new levels on his watch.


We have trusted Danielle to make good choices.  We were blindsided by her sudden break.  In retrospect she did show some signs of moodiness… crying spells.  Friends have reported to us that she had a syncope/seizure spell on a hot, crowded subway train last summer.


As parents of an adult child who is still dependent on them we face certain dilemmas. 

We need to make sure that Danielle does not have a brain lesion that may account for some of these behaviors. (MRI, TSH)

We need to do everything possible to avoid alcohol and illicit drug use. (Urine Drug Screen… We don‘t want to kid ourselves into thinking that we are helping her with psychotherapy if she continues to use hallucinogens and psychosis inducing agents.)

We need Danielle, as she has stated,  to make a budget that she can control without asking our permission to do everything.

We need Danielle to understand that we wish to respect her autonomy as we have done for the past five and one half years.   We want to return to Chicago in good weather and bad to visit her and love her. 

Sandy and Stuart Levy