46 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 5, 2014
Ralph Klein
My mother became a patient of a Sullivan
Institute psychotherapist when I was 5 years old.
She divorced my father and was awarded
custody of my brother and me my father had
visitation with us twice a week. When I was 10
years old, my mother moved in with a roommate
who also was seeing a Sullivan Institute
therapist and studying to be a clinical
psychologist. I began psychotherapy with a
Sullivan Institute psychotherapist in 1966, at age
13, the year my mother left the country to pursue
her dissertation research in anthropology. I was
living with my father and was feeling
disoriented by my mother’s absence and also a
bit uncomfortable at home with my father and
new stepmother. I visited my mother’s ex-
roommate, whom I had become close with
during the time she lived with us. She was a
clinical psychologist and urged me to see a
therapist. I told her that, if I was going to see a
therapist, I wanted to see her but she said this
wasn’t a good idea. She suggested that I call
Ralph Klein, one of the training analysts of the
Sullivan Institute and also a friend/boyfriend of
my mother.
I started seeing Ralph (as I have always called
him) once a week, unbeknownst to my father. I
was a quiet, shy kid, and I had not done well at
Hunter College High School in the 7th and 8th
grades. I began the 9th grade at Hunter after I
had moved in with my father. I was interested in
boys, but very shy. Ralph was apparently trying
to help me improve my self-esteem. He
complimented me, told me how pretty I was, and
asked me if I masturbated. I told him not really.
He said I should go home and try it out. Then he
followed up on this advice by asking me how it
went. I didn’t really want to talk to him about it,
and I somehow succeeded in avoiding the
question.
I moved back in with my mother and my
younger brother when they returned in June
from their year away. My mother had not made
plans for me for the summer, so Ralph offered to
have me stay with him in his summer home in
Amagansett, Long Island. My best friend, also
the child of a community member, was invited
to stay there, as well. We both spent the
summer with Ralph, his two children, and their
babysitter in Amagansett. I got a job as a
counselor-in-training at a local day camp and
went to work most days. While I was staying
with Ralph, he made a lot of comments about
my body. Some of them were explicit, others
were not but he encouraged me to engage in
sexual activity. I began to have sexual
encounters with boys whom I met over that
summer. Ralph wanted to hear about them, and
sometimes I told him. By the time I got to 10th
grade, I had had a bit of experience, but not a
lot.
Because I wasn’t doing well at Hunter High
School, my parents had me apply to some
private schools in Manhattan, and I switched
schools for 10th grade. I started at Walden in
the fall of 1968, and I was desperate to fit in
with my new classmates. I used my new
repository of sexual experience to act cool in
school and to attract boys. In the meantime, I
was still painfully shy and had difficulty
entering the lunchroom at school because I
became very anxious in the crowd of people and
would not know where to sit.
In 11th grade, I dated two boys at the same time
and enjoyed the notoriety. Ralph, I assume, was
supporting these behaviors, and possibly even
instigating them. The principal of our school
didn’t seem happy about this situation. By 12th
grade, one boyfriend had left for college and the
other broke up with me. So I was boyfriendless
in 12th grade and miserable. Ralph and my
mother encouraged me to go to Cuba with the
Venceremos Brigade.3 I had a fantastic
experience in Cuba when I returned, it was the
end of April 1970. I was about to graduate from
high school, and I decided that I didn’t want to
go to college right away.
In Between Therapists
I lived outside New York for the next year and a
half. Then I returned to apply for college and to
ask my father if he would pay for it. He agreed
to do that, and I applied to the University of
Arizona and left for Tucson in January of 1972.
I encountered both academic and interpersonal
3 The Venceremos Brigade was a group that organized trips for
Americans to Cuba for the purpose of engaging in volunteer work
and promoting an end to the US trade embargo against Cuba.
Ralph Klein
My mother became a patient of a Sullivan
Institute psychotherapist when I was 5 years old.
She divorced my father and was awarded
custody of my brother and me my father had
visitation with us twice a week. When I was 10
years old, my mother moved in with a roommate
who also was seeing a Sullivan Institute
therapist and studying to be a clinical
psychologist. I began psychotherapy with a
Sullivan Institute psychotherapist in 1966, at age
13, the year my mother left the country to pursue
her dissertation research in anthropology. I was
living with my father and was feeling
disoriented by my mother’s absence and also a
bit uncomfortable at home with my father and
new stepmother. I visited my mother’s ex-
roommate, whom I had become close with
during the time she lived with us. She was a
clinical psychologist and urged me to see a
therapist. I told her that, if I was going to see a
therapist, I wanted to see her but she said this
wasn’t a good idea. She suggested that I call
Ralph Klein, one of the training analysts of the
Sullivan Institute and also a friend/boyfriend of
my mother.
I started seeing Ralph (as I have always called
him) once a week, unbeknownst to my father. I
was a quiet, shy kid, and I had not done well at
Hunter College High School in the 7th and 8th
grades. I began the 9th grade at Hunter after I
had moved in with my father. I was interested in
boys, but very shy. Ralph was apparently trying
to help me improve my self-esteem. He
complimented me, told me how pretty I was, and
asked me if I masturbated. I told him not really.
He said I should go home and try it out. Then he
followed up on this advice by asking me how it
went. I didn’t really want to talk to him about it,
and I somehow succeeded in avoiding the
question.
I moved back in with my mother and my
younger brother when they returned in June
from their year away. My mother had not made
plans for me for the summer, so Ralph offered to
have me stay with him in his summer home in
Amagansett, Long Island. My best friend, also
the child of a community member, was invited
to stay there, as well. We both spent the
summer with Ralph, his two children, and their
babysitter in Amagansett. I got a job as a
counselor-in-training at a local day camp and
went to work most days. While I was staying
with Ralph, he made a lot of comments about
my body. Some of them were explicit, others
were not but he encouraged me to engage in
sexual activity. I began to have sexual
encounters with boys whom I met over that
summer. Ralph wanted to hear about them, and
sometimes I told him. By the time I got to 10th
grade, I had had a bit of experience, but not a
lot.
Because I wasn’t doing well at Hunter High
School, my parents had me apply to some
private schools in Manhattan, and I switched
schools for 10th grade. I started at Walden in
the fall of 1968, and I was desperate to fit in
with my new classmates. I used my new
repository of sexual experience to act cool in
school and to attract boys. In the meantime, I
was still painfully shy and had difficulty
entering the lunchroom at school because I
became very anxious in the crowd of people and
would not know where to sit.
In 11th grade, I dated two boys at the same time
and enjoyed the notoriety. Ralph, I assume, was
supporting these behaviors, and possibly even
instigating them. The principal of our school
didn’t seem happy about this situation. By 12th
grade, one boyfriend had left for college and the
other broke up with me. So I was boyfriendless
in 12th grade and miserable. Ralph and my
mother encouraged me to go to Cuba with the
Venceremos Brigade.3 I had a fantastic
experience in Cuba when I returned, it was the
end of April 1970. I was about to graduate from
high school, and I decided that I didn’t want to
go to college right away.
In Between Therapists
I lived outside New York for the next year and a
half. Then I returned to apply for college and to
ask my father if he would pay for it. He agreed
to do that, and I applied to the University of
Arizona and left for Tucson in January of 1972.
I encountered both academic and interpersonal
3 The Venceremos Brigade was a group that organized trips for
Americans to Cuba for the purpose of engaging in volunteer work
and promoting an end to the US trade embargo against Cuba.
