Boston Magazine
Head Games
May 15, 2006
By Gretchen Voss

— Excerpt

An alarming number of Massachusetts psychiatrists have gotten caught again and again having sex with some of this society’s most vulnerable people: their own patients…

Dr. Sheldon Zigelbaum lost his license in 1992 after five women testified before the medical board that he engaged in a variety of sexual acts with them in his office, hotel rooms, his car, and, in one case, a hot tub. Some said he shared marijuana, and one woman said he did cocaine with her. Zigelbaum denied having sex with most of his accusers–but admitted to it with one only to claim he was not her therapist. He also denied using drugs.

Today, Zigelbaum works out of his Roxbury apartment, seeing clients for what he describes alternately as “personal coaching,” “corporate counseling,” and “crisis management.” He says he works “two hours a week, sometimes one hour a week.” Is he involved in anything approximating psychotherapy? “I’m not,” he insists. “How can I do that one hour a week?”…