MARTY MOSS-COANE: Our other guests are Dr. Joseph Battaglia, clinical director of the Bronx Psychiatric Center. Welcome. And our third guest is Dr. Anthony Salerno, director of rehabilitation services at Rockland Psychiatric Center in New York. Nice to have you with us as well.
Nathaniel, I'd like to begin with you because you write a lot about the relationship that you had with your father through correspondence. Once he left the family, he really kept in touch with you through his letters. What was he trying to say to you? What do you think he was trying to do?
NATHANIEL LACHENMEYER: It was very explicit was he was trying to do. With me, he was really, even under the burden of his disorder, trying to maintain a father-son relationship. His letters, which came often, were intermittently parental. They were sort of advice, and very good advice. I think that he was drawing from his own experiences. But also, in between that, there would be delusional references to the government, and one of the problems was also that he included my mother in the scope of the conspiracy, which presented obvious problems for me growing up, but also further limited his ability to get help from people.
MARTY MOSS-COANE: What did you write back to him? You didn't include your correspondence in there. Did you want a father relationship with him?
