Summary

Aware in 1957 that his drinking and drug use were out of control, Williams became a patient of Dr. Lawrence Kubie, a New York-based Freudian psychoanalyst who treated a number of luminaries in the arts world. These included conductor Leonard Bernstein, writers William Inge and Charles Jackson, musicians Moss Hart and Kurt Weill. Initially, Kubie determined that Williams was "too disturbed" to begin analysis immediately and needed to be free of his addictions—alcohol, drugs, men, travel and writing—before psychoanalysis could be effective. He proposed that Williams go to the Harkness Pavilion, a branch of Presbyterian/Columbia University Hospital in New York City.

The therapy was based on a theory that Williams' drinking and drug use were a form of "acting out" inner conflicts that, in the absence of the addictive substances, would have to be faced squarely. Williams complied with all of...