Dr. James Leone, CGP

Speaking for myself I am surprised to see negative reviews of Jim's work. I have worked with Jim for more than 30 years off and on. I have participated in 3 different groups and seen him off and on for individual therapy. While there were times he would say things to me that I did not want to hear, in retrospect they were always things I needed to hear. This is, after all, what therapy is all about. After thirty years, the relationship between a therapist and a patient is by definition going to be strong. Jim has reinforced this strength by, at times, going above and beyond the call of duty to provide support and reinforcement. In more ways than one Jim has changed my life for the better.

"THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CULT EXPERIENCE", NYT: "Many cult groups have developed basically similar and quite compelling conversion techniques for exploiting the vulnerabilities of potential converts.. such groups have taken techniques from the human-potential and humanistic-psychology movements, and combined them with cult ideology and persuasive sales methods - and packaged them in various combinations..Often they set up a we-they philosophy: We have the truth and you do not..the patient is placed in a panicky, disoriented state, and an emotional crisis is manufactured by the group leader..the patients can adapt to the situation, and accept the 'answer' or 'solution' to the crisis that the cult leader furnishes them with. To survive, they reidentify with their surroundings, and accept the dogma of the group..The unending personalized attention given to patient overloads the information-processing capacity inducing a trance-like state, leader then exploits the recruit's suggestibility.."

Unlike whoever wrote the last FIVE reviews, all within two weeks, I was actually in Dr. Leone’s group. I saw him individually twice per week, and in group once per week.. Previous reviewers were right. His therapy was traumatic. If not for the pressure I received from well-intended family, not to mention Dr. Leone’s own hard-sell tactics (think cult leader), I would have left after 1 or 2 months. Dr. Leone encourages people to speak abusively to each other, not assertively. I heard him refer to a squabble between two very hurt people as a "c-word fight." I heard him call an older woman a "cougar," and call another elder member a "dinosaur." The group had to pause for 10 minutes each time as each woman sobbed. In the end, Dr. James Leone is a charlatan who has a great time doing it. Note below, within two weeks, there are FIVE reviews, awarding all 5/5’s! Someone noticed his earned reputation. That’s classic Dr. Leone for you: crafty, unscrupulous, and constitutionally un-self aware.

My work with Dr. Leone began years ago in individual therapy and, for a year or more, group therapy. He was helpful and insightful from the beginning and helped me change my life. Over the ensuing 30 years I returned at times when life hit a rough patch and always found the help I needed from a trusted resource.

Dr Leone is a skilled experienced therapist who has helped me grow over a decade of individual and group therapy. He has the ability to help one grow through insights that are most often gently arrived at with an occasional slight push. I am indebted to him for the help he has provided me on my journey the last ten years

I have been a patient of Dr. James Leone in both individual and group therapy. He helped me build relationships and sustain them throughout my young adult life and into making my own family here in the US. I am forever grateful. The group therapy under Dr. Leone’s guidance was a powerful tool for change, most of the learning occurs from interactions with other group members. Dr. Leone gently guides, and for the most part lets the group members do the work. Thanks Dr. Leone.

I speak from the experience of working with Dr. Leone for more than ten years in a men’s group. I would recommend him to any man working through a time of life-struggle or personal passage. Group work (IMHO) is not for someone who is in a moment of psychological crisis, but rather for someone who is looking for ways to deal with continuing issues that have become impediments in his or her life, and I think Jim is great at facilitating this kind of progress.

Dr. Leone is a highly trained clinician who is patient, kind, an excellent listener, and consistently demonstrates care and respect for his clients - this confidently said after more than 10 years of weekly interactions.

His groups are nothing like what he claims during the free consultation. They're a free-for-all. He encourages patients to articulate their negative feelings about other group members. That's ok if done carefully. But he encourages - instructs is a better word for it - group members to communicate their projections and transference issues onto other, vulnerable, members recklessly and with no regard for the feelings of the other person. Many a time I saw someone cry in his group after being attacked. It happened about twice per group, on average. His words and tone are often abusive. Not subtly abusive, but very obviously abusive. It's nothing I've seen in a therapist. Dr. Leone told me "I will be sadistic if you let me." That was disturbing. As a general practice, he reads aloud to the group the private emails of those who fall behind in their payments as a way of controlling them. I knew him well, and he struck me as bigoted and chauvinistic. There were a whole lot of problems.

Dr. Leone is a kind and intelligent therapist. My husband and I have been seeing him for couples therapy and his process is very supportive, engaged and effective. We went for pre-marital counseling and have since gotten married and had children and he's helped us navigate our new roles as parents, negotiate our boundaries as husband and wife, and keep the spark alive. I feel like he would be helpful for many different issues- for us he helped with addiction, anxiety, anger management and more.