Longtime psychology practice to close

April 30--Dr. Violet Poetter gives three reasons she and her husband, Dr. Rodney Poetter, are closing what she calls the "mom-and-pop business" of their clinical psychology practice in Ocala on May 8.

Two have to do with life events, one happy and one not: The Poetters have seen the arrival of two grandchildren in the past two years; meanwhile, Violet Poetter was recently diagnosed with a non-acute form of leukemia.

The third reason has to do with dizzying pace of change in the health care industry and its resulting frustrations, she said.

"To say mental health has become an insane profession is not a farfetched thing," she said.

Speaking by phone Tuesday, Poetter noted she will turn 63 and her husband will turn 68 soon.

"The idea is to relax a little," she said. "Take care of some grandkids for a little. To me this has been an incredible community to raise children in and to work in, but it's our time now."

Poetter said she was recently diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

"It's an OK form," she said. "It may be OK for two months, two years, 12 years, 20 years, we don't know. It's not acute. If it goes into acute, then that's bad."

As for changes in the profession, Poetter sighs when she speaks of fighting insurance companies over reimbursement or waiting 20 minutes or more on the phone for an authorization, only to be told she was sent to the wrong extension.

Despite some achievements in recent years, such as the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, the branch of medicine gets short shrift and has largely become "a drug-based delivery system," according to Poetter.

"Talk to anyone now getting mental health care for serious issues like depression or severe anxiety or panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder, they'll tell you their psychiatrists are mainly writing prescriptions," she said. "There are very few psychiatrists who can afford to talk to a patient for therapy as well as treatment with medication unless they're not taking insurance.

"We've kind of gone to the point where we realize we need (mental health) and now we're turning back the clock."

Poetter said society has now replaced the psychiatric hospitals it has closed with jails.

"Now, they have to now get the psychotropics to the prisoners, who are now in many cases in need of mental health," she said.

The problem, she said, is for more than 10 years, mental health hasn't had a champion in high places like it did during the Kennedy administration.

The Poetters' practice dates to 1980, after Rodney Poetter left the Army as a captain after a four-year stint. Violet Poetter joined the practice around 1983, she said.

Ric Ridgway, assistant state attorney, said Rodney Poetter was one of the few psychologists who worked on criminal cases when he began practicing in 1984. According to Ridgway, Rodney Poetter didn't appear to have "philosophical leanings" that interfered with his work on those cases.

"Rodney Poetter was always the guy who was put in the middle to make the call," he said. "He was the one probably picked most often by the judges and by the attorneys if they were looking for a down-the-middle, neutral kind of evaluation."

Ridgway added that Rodney and Violet Poetter are on "a very short list" of mental health professionals to whom he referred people outside of his work.

"I know they've certainly been an asset to the community and them retiring will be a loss," he said.

Violet Poetter said she and her husband plan to stay in Ocala.

"I love the fact that we've been able to help people," she said. "That's the gist of it, isn't it? To feel good about the fact you were able to make a difference. I think that's been the best part about this field."

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