Complaint Review: Laurance F. Johnson

Psychiatrist Laurance Johnson in Pasadena behaves inappropriately with children, and with adults. I was a patient of his from age 13 to 21,during the '80s and '90s. It's hard to believe that he's still in business, and from what I understand, he has not changed. 

He put me and my parents through an 8 year nightmare. He was mentally and verbally abusive to me. My life worsened dramatically because of him.

During my first sessions alone with him,at age 13,he would not look at me, barely spoke to me. Then he started using my sessions to talk about HIS life and to tell weird, upsetting stories that were irrelevant to my therapy.

He brought up adult sexual matters that had nothing to do with me, often using crude language. During one session when I was 14 he told me about an adult patient of his who could nto get an erection. 

During another session he asked me if I masturbated. When I answered "no", he sneered at me and said "Don't you get horny?". I started to cry. My crying made Dr. Johnson even more upset. He ended the session right then and there.

Dr. Johnson told me how parents would get angry with him for how he treated their children. He did not care and he'd mock the parents when telling me about them. He would tell me about and ridicule his other patients.

He told me about and put down his gay patients. When I was around 15 I told him I thought I was gay. He said it was a mental disorder, and that I could change and get rid of it. I tried very hard to, but I couldn't change. During one session I told Johnson about a girl I had a crush on in school. He said to me "Did you ever think she'd be disgusted if she found out?". From then on I felt I was disgusting.

As I got worse he would blame and berate me. He'd say things to me like "Can you get that through your thick skull", "You don't have a brain". He prescribed me medication that led me to look anorexic, then he ignored my condition. He saw how sickly I looked but he never adjusted the dosage or took me off the drug. He just ignored it.

He badmouthed my mother's therapist, Dr. Katherine Koch, in front of me. He called her "ugly" and other insulting comments. 

He often talked about how he went to Duke, as if that would make patient's forget he's a bad doctor. He thinks his education entitles him to treat patients however he wants. Psychiatrist Dr. John Lindon talked Dr. Johnson into referring me to another doctor. Dr. Lindon said Johnson had "badly damaged" my life and that he was a terrible therapist.