Kevin, the 'Murphy's Boy' of the title, makes headway and loses ground and gradually comes to terms with the terrible things done to him in his past. Sometimes the world just makes me sick, you know?īelieve it or not, a lot of other stuff happens in this book, some of it good, a lot of it bad. He feels abandoned, feels like it's his fault because he's worthless, because who would want to have anything to do with a worthless boy like him? And six months of real progress is down the drain, to say nothing of all the psychiatrist's other patients, abandoned by the one person they can trust, all because some board of directors feels icky about someone's sexuality. But suddenly, one of his two lifelines to normalcy is no longer around. They were working together to help a teenage boy work through some of the horrible, awful things done to him by his own stepfather, with his own mother's consent, and they were making real progress. This scenario actually happened to the author's colleague. Not because you can't do your job, not because you're difficult to work with, but because it's 1980s Florida, and Dade County has just passed sweeping anti-gay legislation, and it's been discovered that you and your roommate, Hans, are more than just roommates, and the board of directors at your clinic has decided they don't want a homosexual working for them. Now, say your boss calls you into his office and tells you that you're fired. Well-liked by your peers, your opinion is sought on their cases, and they often ask for your assistance with their trickier clients. Say you were a mental health professional, well-respected, a leader in your field.

Murphy's Boy by Torey L. Hayden