Checks for Execs

Periodic physical checkups, sometimes lasting a week or longer, have become an accepted ritual for the high-powered, high-priced organization man (TIME, Jan. 21. 1957), and one thing they have turned up is that many an executive in good physical trim has a headful of emotional problems. Last week Connecticut's Silver Hill Foundation announced that it is inviting corporations to send executives in for a six-day emotional checkup.

Psychiatrist William B. Terhune, 65, who started the foundation 25 years ago, insists on calling his plant a "unit"—he is equally opposed to such "emotionally charged'' words as sanatorium, hospital and institution. Two miles out of New Canaan, its 50 acres bisected by the Silver Mine River, it looks like any New England resort hotel. It has no barred windows or guards, no locked doors for its capacity (usually filled) of 60 patients. Among its fulltime staff of 75, the seven doctors and four registered nurses never wear white coats. The aim: gracious country living without country-club frills.

A few executives had sought a Silver Hill emotional inventory on their own initiative; since the plan was made formal, ten more have already signed up. Admissions are usually arranged through corporation heads and medical directors, never without a physician's referral. The subject's colleagues and family supply background data before his visit. He is expected to show up for Sunday dinner, stay until Saturday afternoon. In those six days he gets a thorough going-over by psychologists and psychiatrists, but no hint of psychoanalysis—there is not a couch in the place. The only strict rule: every subject must take daily walks over the surrounding hills.

By week's end, with a load of data from set interviews and continuous observation, Dr. Terhune and staff tell the executive what he needs. In many cases, advice (rooted in the confidence of long talks) on what to do and not to do may be enough. For emotional problems of moderate severity, Dr. Terhune prescribes what he calls "mental hygiene re-education." It may run to a few weeks or months of psychotherapy. There is never a written report to the executive's company, and Dr. Terhune passes as much responsibility as possible to the family doctor. All-inclusive check for the emotional checkup: $500.