Having just read Jaybird, I want to say explicitly that I have experienced permanent "patient abandonment" . . . that is to say: frank "termination of contact." It is devastating beyond words to experience. I don't believe the clinicians that did this to me were bad people, or incompetent. I don't believe I was a bad person at the time. Humans can become overwhelmed. No amount of letters after a person's name makes them immune to that. It IS uncommon, because professionals generally can cope. But, it DOES happen.