Looking at my bruised face and scratched neck, I wondered where the real Lily had gone. Had I vanished when my sister disappeared? I wasn’t sure what I was doing anymore, except getting myself into fights and trouble, both of which had always been Claudia’s department. I felt a little more like myself when I started searching for information about Alexander Gorevale online. Claudia’s one-eared china rabbit sat on the night table, keeping me company. The New York Times had printed an obituary.

Dr. Alexander W. Gorevale, a psychiatrist who disputed traditional notions of social roles and relationships and who contested popular methods of addiction therapy, died on September 28 at his home in Nyack, New York. He was 53.

The cause was myocardial infarction, which was caused by an adverse reaction to sildenafil citrate, according to local authorities. There were also traces of several mood-stabilizing drugs in his system.

Dr. Gorevale’s theories briefly became popular with the publication of his first book, Rising From the Ashes. He wrote that entrenched family and societal roles inhibit the growth of an individual, preventing them from achieving their true potential by forcing them to corrupt their own natures with the expectations of others. Dr. Gorevale’s provocative theories were overshadowed by his personal life. He was accused of sexual misconduct, and while the charge was dismissed, his reputation suffered when it was revealed that he had had a consensual sexual relationship with a patient. The ensuing scandal forced Dr. Gorevale to leave Gorevale House, the residential treatment facility he founded in Massachusetts. Dr. Gorevale’s later books The Triumph of the Individual and False Morality, False Promises never equaled the popularity of his first. Dr. Gorevale was arrested in 2005 after a patient almost died while in a detoxification program under his supervision; he was later released after proving that his therapy was commonplace in Europe, but Dr. Gorevale had to pay a heavy fine to the state of Massachusetts and an undisclosed amount to the family of his patient. Dr. Gorevale’s medical license was suspended for two years.

Alexander Gorevale was born in England. After a private-school education and Cambridge University, he opened his practice in London, later moving to Edinburgh, Dublin, Boston, Portland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York. Dr. Gorevale, who described marriage as “government-sanctioned slavery,” never married, nor did he have children. His will awarded his estate to Harvard University, with the stipulation that the school would name a prize for him. Harvard has not yet indicated whether it will accept the bequest.