Psychologist Says Price’s Son Starved for Affection

A psychologist testified Monday that Laurence Price was not spoiled by his multimillionaire father, Sol, but was so starved for affection that he developed a personality disorder that could lead him to commit suicide.

“This could be a life-or-death situation,” said Michael R. Mantell, a clinical psychologist who has counseled Laurence Price periodically since 1981. “He has a lifelong history of feeling rejected and being made to feel inadequate.”

Mantell said Laurence, 42, is “pre-psychotic” and diagnosed him as having a “histrionic personality disorder with narcissistic features.” Tests conducted two months ago indicate “a strong possibility he has seriously contemplated suicide,” Mantell said.

Mantell was called as a witness by Marvin Mitchelson, Laurence Price’s lawyer in his $100-million “emotional distress” lawsuit against his father. Laurence alleges that his father, founder of the Price Club discount warehouse stores, tried to interfere in Laurence’s relationship with his teen-age sons and, during a custody dispute, threatened to take away his tire-installation centers associated with the Price Club.

Battle Over Business Lost

However, Sol Price, 73, and his lawyer, Gerald McMahon, contend that Laurence filed the emotional-distress suit only after losing a legal battle over the business, which, they say, he mismanaged. They have produced letters indicating that Sol Price tried twice in 1986 to mend the family rift. Laurence rejected those attempts, according to earlier testimony.

On cross-examination by McMahon on Monday, Mantell conceded that his assessment of the family situation was based solely on what Laurence Price told him. Mantell said he had never spoken with Sol Price or his wife, Helen, Laurence’s mother.

Nevertheless, Mantell said he believes Laurence’s problems were caused by a lack of affection from his parents when he was a child. He said that, during a counseling session in 1985, he concluded that, “if Larry was an 8-year-old child, I really would have wrestled with whether or not this was a case of emotional child abuse . . .

“He described a childhood that was filled with parental rejection, coldness and feeling unloved. He felt deprived, depleted, rejected.

Not Spoiled on Love

“The one thing I can assure you that Larry Price is not spoiled on is love. I think Larry has been bankrupted when it comes to love. . . . I don’t think money and material possessions can fill up the emotional bank. . . . I don’t think he is a spoiled individual when it comes to the important things in life that one would hope one would get from one’s parents.”

Reading from the results of psychological tests, Mantell said that, in suing his father, Laurence “sees a chance to finally stand up against his father . . . an opportunity for vindication of some sort.” The tests also showed Laurence to have an emotional age ranging from “infantile” to “adolescent,” he said.

On cross-examination, Mantell said he had been unaware until Monday of the conciliatory letters sent to Laurence by his father. He said Laurence never mentioned any good things his father did for him. He testified that he was being paid $250 an hour for his testimony.

Also on cross-examination, McMahon confronted Mantell with six pages of a report analyzing the results of a test done by another psychologist in Mantell’s office. Mantell said he had never seen the pages before.

The missing pages said, among other things, that Laurence:

* “Shows little guilt over his current behavior.”

* “May attempt to manipulate others through his symptoms in order to escape responsibility for his problems.”

* “Appears quite manipulative in relationships.”

* “Is somewhat hedonistic.”

* And “may act out impulsively without due concern for close friends or relatives.”

The trial continues today before Superior Court Judge Arthur W. Jones.