It was quick and it was brutal, and even the efforts of a colleague couldn't save Kathryn Faughey, the psychologist hacked to death in her Upper East Side office with a meat cleaver by a man believed to be her patient, police said.

The suspect fled through a basement exit and was still being sought Wednesday morning.

Police said Faughey, 56, never had a chance, as she was hacked with the cleaver and stabbed numerous times. As Faughey tried to fight the attacker off and screamed for help, a therapist with an office in the same East 79th Street building ran to help, but as he tried to pull the suspect off of Faughey, the attacker turned on him, slashing the therapist a number of times in the face and neck, police said.

When police arrived they found in complete disarray an office once neat and organized and befitting a doctor charged with helping people. The desk was overturned, there was blood everywhere and papers were strewn about.

Faughey, a licensed psychologist, practiced cognitive behavioral therapy, which focuses on changing thoughts that cause feelings or behaviors.

She once described her style in a Psychology Today profile: "My approach is interactive, focused and solution-oriented," she said. "Sessions move quickly. I give feedback. Very practical and to the point, I practice cognitive psychotherapy effectively -- in a warm, clear and lively manner."

Faughey lived in a building across the street with her husband, Walter Adam, who is retired. The couple had no children, those who know her said, and they regularly vacationed in Paris.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyo … 7918.story

I can't even imagine what that scene must have looked like.   How utterly terrifying for that woman and the collegue that tried to help her.  I think people that work in this kind of field really need to take major precautions and this is a prime example of why.