Customized psychiatric treatment for startup founders, and adults/teens with trauma and burnout

A psychiatrist is a physician (having earned an MD or DO degree) who has demonstrated expertise in the medical field of psychiatry where they must prevent, diagnose, and treat mental illness. Treatments may involve psychotherapy and/or medications that act on the nervous system. Both psychiatrists and neurologists diagnose and treat disorders of the brain. I like to view the psychiatric disorders as the ones that deal with your perception of the world around you, your emotions, and your behaviors. In order to properly diagnose psychiatric disorders a professional must be skilled enough to diagnosis non-psychiatric disorders because they may mimic emotional symptoms or interfere with you mental health and knows the biochemistry and pathology playing in the background. Medicine is always both an art and a science, and psychiatry is no exception. This is what sets a physician apart.

A psychiatrist is a medical doctor. To become a psychiatrist one must complete 4 years of undergraduate education, 4 years of medical school earning either an MD or DO degree (there are no alternative degrees), completion of the 3 separate intensive 8 hour exams called the USMLE, and 4 years of an America College of Graduate Medical Education approved residency. Psychiatry residency requires the completion of 4 months of acute management of Internal Medicine patients and 2 months of Neurology clinicals followed by 3 and a half years of general psychiatry clinical experience. A medical residency generally operates on 6 day work week, with two consecutive days off being a rarity. My residency included overnight inpatient call every fourth night, in addition to completing the entire work day prior to call. Residency programs have capped worked hours at an average of 80 hours per week, however it is not uncommon to be working as a hospital house officer for 100 hours at a stretch. A child psychiatrist must complete an additional 2 year fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry. In order to be granted board certification a physician who has completed residency and/or fellowship must sit for the board exams conducted by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

I believe the doctor-patient relationship is sacred and the terms should not be dictated by third parties. I work for you, not the insurance company. When you route your relationship with your doctor through an insurance company, they are given access to your records and have the authority to dictate your care according to their preferences. There are many third parties in healthcare which own vast amounts of your precious data, share it with several people and even sell your data for profit. Many of the complaints that Americans have about their healthcare are directly related to third parties; "my doctor barely spent time with me", "my doctor was looking at the computer the whole time". This happens because third party payors and hospital organizations allot 10 minutes per patient visit and require hundreds of meaningless yet mandatory clicks in the medical record. If your physician works directly for you most of these headaches are avoided. In my practice you will know how much time you are getting with me and you will also be given a superbill to get partial reimbursement from your insurance company. You are the star who deserves time and attention, not the insurance company!

No I do not prescribe any controlled substances at this time. My practice is fully remote and I am not able perform a comprehensive physical exam or provide the close monitoring required for the prescription of controlled substances. If and when this changes I will let you know!

Eclectic. I believe in individualized and customized care, not "one size fits all". I borrow techniques from many therapy modalities based on your needs. But before I can treat you, I need to know your story. Your narrative is everything. How you got here, what kind of environment you grew up in, and what certain relationships and life events mean to you are very important to me. I'm interested in trauma because those experiences alter your narrative and may cause you to engage in unproductive emotions like guilt and shame, beliefs that don't serve you, and self destructive behaviors. I seek to empower you by helping you identify your patterns and gently challenging some beliefs to see if we can come up with a better life narrative-one where you experience joy and feel a sense of agency. Sometimes, I can help you feel better by prescribing a medication. Medications can be a clever biohack-that's all they are by the way- a handy tool, not a label or descriptor of you. Medications aren't a necessity, but can certainly help some people achieve their goal of feeling well and address the symptoms that get in the way of you building a better life narrative. I think sessions should be enjoyable and you should feel a bit of relief after each one, perhaps by learning to look at things differently or learning a coping skill. Even if I am seeing you for medication managment while you get therapy with your own wonderful psychotherapist, I still offer you medications with meaning.

No.