I sought out a career in psychiatry because I am naturally interested in the subject matter and because I am an ethically-driven person who feels compelled to serve my community in the best way that I can. My passion for the field is the natural and logical extension of my core drives in life, and thus is inherently existential in nature. I have always been fascinated by the inner workings of the human mind, and especially what happens when things go awry. In addition, the concept of human suffering is one that I have grappled with for most of my life in one form or another, whether it be seeking to understand the nature of suffering itself or seeking to understand what it takes to relieve suffering in any given individual, myself included. My desire to gain a deeper understanding of what makes us human, what makes us suffer, and how to relieve that suffering can be synthesized into the practice of psychiatry. More broadly speaking, this also applies to my dual interests in the sciences and the humanities, as psychiatry seems to be a perfect meeting of the two realms. I believe that to practice psychiatry is to deal with raw humanity, and that it thus warrants an equal amount of sincerity and authenticity regardless of which side of the table one is sitting on. I believe that it is an intrinsically collaborative endeavor that involves two individuals encountering one another in a joint effort to find truth, meaning, connection, and relief. 

Medical illnesses can sometimes define a person’s sense of self, but psychiatric illnesses often do. This is one of many reasons why we must do everything that we can to make sure that we have an accurate diagnosis and then develop a targeted treatment plan that fits it. I started Second Opinion Psychiatry so that I can do my part to help people struggling with mental health issues find clarity in what it is that they’re actually dealing with, and then to help them get on an appropriate treatment regimen, whatever that may mean for a given individual. I have seen far too many people carry grossly inaccurate psychiatric diagnoses with them for years and years, fully internalizing the label and stigma and never fully getting better due to never being appropriately treated, only to finally turn a corner when their diagnosis was corrected and certain medications they shouldn’t have been on were stopped, or certain medications they Should have been on were started (etc). Misdiagnosis - and thus, inappropriate treatment - is a major problem in psychiatry. I want to be a part of the solution to this, both on the individual patient level as well as on the level of the healthcare and medical education systems. My hope is that this practice will allow me to contribute in both of these regards.

As I progressed through my training in medical school and residency, I began to realize how fundamentally blurry large parts of psychiatry truly are, and how immense the negative impact of mental health professionals speaking with unwarranted certainty about things they know little about has been. There is no other specialty in medicine where it is so astoundingly common for somebody to receive completely different diagnoses from different providers for the exact same set of signs and symptoms, nor is there any other specialty in medicine where a given provider’s personal opinions about what disorders are and are not “real,” and what medications do and do not “work” (etc) are so disturbingly prevalent. As such, I began to explore the psychiatric literature much more deeply and broadly, hoping not only to learn more about scientific breakthroughs and novel treatment approaches (etc), but also about the nature of mental illness itself and the history and evolution of why we label some things as “mental illness” and others as “normal human experience.”

What I have learned over the years exploring this realm while continuing to work full-time with patients in a clinical setting, in short, is that “mainstream psychiatry” in this country is often dangerously misguided about what exactly it is diagnosing and treating. Taken even further, I have learned that many of the fundamental concepts of the field (e.g. what is mental illness?) are so hazily defined by the primary professional governing bodies that they are effectively meaningless. Considering the fact that these same organizations are the ones tasked with using these concepts to create our diagnostic classification systems (i.e. DSM-5) and treatment algorithms, to say that this is not a good thing for the field would be a wild understatement.  As such, I have grown increasingly passionate about the philosophy of psychiatry and about the need for clarity in the concepts of our field, starting with our diagnostic classification system, because after all - if we don’t actually know what we’re treating, how can we expect to help people feel better?

Unfortunately, the process of obtaining clarity in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment while maintaining a humanistic and therapeutic orientation at all times can be challenging and time-consuming - two things that have become increasingly difficult to justify to large healthcare organizations and insurance companies that actively disincentivize providers from taking the time needed to really get to know their patients, and then to treat them accordingly. I have chosen this particular clinic model because it has become too difficult to work within the confines of the traditional mental healthcare system while remaining committed to *doing the right thing*. Choosing to opt out of accepting insurance for medical services was not an easy decision for me to make, as I fully understand that paying out-of-pocket for mental health services is not an option for everybody.  However, I believe that it is the only path forward that allows me to practice psychiatry the right way and give people the time, attention, information, and treatment that they deserve. 

I have structured this clinic with different “treatment tracks” available in the hope that it will ultimately allow me to work with individuals across the whole socioeconomic and demographic spectrum (see Services page for more details). More specifically, my standard services are primarily targeted toward those who are willing and able to pay out-of-pocket for routine long-term mental healthcare services as well as those who are willing and able to pay for short or intermediate-term second opinion consultations while remaining otherwise under the care of a psychiatric nurse practitioner or community PCP, and my intention is to use this clinic’s funds to help subsidize efforts to provide this same level of expert diagnosis and treatment and this same level of attention and care to individuals who are unable to afford to go outside of the insurance system in any capacity, including those who are involved with community mental health systems and indigent care facilities. I believe that everybody should have the right to access the best possible care, and I believe that this practice and its multi-tiered structure and approach represents the best available option for me to be able to provide my expertise to all who seek it.