Individualized Psychiatric Practice
Englewood, NJ - in person
NJ, NY, FL - telemedicine
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Psychopharmacology, De-prescribing
Psychosomatic Medicine
Telemedicine
Introduction
The Psych- part of the word psychiatry means mind, soul, distinct from brain. The -iatry part of the word means healing or healer. Unfortunately, most of psychiatry, most psychiatrists these days are more brain doctors (manipulating the brain, neurotransmitters) than mind healers.
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While I agree with “mens sana in corpore sano” (healthy mind in healthy body), an excess of focus on biology and biological treatments leaves the mind itself quite neglected.
Even many psychotherapies focus more on fighting, manipulating, managing the surface issues, rather than working on understanding the mind with its depth, its wholeness, and aim to heal at the roots.
In my practice as a mind doctor, I make it a priority to give the mind, the psyche, the attention it deserves, while attending to, and optimizing the physical aspects (brain and body health).
About
I am a psychoanalytically trained, consultation-liaison (psychosomatic medicine) psychiatrist, in private practice since 2003. In addition, I worked in hospital settings (emergency room, medical-surgical floor and inpatient psychiatric), in outpatient clinics and in outpatient intensive outpatient programs.
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While my formal training provided an abundance of great ingredients for my professional life, part of the personal touch, part of the the colors and nuances come from my experiences growing up and living up to graduation from medical school in Romania, then immigrating to US.
Personal history exerts an influence on one's views of what is mental health, what is normality, what is sanity. It also influences ideas about which therapeutic approaches make sense, which would be detrimental and which may be distractions perceived as helpful.
Having lived in wildly different economic situations and political systems stirred my interest in the literature on liberty and tyranny and in economics, excellent complements to my formal training. I found there additional therapeutic tools, concepts of great utility for a better understanding not only of processes at play between individuals and systems in their environment, but also observing parallel mechanisms by which an individual mind can create symptoms, sabotage and tyrannize itself in its complex inner economy and power structure, with all its unique specifics.
Specialties
The majority of my patients seek treatment for anxiety, depression, other mood difficulties, difficulties in relationships, self esteem issues, difficulty adjusting to life events (loss, trauma, separation, illness, etc).
Psychotherapy
The complexity of the psychological aspects of mental life led to the development of many forms of psychotherapy. The various approaches are based differences in observations, interpretations of data, theories of mental functioning, methods for addressing issues, and views of ideal outcomes. Different schools of thought sometimes contradict, sometimes complement each other.
Psychopharmacology
Psychiatric medication is one of the "biological" treatments for mental disturbances, in which relief from distress is obtained by altering the pre-existing relationships between substances in the body, specifically in the central nervous system, intended to have a beneficial influence on the overall system.
Psychosomatic
Medicine
Body and mind affect each other in significant ways. A disturbance in one system often produces disturbances in the other. Psychosomatic medicine addresses these complex mind-body interactions seeking most beneficial approach for the overall health of the individual.