Born and raised in New York, I received my bachelor’s degree in psychology and biology from Rutgers University and my medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (now known as The Rutgers New Jersey Medical School). I completed my post-graduate training in the Mount Sinai hospital system on the Upper West Side of New York City and am currently double boarded in both Adult Psychiatry and Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (formerly known as Psychosomatic Medicine).

I have worked in psychiatric emergency rooms, on both voluntary and involuntary psychiatric units, in outpatient clinics, on assertive community treatment teams, and as a hospital consultant on medical, surgical, and intensive care units. Working primarily in academic centers, I dedicated myself to the teaching and training of medical students and residents from a variety of specialties including psychiatry, internal medicine, family medicine, and surgery. I am currently a member of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and have been recognized as one of New Jersey’s Best in Medicine by the American Health Council.

If symptoms of anxiety and depression are impacting your ability to get through the day and meet your obligations at home and at work, then psychotropic medication may be of help.

I have found that psychotropic medications are their most helpful when used to target specific physical symptoms of emotional distress. For example, medications can dull the physical symptoms of anxiety, aid in sleep restoration over the short term, provide a boost of energy, improve concentration, stimulate appetite, and with physical symptoms under better control, a person can better meet their day to day needs. In this way, I see pharmacotherapy as a tool to speed the time to recovery. Equally important are tools like establishing an acceptable work-life balance, exercising healthy boundaries with others, investing in better dietary choices, regular activity, prioritizing sleep, reevaluating unhelpful perspectives and expectations, and holding ourselves accountable for our choices. A good community is incredibly important, and the most important relationship in that community is the one we have with ourselves.

Psychotropic medications are neither quick nor permanent solutions. They are a means to an end. Two long-term objectives that guide my approach to pharmacotherapy are minimum effective dose and medication free periods. Particularly in the case of controlled substances, like sedatives and stimulants, medication free days are of the utmost importance.

If we decide that medication is appropriate for you, I may request some general blood work.

Pharmacotherapy can be life saving. After debilitating symptoms are brought under control and progress is enjoyed, dosing strategies can be revisited. The ability to comfortably discontinue psychotropic medications when they are no longer meeting one’s needs can be an integral part of recovery. However, tapers can be approached too quickly using relatively large dosage reductions over short periods of time. Symptoms of withdrawal, such as gastrointestinal upset, sleep disturbances, and emotional sensitivity, can be confused for symptoms of relapse. When tapers involve smaller reductions in dose and longer intervals of time between changes in dose they tend to be better tolerated. Occasionally, the help of a compounding pharmacy may be needed if smaller doses are not commercially available. If you would like to speak with me about my approach to treatment prior to scheduling an appointment, there is no charge.