My decision to go into Psychiatry as a professional career was shaped in great part by the events of September 11, 2001. I was a 3rd year medical student studying for Step 2 part of the medical boards exam in Brooklyn at that time, and although I did not personally lose a family member, a relative or a friend in that tragedy, I was deeply moved by the effect of this collective trauma event on the psyche of our society, particularly on those within the 5 boroughs of NYC. I was doing my psychiatry clinical rotation as a medical student at one of the Brooklyn hospitals only 3 months after 911, and all stories from the survivors as well as those affected by the psychological trauma became a major motivator for me to learn about the complexities of human mind and different factors affecting one's resilience, perceptions and attitudes that ultimately shape up one's emotional well-being and the ability to utilize a greater part of one's full potential. I also became interested in learning how to use that knowledge to help individuals overcome adversity and turn proverbial lemons into lemonade.
After earning my MD degree from St. George's University School of Medicine, also "humbly" known among both its alumnae and faculty as "Harvard of the Caribbean" in 2002, I was matched at SUNY Upstate Medical University Psychiatry residency program the following year. Speaking of the resiliency, I began to learn about mental illness from living in the "capital" of Upstate NY's Lake Effect Snow Belt - Syracuse although Buffalo natives would passionately argue they have exclusive bragging rights in that category. However, more importantly I am greatly appreciative of the fact that my residency training was not merely focused on psychiatric medication management as it taught me to embrace and integrate psychotherapy which I firmly believe should carry a greater weight in overall treatment regardless of the diagnoses. In addition to merely learning about CBT, DBT, psychodynamic therapy, etc., we as residents actually had practical training in each one of these treatment modalities.
I have been practicing Psychiatry since 2008, working in various clinical settings starting in Pennsylvania which to this day - with the widespread use of telehealth - remains extremely under-served for example, I was working once a week at an outpatient site in Pike County, PA where besides me, there was only one other psychiatrist - for the whole county. My residency training as well as the clinical experiences such as this taught me to be comfortable working with all age groups. I tend to avoid favoring one particular therapy approach as I always strive to tailor therapy approach to the individual patient's particular circumstances, life situation, etc. Most of my clinical experience has been in the outpatient setting, particularly the community mental health agency. In terms of the patient diagnoses I specialize in treating, in a typical outpatient Psychiatry practice pretty much across all 50 states, anxiety is the primary presenting complaint takes up the largest piece of the proverbial pie chart, and this makes me and my colleagues most experienced in treating anxiety conditions - PTSD, OCD,the GAD, Panic disorder and specific phobias. However, with that said, I always follow 2 main principles in my clinical practice: 1. I am not a big fan of diagnostic labels as I focus primarily on the patient's clinical symptoms since from the practical perspective, the primary factor determining the choice of specific psychotropic medications in every clinical scenario always has to do with the actual symptoms and not the diagnostic labels. It also empowers the patient by letting them see themselves as a unique individual as part of their unique spiritual and emotional makeup, as opposed to merely being a collection of DSM-V diagnostic codes; 2. finally, when it comes to actually prescribing psychiatric medications, my primary goal is to prescribe the lowest number of medications and at their lowest effective doses which, in turn, is also individualized based on multiple factors including medication metabolism. I don't work with anyone actively using "hardcore" drugs on a daily basis andor drinking alcohol heavily as I have no way of monitoring that. I will work with someone using cannabis, even if it's daily, for as long as that patient is at least willing to work on changing the status quo.
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