About

I am a physician, specializing in Integrative Psychiatry.

ACADEMIC TRAINING

  • In 1969 I graduated from New York Medical College in 1969.
  • In 1970 I completed my Medical Internship  at Lenox Hill Hospital in NYC.
  • In 1973 I completed my Psychiatric Residency at the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic of New York Hospital – Cornell Medical Center

PHILOSOPHY

Since 1975 I have been a quiet pioneer in the rational use of nutrition-based treatment approaches. Whether treating “mental” issues (such as depression, anxiety, ADHD), or “physical” problems (such as cognitive impairment/dementia, PMS, migraines, and IBS), my approach is as follows:

  • First I look for commonplace foods that in many cases trigger (or exacerbate) the problems. I have been amazed over the years to see how many problems clear up (or at least become manageable), once we find and eliminate the trigger foods. In many (but not all) cases, long-term depression clears up; migraines fade away; schizophrenics stop hallucinating; people with ADHD calm down and focus better; and so on.
  • If eliminating the trigger foods is not enough, next I will prescribe specific nutrients and herbs to bring relief. The reason this works so well is that (1) essential nutrients from the diet happen to be the “precursors” (building blocks) for the vast majority of the neurotransmitters that regulate mood and cognition; and (2) as it turns out, loading with modest amounts of these precursor nutrients has been shown (in many studies) to enable the brain to make far more of these valuable neurotransmitters – and that turns off depression, anxiety, migraines, seizures, and other conditions. Prescription medications are one way to regulate these neurotransmitters; but they are not the only way.
  • If these nutrient-based approaches do not work well enough, then of course I will prescribe medications. I am grateful that those “big gun” medications are there as a backstop, for cases where the gentler, more natural approaches have not been sufficient. But it is a blessing – for my patients, as well as for me – that the nutritional approach works so well and so quickly in such a high percentage of the patients that I see. With nutrients, there are far fewer side effects than with medications; and if there are side effects, they tend to be far milder than those seen with prescription medications.
  • Even in those cases where medications are needed, I will often prescribe nutrients to augment (complement) the prescription medications. There is already a vast scientific literature showing that certain select nutrients can get various medications to work more quickly, or to work at lower dosages than would normally be the case. See e.g. “Adjunctive Nutraceuticals for Depresion”, in Am J Psych 173:6, June 2016.

In the “Case Histories” section of this website you’ll see several examples of this nutrient-based approach working.   In the “Testimonials” section you’ll see written descriptions from patients and from colleagues.