Psychic suffering is devastating. Wise psychiatrists must humbly be open to multiple approaches and considerations. There are many paths to enlightenment. There are differing approaches to assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. However, in the end, Psychiatry, at its best, is two people in a room trying to navigate how to heal the wounds of a conflicted and enigmatic life and how to grow and flourish in even a harsh and arid soil.

I have an eclectic approach to patient care that tends to minimize the importance of putting a specific name or label to a person’s suffering and values both biological, psychotherapeutic, and imaginative approaches to people’s lives. I have been heavily influence by the work of Milton Erickson, a psychiatrist who used communication, language, and creativity to help people overcome all the rigidities that lead to contracted lives.

Sometimes judicious use of medications help. Sometimes judicious referrals to somatic treatments can be life changing. As a psychiatrist I would like to model the flexibility I hope to develop in my patients.