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Hello everyone,
A friend of mine has been having just a horrible experience with her psychiatrist, and she’s asked me to help her find a new one. She lives in the Phoenix, Arizona area and is willing to drive within the Valley to see someone who can help her.
Basically, she is seeing both the psychiatrist and a counselor who has had a full course of psychiatric training and is very helpful and knowledgeable. The counselor seems to be much more in tune with my friend and her needs and is very respectful of her and caring. The psychiatrist is the classic “my way or the highway” type who also misses appointments, refuses to consider options for my friend that her counselor has suggested, and is basically rude and condescending.
What my friend is hoping to find is either an excellent psychiatrist who can help her (and due to her insurance issues, this would be someone she’d have to pay for out of pocket but she is fine with that to get the help she needs), or an outstanding family doctor who can get her course of treatment going for some other health issues she’s having and then she can see a psychiatrist within the public system. Of course she is also looking forward to the day when she can fire her psychiatrist. But she wants to have a new one lined up first.
Please, I’d love to be able to help her. If you have someone to suggest please post here. I’m going to send her the link to this post so she can watch for replies. Thank you so much, Michelle
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I just discovered another resource after speaking with one of our medical experts. She suggested checking with the teaching University hospitals and the University clinics.
Check with ASU's downtown clinic at the ASU's College of Nursing Building. I'll bet they can give you some names. Might be on a sliding scale too.
Michelle
June 2, 2009 - 12:53pmThis Comment
Hi Michelle -
A dear friend in Phoenix has had great results w/ Dr. Steven Eickelberg.
Hope this helps!
[edited by Community Moderator, contact information for Dr. Eickelberg sent to Michelle]
June 1, 2009 - 5:09pmThis Comment
Hey there Michelle, not sure what condition your friend is seeing the psychiatrist for, but she may want to contact Dr. Tanya Feinberg. You can find out more about Dr. Feinberg by checking out her empowher profile.
June 1, 2009 - 4:41pmAnd while she specializes in adolescents, she also works with adults. While I haven't seen her professionally, I've met her personally and thought she was very accessible. Hope that helps and please update us on her progress.
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I know of an excellent psychiatric nurse practitioner located in Tempe. Personally, from quite a bit of experience with psychiatrists, I've found much better luck with psychiatric nurse practitioners. This one in particular, Patti-Jo Davis, MC, RNP, CPC, is really fantastic because she spends an hour with you instead of simply writing a script and sending you on your way.
I can't tell you how many doctors (including a general practitioner, OB/Gyn, two psychologists) told me over the years that I would always have to be on an anti-depressant for the rest of my life because my depression was chronic and incurable. This turned out not to be true. Fortunately, through word of mouth, I found Patti-Jo, and she literally saved me from a potential lifetime of anti-depressants, after I'd been on them, off and on, for about ten years. Over a year's time, she got me on the right medication and then gradually I weaned off of it while doing talk therapy both with her and a psychologist who she communicated with regularly. I'm medication free now and have been for about a year. The "haze" is gone and I function way better than I ever thought was possible. I'd never dreamed, after being told by so many doctors that my chronic depression would never go away, that I'd be off medication, happy and living an incredible life.
The only issue that there might be with Patti-Jo is that she's in such high demand and may not be taking new patients. I would still try to get in to see her. She's truly wonderful and worth the effort, no matter what the commute.
Here's her info:
(480) 345-1200
June 1, 2009 - 4:39pm4600 S. Mill Avenue
Jackson Plaza, Suite 160
Tempe, AZ 85282
This Comment