Dr. Doreen Sierra Wong, MD

Doctor puts you on medications with narrow therapeutic index and decides to not monitor. It took me a while to write review but I saw this provider years back at campus health, turned out I had a bad thyroid and was not bipolar, which was discovered by another provider.

I've been a patient with Dr. Wong for years. Our focus has been on anxiety reduction. We've worked through various methods, including medication, but primarily focusing on my emotions and thoughts, why I have them, and how I react to them.

Dr. Wong has been amazing in helping me. I had been seeing my family doctor for depression treatment after my son was born, when I was no longer able to hide the depression that I had experienced my whole life. My GP had put me on more medication to deal with the depression each time I went to her about it, until finally the last one she put me on made me feel like I was truly going to go crazy. That is when I made an appointment to see Dr. Wong, who finally figured out that I have Bipolar Disorder 2, and that was why the medications weren't helping. Since then, she has taken the time to understand me, my life struggling with the mental issues I've had, and now, since seeing her, I understand myself better. I finally am starting to feel more stable than I ever had in my life. It seems like a cliche for me to say this, but I truly feel she has saved my mental sanity and possibly my life. I'm in my 40's, and I no longer think about suicide every single day.

Dr. Wong diagnosed me with bipolar disorder after talking to me for less than an hour. I continued working with her because the medication she prescribed helped and because it’s very difficult to find a psychiatrist in Tucson that takes insurance. I left each appointment feeling terrible because she was so condescending and dismissive of my concerns. If at all possible, I would highly recommend looking for another psychiatrist. If I had to do it over, I probably would have preferred to pay out of pocket to see a different psychiatrist rather than deal with what she put me through.

My experience with Dr. Wong is she cares deeply about patients and means to do well by them. However, she takes a unilateral approach to patient care. My experience was that I made an appointment to discuss my anxiety and I left an hour later with a bipolar diagnosis. I later learned that psychiatrists are strongly discouraged from diagnosing a patient with this until they've been observed over longer periods of time (like 3-6 months). This is because the psychiatrist must observe the patient during a manic episode and a depressive episode. I do not know this for a fact but from the other comments it appears that Dr. Wong frequently works with bipolar patients or may just be more comfortable working with and treating those who are. I think if Dr. Wong sees a few symptoms that could be attributed to bipolar disorder or another diagnosis, she's more likely to go with bipolar disorder. This quote sums it up, "when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras." Her bedside manner… was traumatizing. In the initial appointment, she listened to respond rather than to understand where I was coming from and I felt bullied into accepting a diagnosis that truly did not fit. And some of the comments she made are still burned in my memory. For example, she randomly told me that bipolar women should be careful about becoming pregnant because pregnancy hormones can send women into mania. Does that sound appropriate to tell someone who is still in school and not dating anyone? Overall, I received very little support (other than medication) or education about how to cope with the diagnosis and how disclose it to my family/friends. I'm not writing this to bash anyone but to help others who may be struggling after their appointment. You should be commended for having the strength to see a psychiatrist because entrusting your mental health to someone is terrifying. You deserve a doctor who takes their times with you, truly listens, and answers questions. I know it's hard but I encourage you to trust your gut and get a second opinion before accepting a diagnosis that doesn't make sense

My first session with Wong she diagnosed me bipolar after giving me a 20 question form to fill out. I told her I disagreed with her Dx, BUT I came back the next week and agreed to try the meds regardless of what I thought about the Dx. The meds did make me feel better. SO I went back and even let her see my kid. The only Dx she seems to hand out is bipolar...anyhow, yesterday she said she wanted to talk to me about my child and I got browbeat for 45 of 60 minutes. BROWBEAT> Whatever is said between her and my nearly grown kid, who likes her, she felt she had the right to tell me I'd been a horrible mother the last ten years, that my daughter was more the parent than I, that I was in denial about being bipolar (even though I take the meds she gave me), that she'd 'hate to see CPS' get involved (implicit threat)....the only person that ever talked to me in the way she talked to me was my abusive mother right before she threw something across the room, or cut my favorite dress with… scissors to hurt me. I have NEVER been talked to like by somebody in a professional context - it was downright abusive- and now I have the implicit threat of CPS hanging over my head. However, things have been so bad lately, and kid is almost grown, maybe it's time for CPS to case manage my daughters multiple health problems and educational problems (dropping out of school and wanting to play video games all day - which is, of course, my fault). Oh yes, and she told me I didn't care about my daughter's health (she's a T1D). according to Wong) I have some choice words to describe this woman that I won't list here. Reviewer who says she is evil is not far off. Unprofessional, horrible bedside manner, and really, really....just that was really abusive behavior. I would NOT go see this woman when you have so many other options in town. Rotten demeanor and it gets worse if you dare challenge her or point out a contradiction - WOW! Got to be hard to stay in business when you talk to clients like this.

While I'm sure Dr. Wong is skilled and qualified, the overall sense I got from her during my visits was one of impatience. She wasn't particularly warm or welcoming of my thoughts / feelings / input, but rather seemed more interested in streamlining me through the appointment and on out the door. I get it, but given that her patients are likely going through difficult times (hence, seeing her), her approach isn't very reassuring.

She is evil.

Compared to other psychiatrists I have worked with, in my opinion Dr Wong is extremely heavy handed with medication and doesn't like patient input. If you are the type of patient that likes to work with your doctor to make a treatment plan, she is not for you. She comes off as condescending and seems to have the attitude since the patient is ill they are not capable of clear decision maing.