Dr. Jay Douglas Schmauch, DO

Absolutely will not go back. Dr. Schmauch did not take me seriously and was very crude.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS PSYCHIATRIST! PLEASE DO NOT GO TO HIM! HERE IS WHY... HE IS OVERLY ARROGANT: Arrogance is scary when it comes to psychiatry or other health professions. It gets in the way of accurate assessments of people and isn't personable which is incredibly important in this field. I was referred to Dr. Jay Schmauch for Attention Deficit Disorder. I went to him one time. ONE TIME. He treated me like an incompetent, insane, annoying, illogical idiot. His exact words to me after seeing me for about 45 minutes were, "Congratulations, you've stumped a psychiatrist." The idiotic arrogance of that statement I didn't start feeling anger about until later when I had had time to think about it. He acted as if he should be able to diagnose me and sum me up after having just met me in a 45 minute visit as if that is what he has done with other people which really worries me. He treated me as a uniquely batty nutcase since he supposedly could not diagnose me right off the bat. HE… IS IMPATIENT AND NOT SAFE TO TALK TO: Psychiatrists are trained professionals who should be able to be personable and emotionally regulate. They should be non-judgmental, safe people to talk to. That is literally their JOB. A shy person, during the session, I referenced a traumatic experience and then stopped, thinking that I was giving him too much information that I didn't necessarily want him to have as I had just met him, and that he would find irrelevant (as someone with Attention Deficit Disorder, it can be hard for me to know what information would be relevant for someone to hear), and said that I wouldn't get into it. He said, "no go ahead." So I continued for a couple of sentences until he cut me off mid-sentence saying, "Stop, stop!" while motioning with his hand and then sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose between his eyes, VERY clearly annoyed and impatient with me. He exhibited this body language and an impatient tone of voice the entire visit. He said that he didn't know what to write down as a diagnosis but that he had to write something, so he wrote a general "mood disorder" for now, even after I tried to tell him that my therapist who I had seen regularly for about a year and a half, but whom I had stopped seeing at the time because I had moved, had said that she thought I had a form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and that I had been referred for Attention Deficit Disorder. I walked out of the clinic thinking I must be crazy. Considering that part of abuse that I have experienced before was me being told that I was crazy, I was scared, and that this might be a confirmation, and my abusers were right. I made an appointment to see him again as he requested. It wasn't until later that day when I was out of that situation which felt scary to me, and when I had had time to think about it, that it occurred to me that HE clearly lacked emotional regulation based on the way he had acted with me, and yet he was thinking that I had some sort of "mood disorder". What a hypocrite. I realize that nobody is perfect all of the time, but if I can't trust a person to control their own emotions, how can I trust them to assess if mine are appropriate? HE DOESN'T LISTEN: The job of a psychiatrist is literally TO LISTEN. This man could not. If my previous comments were not enough to illustrate this already, here is more. When he asked why I would say that I had Attention Deficit Disorder when the medications for it many years ago didn't work, I said that they HAD worked, but that I didn't have the money to continue them, and my dad who had money had changed his mind about me taking them, so I didn't continue. I also said that I was intending to try a different type of medication that I was told was used to treat ADD sometimes, and that I eventually tried it and it didn't help me. He told me that the reason that I stopped it did not make any sense at all. He didn't believe me that they had worked. He acted as if he could not trust me. I understand that he had just met me, but I also had just met him and yet he expected me to trust him entirely. I'm glad that I DIDN'T trust him and later called to cancel my appointment with him because... I was finally referred to SOMEONE ELSE, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, who diagnosed me Attention Deficit Disorder and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (as my therapist had said), and who prescribed me the medication that I needed. Since I've been on Adderall, I have obtained a job, and returned to college. Because of finally receiving an actual diagnosis, I am able to get extra time on my tests that I need through the disabilities services for the first time in my life. I am very lucky and glad that I did not go to "Dr." JAY Schmauch before I had ever had some good therapy from someone else. Because of my previous therapy, after a visit with Schmauch, I recognized that he was not emotionally regulating himself and that I should not trust him. Had I not had good experience with a previous person in psychiatry, I might have been convinced I was crazy. This is why I have taken the time to write this massive review. I am worried that others will go to this man and be misdiagnosed. Please be careful when choosing a psychiatrist!

Dr. Schmauch, while he is not a therapist, takes time to listen carefully and answer questions better than any doctor I've known. He explains treatment options and holds the patient responsible for his/her participation and success. I recommend him for anyone who has difficulty with ADHD, BPD, GAD, depression, etcetera.