Amir Afkhami, MD, PhD

Saw him for initial visit. He made comment about Iranian or people from close to that region have a way of finding him. He even told us a story of an Iranian descent boy visiting him recently and his symptoms being the same as my son (How is this helpful to me or my son?). He did not listen to our concerns attentively. As soon as we mentioned my son being in partial hospital fr 2 weeks, he said that he would not accept him without trying to get the details. When we said that the partial was only for intense therapy and there were no medications involved he did not believe us(!). He said that he is too busy as he is faculty at GWU, and cannot dedicate his time to my son as he may be too demanding. He also told us he never accepts patients who has done any type of hospitalization partial or otherwise. When I mentioned to him when we did the appointment, this was not mentioned to us, he said that patients in such cases would generally rejected by psychiatrists, and we would have hard time… establishing as a new patient with any psychiatrist. Therefore, he did not give any useful lead for us to follow. He said that our only option is to partial hospitalization over and over again even though my son's discharge note mentions he is good to do outpatient visits. On top of all these, he charged us for $575. The office make you pay before you see him as if they knew that you wouldn't afterwards. He harmed my son, and took our hope for a while. Avoid him, he does not care about his patients based on our experience. Btw, filing a complaint about him is very hard, I have been trying to for over a month but no one is reaching out to me.

Dr. Afkhami is a reasonable doctor, although as noted below he is not caring in his approach. Instead he adopts a very harsh, direct treatment method. For some people (including me) this is fine; for others it won't work. The real problem is Dr. Afkhami's attitude outside of treatments and the entire approach of MFA (the group for whom he works). They have an unpublished ridiculous 48 business hours cancellation policy. As everyone knows, the industry standard is 24 hours. They also offer no flexibility in that. Moreover, you never sign anything confirming it, they just charge you. As an example, I had an appointment at 2pm on Tuesday. I emailed at around 5pm on Friday to cancel it. No response until Monday afternoon when Dr. Afkhami tersely wrote saying he would charge me $350. Then when I tried to dispute the matter Dr. Afkhami was rude and unprofessional, and eventually stopped replying altogether. The billing staff in his office are also staggeringly unresponsive and, when they… are, veer between passively useless and actively rude. Given that Mr. Afkhami is a middling provider, the flaws in his attitude and that of MFA mean that anyone can do much better going elsewhere.

I found Dr. Afkhami to be authentic, intuitive and intellectually diligent in his approach. He takes notes, while I am talking to him, which no other therapist has done, in my experience. He is an active listener and his responses to what I say indicate his acumen in issue spotting, and therefore, are extremely helpful. He has taught me the value of paying attention to how I feel instead of stressing over a situation. This has helped me to realize that circumstances do not matter as much as the degree of importance I attach to them. I have recommended him in the past and will continue to do so in the future. He also has a great sense of humor and is very approachable in demeanor. If you have tried other therapists, as I have, been unable to build rapport, and take your sense of well-being seriously, you might consult Dr. Afkhami.

Dr. Afkhami helped diagnose a longstanding medical condition that had gone undetected which contributed to my depression and worked with my internist to get it treated, it great to have a team based approach to my psychiatric care rather than the usual go at it alone which had been my experience with other psychiatrists

He is an excellent psychopharmacologist and diligent. He was the doctor that diagnosed my hypothyroidism despite years of symptoms. I am greatful.

Dr. Afkhami helped streamline my medication treatment! He was great at educating me on both side effects and benefits of anti depressive medications.

Very helpful. I do wish GWU would accept insurance but well worth my consultation fee.

Of the two couples therapists that we had seen in Washington, Dr. Afkhami was the best and most "real" in terms of guiding my husband and I through a difficult patch in our relationship. We are both greatful for his guidance and highly recommend him.

Excellent!

Dr. Afkhami is intelligent and compassionate, he helped my family through a very difficult period in our lives.