Dr. Arvind G Phansalkar, MD

I was a patient for several years with Dr. Phansalkar. In that time he never discussed therapy or ways to manage my depression/anxiety other than to increase doses of zoloft. When I came to him I was in immediate need of help and he was the only psychiatrist taking patients that my insurance covered. If you need immediate help, he will help you (the medication stopped my depression in its tracks) but get on someone else's waiting list. Don't expect any sort of comprehensive help or options other than medication. I'm still not sure he diagnosed me correctly. He sees you literally 5 minutes out of a 15 minute meeting twice a year, and reads off a list of questions with agree/disagree responses. We tried to get off medication once, it went poorly, and he never explored anything besides increasing medication. I finally got therapist and new psychiatrist referrals from my primary care physician and wish I'd done that years earlier.

I was a patient for several years with Dr. Phansalkar. In that time he never discussed therapy or ways to manage my depression/anxiety other than to increase doses of zoloft. When I came to him I was in immediate need of help and he was the only psychiatrist taking patients that my insurance covered. If you need immediate help, he will help you (the medication stopped my depression in its tracks) but get on someone else's waiting list. Don't expect any sort of comprehensive help or options other than medication. I'm still not sure he diagnosed me correctly. He sees you literally 5 minutes out of a 15 minute meeting twice a year, and reads off a list of questions with agree/disagree responses--doesn't even take up the full 15 minutes. We tried to get off medication once, it went poorly, and he never explored anything besides increasing medication. I finally got therapist and new psychiatrist referrals from my primary care physician and wish I'd done that years earlier.

Don’t see this doctor! So rude and condescending!

I was 1 minute late to my appointment due to traffic and this doctor made me cry because as soon as I sat down in the chair for the consultation he scolded me like a child about being late. He said I was wasting his valuable time and will not allow it. Don’t see this Doctor. There are much better doctors out there. He was very rude and unprofessional. The last thing a psychiatric doctor should be is rude.

Dr. Phansalker is a pharmacist and a psychiatrist and he really understands medication. He's pleasant and appointments are routine. But, once a counselor in another place gave me bad advice when I was vulnerable. I went to see Dr. Phansalker and he was really there for me. Very smart, very reassuring and all went well because of him. If you are ever in real trouble in terms of your mental health, you can trust him, he is intelligent, caring and he will come through for you.

I think Dr. P. is clinically good, not much in the relationship part. I've had 3 visits, he really doesn't know me, and doesn't ask. I think if he know more about my back ground, it would help him with my treatment.