Dr. Don Kerson, MD

I worked with Dr. Kerson to figure out the best medication for my severe depression. It took us a while to come up with the correct dosages and medications. Dr. Kerson met with me numerous times and we adjusted the medication combination and dosages many times. Finally we got it right. I have been much better since. Thanks to Dr. Kerson my quality of life has greatly improved.

Dr Kerson always finds time to see me. Even when I call at the last minute. He makes me smile when we talk helping me realize that its all going to be ok

I've been seeing Dr. Kerson for nearly 3 years and he has been extremely helpful. I am a teacher and a grad student and my professional and personal life can get extremely stressful and chaotic at times. Dr. Kerson really helped me to become more focused, organized, and self confident! Before seeing him, I frequently abandoned goals I had set for myself. I am now able to think more clearly, have consistent structure in my life, and achieve things I set out to do!

He's not a therapist he's a psychiatrist, and to be more specific: he's a diagnostician, a great one. I didn't say much besides answering his questions. He approached treating me in a way I haven't experienced but made all the difference. He said, "Drs. think they can give you one pill and it will cure ALL your anxiety and depression, but that's crazy." Each diagnosis has a separate treatment and labeling it "anxiety and depression" is misleading. There are different causes of depression which affect different pathways. Then he asked me what I wanted, why I was here. I didn't think about it in those terms. I usually think, "Well, I want to treat my anxiety and depression." This time, thinking along his terms, I told him I need more energy, I want to get my libido back, I want to stop feeling so insecure, I want to be consistent, I want to sleep at night. One by one he treated my symptoms. I feel awake now. I enjoy things. I finish things. I sleep at night.

Ok . . . So, I gave him FIVE stars on everything. I really wouldn't rate him that way if I didn't mean it. Visit his website. Check him out. Read his book . . . Do whatever you need to do to feel comfortable about considering/going to the doctor. He understands attention and focus issues and how they are complicated by depression and/or the every day ups and downs of the reality we call life. He nailed my diagnosis on the head on my first visit. I had never seen a psych doctor before, and I don't know about many other's experiences with psych docs, so I initially thought, "Wow, that was quick." But I took a "leap of faith," went ahead with his treatment plan, and started reading his book. Long story short, I am still amazed at what I now know as my "normal." Six months since my first visit now, and I'm really just grateful.

38 yr. old professional female with Major Depressive Disorder and Anxiety since late teens. Ive seen Dr. every 2 weeks for 9 months now and he's clearly the best of 5 prescribers I've seen since 2000. He took inventory of my symptoms : crying spells, social anxiety, eating binges & inability for an intimate relationship and took note of all the meds I've taken with very ittle improvement, including Xanax which I learned is highly addictive & was freely prescribed by another psychiatrist. Dr. Kerson weaned me off Xanax & gave trials of 2 different antidepressants & a mood stabilizer. It was the 2nd of the antidepressants together with a small dose of a mood stabilizer that made a remarkable improvement in my credibility, competency & functioning as a financial analyst. He lent guidance in helping navigate my 1st committed relationship, which just passed the one year mark. I'm grateful to have found him after years of being misdiagnosed and poorly understood by an array of… NY psychiatrists.

Dr. Kerson is the worst mental health professional I have ever encountered. He treated my bipolar daughter for 5 years and seriously undermedicated and inappropriately medicated her resulting in 4 serious relapses into mania and causing severe trauma to her family including her young children. He became over involved in her marital problems siding with her against her husband instead of focusing on her medication management. I strongly suggest that anyone looking to see him for help look elsewhere

Dr. Kerson is one of the most unbalanced human beings I have ever encountered. He mismanaged my seriously ill daughter with Bipolar I for years on medication that did not keep her from having breakthrough episodes. These episodes had traumatic effects on her whole family and especially on her two young children. He got into a power struggle with her husband and encouraged her to leave him. He doesn't listen when you try to talk to him and has yelled at me and hung up the phone on me. I am thinking of suing him for malpractice.

If you're the type of person who wants to get to the bottom of a problem and solve it without messing around then you'll like him. He's to the point and fast paced, but also willing to work with you on specific issues, etc. No one has ever really taken action with me, which was why I found myself stuck for so long without really understanding why. I can see how some people might not prefer his style, but for me it's what I needed.

Does not practice what he preaches. His ADHD is apparent. Can often be heard yelling at patients from the waiting room. Knowledgeable about the science and medication. However, if you lack self-esteem, his approach may do more harm than good. His book provides standard solutions to help manage ADHD, if you have not already discovered them on your own, but are not a cure all. A perfect example for John Gray's next book. Like MOST men, he tries to FIX complex problems with simple solutions. Great therapists, male and female, "listen." They do not take phone calls, read email, or convey sexual innuendo during sessions. And yes, his office reeks of marijuana.