Dr. Edward Rabinowitz, MD

manipulative, condescending. do not see him.

Dr. Rabinowitz was extremely unprofessional, condescending and rude, and seemed to completely lack empathy or compassion. I frequently left his office crying, and not in the way I might cry after therapy due to intense emotional discussion, but crying because I had been treated so badly. It was often a humiliating experience. He did not seem to believe anything I said to him and chose to focus on inconsequential semantics, refusing to alter his position when his assumptions were corrected. ("You are painting your kitchen navy? Navy is a dark color and therefore depressing. Therefore you must like to be depressed. Therefore you will never get better. Therefore there is nothing I can do for you.") He seemed much more interested in throwing drugs at me than talking with me, and when I expressed hesitation and requested more information (why this drug? what does it do? what are the side effects? what are the alternatives?) he would tell me I didn't deserve to get better and clearly did not… want to. He was incredibly emotionally manipulative, passive aggressive, and reasonably misogynistic to the extent that I sometimes wondered if he was purposefully provoking me for some eventual greater good. I did not think it was possible for a mental health professional to have so little awareness of the emotional damage he was inflicting on the already emotionally damaged. It is frightening to me that this man is in a position of power over anxiety ridden and monumentally depressed individuals. I understand that his specialty is with addiction, and this may explain his refusal to acknowledge the validity of his patients assertions, his incredibly judgmental nature, and his need for absolute authority. Maybe this is helpful for addicts but it was very damaging for me.