Dr. John Benjamin, MD

He will never go out of his way to help you with anything and he is very condescending. Plus his memory has seen better days.

He needs to acknowledge that some of these drugs, while they may do some good, also have side effects that may outweigh the benefits. But instead of validating the concerns about side effects that the patient is experiencing, he argues with the patient. How is that helpful?

This is a horrible man and an awful psychiatrist No empathy Spends 5-10 min with you Only gives drugs See your internist insteas

He has been my elderly mother's psychiatrist for many years. He is very kind, compassionate and smart; moreover he always returns phone calls promptly. I love this doctor.

This doctor was not knowledgeable about SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome. I saw Dr. Benjamin for several years and wrongly trusted him when it came time to switch my medications. He had me on a high dose of Paxil for several years. When it wasn't working for me anymore, he decided to take me off the Paxil and put me on something else. He began to taper me off the Paxil from 50mg per day to 25mg per day for the first week. (Subsequently and to my dismay, I have learned that this is a very quick taper.) After a few days I was lightheaded, nauseous, experiencing insomnia and other side effects. At this time, Dr. Benjamin admitted that these side effects were a result of going down on the Paxil. However, he continued to taper the Paxil to 25mg every other day while attempting to put me on another medication. Then I was told to taper the Paxil to one every third day. I was nauseous 24/7 and began to vomit. He told me to stop all of the meds. He then wanted me to start a new… medication when the nausea abated. However, the nausea and vomiting never abated because these symptoms were a result of going off the Paxil. I could not keep any food or fluids down and wound up in the hospital emergency room for dehydration 4 times. Dr. Benjamin would not believe that vomiting could be a result of going off the Paxil. I was living a nightmare and suffering from severe depression now that I was off all medication. Dr. Benjamin told me to see a gastroenterologist and this set off a chain of blood work, ultrasounds and other scans. However, I had no pain in my abdomen and the gastroenterologist could not correlate the nausea and vomiting to gallbladder attacks or other illnesses. There remained the question of whether or not to go back on the Paxil at the full dose. After relaying my story to a psychiatric nurse and a psychiatrist at the hospital, I was mercifully told to go back on the full dose of Paxil. Once the Paxil was built back up in my system, the nausea and vomiting ceased. The reason I am relaying this horror story is so that no one else has to go through all this. Paxil is the worst SSRI to discontinue. Dr. Benjamin should have known this. After 35 years in practice he should have been aware of ALL of the flu-like symptoms including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea that can result from discontinuing an antidepressant.

He is brilliant. His experience and knowledge made me feel confident in his diagnosis and treatment plan. He returns calls quickly and there is no staff to deal with. In my opinion he is the best.