Lenard A. Adler, MD

When I was in high school, I suffered severely from depression, anxiety, OCD, and newly diagnosed ADHD. My parents would come into the session with me, and he would primarily ONLY address them, opposed to me, the patient. He pushed for me to take adderall. I was a shy, nervous student who was very dedicated. I started having bad panic attacks which would debilitate me in the mornings causing me to miss my classes and hide out in the school bathroom. His suggestion: raise the adderall dosage. My heart rate would be flying, and I felt high all the time (I had never touched unprescribed drugs, nor alcohol). I was in clear mental distress, jittery, would hyper focus on random things (such as a small background noise) which would be over stimulating and scary. When I would go into his office, all the questions would be directed to my parents, and not me… the patient. He had an awful bedside manner and I often felt undermined. I eventually went up on 45 mg RX of adderall. For perspective,… I now take 2.5-10 mg of adderall AS NEEDED. I am VERY sensitive to it. I currently take my low dosage adderall maybe once or twice a month. He turned me into a non-functioning zombie. I missed my last week of finals (was hospitalized for intrusive and suicidal thoughts and wanted to swallow the whole pill bottle to make everything stop) my sophomore year of high school because the medication debilitated me. He blindly prescribed medication, and ignored side effects. Adler was awful, and I have absolutely no idea how he has gotten so far, career-wise.

I have been working with Dr. Adler since 1996 and I will continue working with him indefinitely. He is, by far, the best doctor for treating ADHD that I have ever met. I am uncertain why some reviewers are stating "bad bedside manor" or indicating he is "pompous, rude, arrogant, [or] dismissive". If he ever behaved that way towards me, I would have changed doctors very long ago. Over the years I have learned that physicians who prescribe controlled substances must take great care in determining not only the proper medication and dosage, but tailoring that treatment to each patient. I know people with ADHD and had become very upset when their physician did not provide a specific medication or dosage and, consequently, became angry and blame the doctor for not helping them. If any of the patients who wrote bad reviews fall into that category, I am confident that Dr. Adler provided a direct and honest response in declining your request. That is, he did not "candy-coat" his response to… make himself seem more “reasonable”. Actually, if you asked him why he denied your request, he would provide a very helpful and substantive response. I can vouch for that; Dr. Adler has answered my multitude of questions over the years. I have one personal example when I became temporarily frustrated with Dr. Adler. I once discussed with him about slightly increasing my ADHD medication because I felt my concentration levels dropping. When he looked at me more carefully, he said very plainly, “You need to lose weight.” He then explained that being very overweight can actually interfere with the effectiveness of the ADHD medication. At that time, I was 60 pounds overweight. I was a little frustrated at first by his response and left his office feeling a little upset. However, I have learned from experience to trust Dr. Adler’s judgment. I took his advice and over the course of 3 months I worked hard to lose 25 pounds. Guess what? My concentration improved. Dr. Adler made the correct decision in not prescribing an increased dosage. I also learned through my own research that increasing the medication to the dosage I requested would most likely have increased my blood pressure to unhealthy levels. People who are writing bad reviews, especially those who are not explaining why they are writing a negative review, are you one of those people that received feedback from Dr. Adler that you did not want to hear? Were you denied a medication or dosage and became upset? If so, I have a request. Imagine yourself the doctor prescribing an ADHD medication to one of your patients, a medication that is most likely a controlled substance and regulated by the federal government’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). These drugs are highly abused, addictive, and can have dangerous side effects. Would you provide one of these medications to your patient simply because they asked? Speaking for myself, if I were the doctor, I would listen to my patient’s request but I would also follow medical guidelines and apply all of my medical knowledge and experience in determining if medication is needed, which medication, what dosage, etc. We, as patients, are not the experts. Prior to 1996 I worked with other psychiatrists who poorly managed my condition, which was misdiagnosed. Consequently, I barely finished college and ended up losing my job. After meeting Dr. Adler and being properly diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety disorder, my life changed dramatically. Over the past 20+ years we have worked together to tailor my treatment that included changing medications and dosages many times. Today I have a PhD and am a college professor. Trust me when I say that Dr. Adler knows what he is doing and you can trust his counsel, advice, and judgment.

For a Dr. who treats and provides diagnosis for ADHD, he’s completely insensitive to patients and the symptoms it includes. If a patient missed an appointment, clearly forgetfulness is an ADHD symptom. Why would you return a call with a rude, arrogant, demeaning and practically yelling tone informing I will not be allowed to return! Your receptionist could have handled it. It goes to show, all he’s worried about is the money he charges for services. I would NEVER recommend him! He probably has undiagnosed ADHD himself.

I'm grateful to Dr. Adler for confirming an unexpected ADD diagnosis from another doctor and for helping me find the right level/mix of medication to address my condition. The meds have changed my life. However, I would not recommend him as a psychiatrist. I agree with a lot of what others have written here, and will add just this: The breaking point for me happened when I was describing some feelings of deep frustration and I started to tear up, and he turned away. He didn't seem to want to talk about anything but the meds. So as soon as we had the medications adjusted, I shifted my treatment to my GP. I only have to see her every 3 months, rather than paying to have a 10-minute office or phone visit with Dr. Adler each month. And she actually cares about me. I'd advise anyone who's paying for monthly psychiatry visits for med maintenance alone to see if their GP (if they like and trust this doctor) is willing to monitor their treatment.

Horrible. 15 minutes for $600.00 and no insight nor helpful information. Did not return phone calls for follow up. He's as bad as the conditions he purports to treat.

My 12+ years in Dr. Adler's care have been extraordinary. Adult ADHD can be a vexing diagnosis and it is crucial to understand that the remedy is certainly not just about medication. As a patient I have had to learn a special level of self-awareness in order to cope with this condition, and Dr. Adler has been an invaluable part of that learning. If you are only looking for a prescription, I suggest you look elsewhere. My experience with him has been outstanding.

He seemed extremely rushed and self important. He had no bedside manner at all.

extremely pompous. rude. arrogant. dismissive. I would never recommend.

Extremely pompous and seems to diagnose ADHD more than I think it should be diagnosed