Michael Schrift

It is tough even writing this review because I have to look at Schrift's bulbous, malformed face. He's a vicious little stump of a man whose abhorrent behavior left me traumatized for months.

My grandfather has seen Schrift for a few months now, and his condition has been worsening. Another doctor at the UW system who wasn't even his primary care provider referred him to Schrift. I began to suspect something was off. All I knew is he told me he had started seeing a new doctor. At the time I didn't think much of it, and then his symptoms got worse. I asked my mom what was going on and she didn't know. She isn't really keeping up with her own dad, but I sure wasn't going to let it go. So I did the investigating myself. I talked to my granddad directly and asked them who this doctor was, was he prescribing medication, what kind of stuff was he saying, etc? And let me just say, what I found out shook me to the core. We're talking stuff that sounds like it came from Freud. Stuff that when I looked it up had been discredited decades ago. I am doing my best to find Grampa a new doctor, but I have begged him not to go to Schrift anymore.

This guy is supremely creepy. Imagine the evil psycho shrink in a horror movie. That's the vibe this guy gives off. And that was just the first impression! Take a look at his pics and, in every one of them, he's got this weird fake smile. I couldn't see his face due to a mask, but I got the same disturbing (disturbed?) vibe all the same. And once he actually starts doing doctor stuff (if you can call it that), it only goes downhill from there. It's like he's trying to emulate all the bad shrink tropes as stereotypically as possible. He tries to make you doubt yourself so that he can push whatever "diagnosis" or "remedy" he's schemed up for you. Ick. What a nutcase!

I saw Schrift to get help with a perplexing neuromuscular condition. I had a plan going into this. I would lay out my symptoms systematically, then work with him to build a theoretical model of my condition, and get some scientific questions answered to ultimately help me design a treatment regime. This is what I got instead: He made quite the first impression, sounding like Barney the Dinosaur by way of Woody Allen. As silly as that sounds, the guy exudes something evil. It's palpable. He arranges his office so that you sit right by the door and have to move your legs just for him to open or close it. I explained that I'd give my 10-minute presentation, then I'd take questions from him, then we could get onto the same page about basic mechanisms, then I'd go into a history of the condition. I intended to dictate the terms of this engagement to keep it from spiraling into quackery like dumbing down my condition into a generic canned diagnosis, or telling me it's all in my head. So… as to discourage any such quackery, I began by asking "do you mind if I record this?" and he said "actually I DO mind" with some hostility. 2 minutes into my presentation, he said "this isn't going to work if I can't ask questions as you go" very petulantly. But instead of asking questions, he started rummaging through my medical records, zeroing in on anything he thought might discredit what I was saying. He was keen to interrogate me about my OCD and I could see him making a beeline for the "in your head" quackery. I was caught off guard. Then he did "tests" which had no discernible purpose except to further discredit me. For instance he obsessed about how I couldn't remember some words he'd said a few minutes earlier and spent far more energy on that than what I came in for. After all his dumb little tests, there was little time for what I actually wanted (PAID) to discuss. Along the way, he'd try to gaslight me by denigrating my research with little petty jabs like "that's not how it works". In the process, he said blatantly false things that can be easily Googled. For instance, he said that very little of 5-HTP makes it to the brain as serotonin and that the effects of all of my rigorous experiments were "placebo". By this point, you won't be surprised when I tell you he arrived at "it's all in your head". Of course, he found a more creative way to word it, which included "to you, it's very real" like he's talking to a nutcase who gets nightly visits from a blue man with wings. But it's not over yet. After repudiating my actual issue, he pushed pills. He wanted me to take an SSRI. I told him I would not take anything with sexual side effects. He admitted it could reduce my libido and said "is it really that big of a deal?" Though I had no intention of ever touching the stuff, I told him I'd consider it if he could tell me, from a physiological perspective, what was it about my symptoms that suggested a problem that reducing serotonin reuptake could solve. I had to press him several times and finally he said a bunch of stuff too fast for me to follow, but it was clearly recited word-for-word from some textbook. And there you have it. After 90+ minutes, not to mention the time it took getting to his squalid little office and back, I had nothing to show for it. In fact, I'd be LESS far along if I took his gaslighting to heart, as he sought to invalidate all the clues I've pieced together over the years. And there you have it. Do yourself a favor and steer clear of this malignant little manlet.

He’s an moron! I literally waited over 30 minutes for a scheduled appointment and then he had the audacity to spew crap about my anxiety being an epileptic episode. They’re not one in the same. They’re completely two separate events. He’s rude, condescending, and not compassionate at all. Northwestern can definitely process a refund for wasting time on this appointment!

Condescending, stand-offish, and zero bed-side manners - specially for someone working as a psychiatrist specialist for the Cancer Center. I've seen Dr. Schrift twice. The first time, I was called into the back, I thought the person receiving me was him, but instead I got his assistant. I thought that was curious, but went along thinking that was the process - first time seeing a psychiatrist. So you can imagine, you're waiting in their waiting room, full of other cancer patients, a constant reminder of your reality, so once you come in, you already feel pretty vulnerable. I come in, and start telling him how I'm feeling and then they knock on the door. It was Dr. Schrift, with his backpack on his shoulder - HE WAS LATE - and whispered some things to his assistant. He closes the door and sits back. Trying to remember what I said, which he obviously didn't. He then tells me Dr. Schrift has a student he wants to sit on my session. Great! - I think, but say ok because I'm trying to be… courteous. Student comes in, with backpack, starring. Assistant goes, let's continue... At this point I'm completely taken aback. This is completely unprofessional, rude, and huge lack of sensitivity to my situation. After a while, I had to speak up. I said it was super unprofessional, he came in late, interrupted the appointment, brought a student to sit in in my first appointment. Come on! To make the story short, the second time wasn't pleasant either. I had been taking some medication to "help" my anxiety for obvious reasons but I was having side effects. That's what he's supposed to monitor. All he kept doing was looking at his monitor for his cheat-sheet and saying in his know-it-all voice, that's not a side effect, that shouldn't happen, I don't know what it is. Keep taking it. I said, hey, maybe we should increase the dose, and he replied, do you want to be numb? do you want do drug yourself more? I was stunned. As someone who's actively taking care of my emotional health, I've been to therapists and have tried to manage my anxiety with yoga/exercise/eating, etc. But he was telling me I wanted to be drugged/numb. Outraged, I said that this is an episode that's completely different from anything anyone goes in live. IT'S CANCER!!! maybe he should exercise some EMPATHY with his patients, any patients, not only cancer patients. Jesus. Then he went on by saying that having anxiety is normal and feeling things are normal - which I agree with, but then said "there's a huge range of "normal" , look at President Trump". I was like are you serious dude?? I could keep going on and on on him. I'm going to request changing doctors or not go to him at all. He's awful. I ended up calling my previous therapist who's amazing, and now she's helping me manage my street the proper way.

Dr Schrift is caring and compassionate. My husband is never rushed through an appointment.

Dr Schrift has been my doctor for more than 20 years. I have completely recovered under his care and lead a full, active and happy life for which I am very grateful to him. Prior to seeing Dr Schrift, I was seen at the Mayo Clinic and by numerous other psychiatrists without improvement.

This man was insulting, had a horrific bedside manner and I felt actually more suicidal after meeting him. I sincerely think he is a danger to the community of medicine not just a poor doctor but a sincere danger to patients.

Great guy and he is a without a doubt a Great Doctor!!