Dr. Robert Steven Burnstein, MD

I saw this doctor only once when I was severely depressed and anxious in the summer of 2014. He was very judgmental of my past heavy amount of drinking to cope with my adult son's mental illness. He was downright rude and treated me like I was an alcoholic although since being depressed I'd cut way down on my drinking. On the way out if I asked him if drinking coffee was okay he rudely replied "I guess! One cup."

I had a depressive episode after having Hyperemesis Gravidrium during my pregnancy. I lost 30 lbs. I had told the doctor that struggled with bipolar depression and not only did I come to see him, he berated me for getting pregnant with my spouse and not telling me. I am a married woman who had a condom break. He was incredibly rude and demanded I apologize to him for getting pregnant. The entire meeting he wanted me to apologize for not telling him even though I couldn't even get out of bed to take care of myself for 6 months. He's a terrible physician. Not committed to the care of patience, had to totally review my history with me like he never even met me. He doesn't take psychopharmacology seriously and all his berating me pushed me closer to the edge of my suicidal period. He's irresponsible, rude, and uncaring. Please avoid this psychiatrist at all costs.

Dr Burnstein should be under psychiatric care NOT providing it. He is arrogant, condescending and rude. In my opinion he runs a pill mill and has no business treating anyone with metal health issues. He seems to have too many of his own. The most judge mental and downright mean psychiatrist I have ever heard of and had the misfortune of seeing. He needs to be reported for misconduct.

I've just had my 1st visit and found him to be very thorough and professional. He had good input as to makeing med changes and the therapist in the office is very knowledgeable and caring. I look forward to my conditions improving with their help. Staff very courteous.

I read all of the reviews here and still scheduled an appointment because I like to form my own opinion. I'm glad I did. Now, granted, I've only seen Dr. Burnstein once to date. I understand that my opinion could change over time, and if it does, I will be back to update my review accordingly. However, at this point, I have to disagree with the negative reviews on this site. I think perhaps people have unrealistic expectations going in. No one doctor or therapist has the ability to magically make everything "all better" - regardless how many visits you've had with him or her. There is no magic pill that can be prescribed which will take the pain away. And I know a little something about this because I've suffered with major depression for decades and have recently been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. The majority (>90%) of my days are spent being depressed, anxious and sometimes even suicidal. It would be unrealistic of me to expect Dr. Burnstein to be able to… "fix" that in X number of visits. He read my chart, asked me a lot of questions and listened to all of my answers. He verbalized empathy with my situation. He never said anything to me that implied he thought I was "pathetic" as some here have said. He never said anything belittling to me. It's true, he's not all teddy bears, rainbows, unicorns and sunshine. But I didn't expect him to be. Maybe that's why I'm not disappointed. Bottom line is, I believe he is in practice because he does care and he does want to help people. I didn't get the impression from him or from his staff that all they care about is the money as some here have also said. That was not at all my experience. Just like him, his office staff were not warm and fuzzy, but they were polite, courteous and professional. There were a lot of patients coming and going through there during my short 10-15 minute wait. It takes a lot to keep a busy office like that running smoothly. As far as I'm concerned, if his office staff can do that, then they've met my needs. I need them to schedule my next appointment and handle the insurance billing, etc. From what I can see, they do a fine job of that. No complaints. For now, I've walked away from my first appointment with a change in meds which will hopefully yield some improvement in my symptoms. I have a follow up appointment in 3 weeks to see how my meds are working and tweak if needed. That's the extent of Dr. Burnstein's obligation to me. It's MY responsibility to continue in my talk therapy, which I will do. Dr. Burnstein is not a talk therapist. (Most Psychiatrists do not do talk therapy. The usual purpose for going to a Psychiatrist is for medication only.) All in all, I'm pleased with Dr. Burnstein after my first visit. I find him to be professional and thorough. I find his staff the same. As I said earlier, should my opinion change significantly, I will come back and revise this review.

very professional

I've been a patient of Dr burnstein for the last 4 years. Six months ago everything suddenly went haywire. He stopped trusting my judgement and opinions, and even told they would "take a survey" of how many people are sent to voicemail vs. Actual pickups. In my four years, I have never spoken to someone on the phone unless they call me back. And that usually takes days. Burnstein blames his staff for this, but frankly he's unwilling to talk unless you come in and pay for a session. He recently "tapered" me off risperdal, while he was on vacation. He cut the dosage literally 9x faster than he should've. I got so sick after the first taper, I vomited 9 days in a row and lost 11.5 lbs and he felt that was nothing to be concerned with (FYI I'm normally 120 lbs). And continued to deny the possibility of risperdal withdrawal. After having to go to urgent care, and speaking with several medical professionals at the office, all of them confirmed the withdrawal is real, it puts people in… hospitals. We have all concluded he's a manipulative ahole. I strongly suggest not wasting your time, particularly if you are young and female. He has no respect for his patients, is egregiously late to every appt, and has actually left my emergency appt to take a personal phone call... For 15 minutes. This man is a disgrace of a medical professional.

very good

excellent Doctor

Very condescending and i always felt rushed. I feel like he just running a money assembly line. And the staff is very cold and uncaring. They made me even more depressed.