Dr. Shirah Adah Vollmer, MD

Dr. Vollmer's main focus is money. She suggested that my son should see her 5 times a week at $500 per session. She then spent time during his sessions discussing money, and upsetting him by being extremely rude to him about his father. For all her experience, credentials and academic prowess Dr. Vollmer is a psychiatrist lacking in people skills. She comes across as very cold with no sincerity. Dr. Vollmer becomes hostile if she doesn't agree with or like what she hears. She will declare that you are being 'angry' or 'argumentative'. My son was very disconcerted by how thin her office walls are, and could hear her phone sessions whilst sitting in the waiting room. We went to Dr. Vollmer with our son, very worried about his mental welfare, and obviously very vulnerable. I feel that Dr. Vollmer preyed on our vulnerability.

We saw Dr. Vollmer for a sudden onset of childhood tics. She spent session after session letting my child climb all over her office. Finally, after dozens of sessions, I decided to go to another practitioner. In one visit, a new doctor tested my child for strep. It was positive. My child had pandas (similar to rheumatic fever and sydenham's chorea), the new doctor gave our child antibiotics and the tics went away. Thousands of dollars and endless hours of treatment and worry with Dr. Vollmer, ended quickly when another doctor administered antibiotics. When an elderly person has a sudden cognitive change, the doctors look for a urinary tract infection. Well, when there is a sudden change in movement or behavior in a child, a strep infection should be considered. Why didn't Dr. Vollmer know what another practitioner across town picked up in ten minutes? Shame on you. We were at our wits' end, wondering why behavior changed overnight, and why tics appeared so suddenly. She was so busy… "psychoanalyzing" a four year old she missed a quick diagnosis.

Dr. Vollmer has been responsive, thoughtful, intelligent and caring of me for many difficult times in my life. I think of her often and I know that I can always count on her to show up for me when I need her. She listens and remembers so many things about my life. I do not know how she does it. She is busy, but organized and on top of her practice. It is hard to describe my gratitude.Reviews like these are more suitable for restaurants, since writing about my relationship with Dr. Vollmer is so much more textured and nuanced. Sometimes we work on difficult topics so during those times I can be disgruntled, but in retrospect, I am always grateful for her incisiveness.

I am grateful to Dr. Vollmer for her dedication and attentiveness to our family. She responds promptly over many years of reaching out. I almost put my son into placement, but with her expert guidance I was directed to helping him. Now, he is a tremendous success story and I have Dr. Vollmer to thank. We went through such hard times and Dr. Vollmer was always there for us. I tear up when I think about her.

I agree with the review written here in 2011. Dr. Vollmer saw our child during the preschool years. She was not qualified to evaluate a patient this young, but for some reason failed to make an appropriate referral . After the first few visits any practitioner in her position would have admitted that this age group was out of her realm of expertise and make a referral to someone who in familiar with and trained for this age group. Instead she wanted to keep seeing our child. Luckily, I felt something was amiss. Found someone else, who, on the first visit recommended an assessment with an occupational therapist. To make a long story short, our child was 90% better within six months of starting occupational therapy. Our child had a mild sensory integration problem solved by six months of OT. Dr. Vollmer wanted to perform talk therapy with our preschooler! How would this have helped a problem which turned out to need six months of OT?! I don't know what motivated Dr. Vollmer to see our… child but she didn't seem to realize that she was out of her area of expertise. I am thankful to the other child psychiatrist who saw the issue, sent our child to OT and didn't line her pockets with Freudian analysis for a preschooler. Dr. Vollmer should be ashamed of herself.

Dr Vollmer was treating my child for medication. In the first sessions, she was very involved in talking to my son about his feelings. In the last sessions, she was distant,and somewhat hostile to myself and my husband. When asked to discuss, she said she was "ambushed" by me in a former session. Very hostile language for a doctor to throw at a client. Then, instead of talking through the matter, she fixated on one thing I said, the need for her to have connection with our 9 year old child, as the basis to suddenly stop treatment all together. I believe Dr Vollmer needs to experience more personal growth and discovery before she can truly help other clients in their journey of self discovery.