Dr. Steven Tedford Vas, MD

Dr. Vas is by far the most informative and compassionate doctor you could ask for.

I have been seeing doctor Vas for about 10 years. He has been through a lot with me. He has been nothing but caring and straight forward.

I had low expectations of Dr. Vas to begin with. I have a great psychotherapist and decades of experience in self-help groups and some graduate training in psych myself, so I only needed to see him for med checks. I didn't find him very empathetic, insightful, or engaged, but so what--I got my meds twice a year and that was fine. But to this day I don't understand what caused him to "snap" during one session early this year. First, he made a decision that was professionally unsound and grossly insensitive, and then got obviously increasingly angry AT ME when I got so upset I began crying, particularly because I was quite articulate in calling him out on the hollow nature of his arguments. I didn't yell, but I calmly pointed out how he was violating several principles in what he was doing. I'll never forget the look on his face--he was clearly seeing me not as a crying patient to whom to show compassion but as an adversary who had injured his ego. Then no phone calls, no apologies,… no checking in--no self-reflection on his behavior, no accountability whatsoever--no understanding that a patient would no longer feel safe with someone who had behaved in such a way that he'd reduced his patient to tears. I even went to my therapist to get a read on it, because the look in his eyes reminded me of men when they have a narcissistic injury, but I wanted a reality check to see if I'd done anything wrong. I mean, when you have to see a therapist to cope with the behavior of your psychiatrist, as another woman has posted about him on a Yelp review, that's a serious red flag. When I finally provided him with indisputable info supported by two other health professionals to ask him to correct his error, and then told him I'd be switching to an in-network provider during the ensuing three months, he became very petulant and vindictive, renewing my prescription for just one month (which everyone knows isn't enough time to get a new doctor). He blamed _me_ for not contacting him all of that time, as if any patient would subject themselves to someone that insensitive. He then unnecessarily interfered in my medical care with another provider by outright lying to them and then lying to me about their comments, then wrote me a vindictive, angry letter that sounded more like a 22-year-old guy going through a breakup than a mental health care professional, in which he continued to lie and twist events to cover his a** as if I were going to sue him or something. He refused to discuss the situation with my therapist (who's well known in her field)--which I had offered as a way to come to some reasoned, mutual understanding about this conflict--clearly because he was afraid of being held accountable by, yet again, another smart woman. He even patronizingly claimed (which was hilarious to every health professional to whom I showed it) that psychiatrists never consult with psychotherapists, but he would deign to discuss my care with a new psychiatrist. I'm alarmed that someone like this is practicing with any patients, let alone in the context of mental health care. Worse, I was acutely aware in dealing with him that the burden of proof when contesting psychiatrists' behavior always rests on patients, particularly intelligent women, because however I confronted his bad behavior, and in fact to the degree I was reasoned and articulate, I'd be cast as "borderline" (which has been the go-to diagnosis for all smart women who enlist others to help solve problems or report violations in therapeutic care). I've read other reviews on him and it seems like he overreacts and thinks women are "borderline" or something, when I'm nothing of the sort (according to every other therapist I've seen). But God help a person if they really are, because this guy's behavior would be seriously retraumatizing. It's chilling that in his line of work people are required to be so vulnerable, to get their meds, to a person like him. I think he has no grasp of his responsibility to show compassion for patients rather than attack them if they threaten his ego in some way. He is simply ill-suited for this line of work. In short, if you're an intelligent woman in particular, STAY AWAY from this angry, thin-skinned, strip-mall psychiatrist. I pray he finds a bench job in a pharma company and gets out of clinical work.

Dr. Vas is undeniably one of the most mean-spirited, sorriest examples of a psychiatrist that you could possibly imagine. He had me involuntarily committed to Umstead State Hospital after a suicide threat, having the Duke ER physician lie to me about my private health insurance. They told me at the time my private health insurance was denying me coverage, which was a flagrant lie. This would constitute a felony, although I am sure he was too arrogant and otherwise stupid to have realized this at the time. I wrote the State Attorney General's Office, relating to them my story, and how it had so terribly impacted my mental health. I understand he was hauled before the NC Physician's Review Board because of my letter, and he is no longer on staff at Duke Hospital. In either case, I will consider that a victory for me and all the other patients he may have abused in the past, which as I can see here would have been quite numerous.

Dr. Vas is not a typical Psychiatrist. He takes his time in making a thorough evaluation and working with the patient on trying medications, while working through any side effects. He is a wonderful counselor as well, though this is not the primary role of a Psychiatrist.

Dr. Vas is a great doctor who is kind, gentle, good natured, and highly intelligent. He is well read and obviously keeps up with the current medical literature. He cares deeply about his patients and I would not trade him for the world. I have been seeing him since 2010.

Dr. Vas is a caring physician who puts a tremendous amount of time and effort into diagnosing and treating his patients. He has been been a lifesaver to me over the past three years, and I always feel that he is truly listening during our sessions. While many psychiatrists strictly dispense prescriptions and rush patients out the door, Dr. Vas sincerely cares about understanding his patients and spends more time with them than an average psychiatrist. Respectful and gentle with his patients, he does ask thoughtful questions that force patients to examine their own assumptions and approaches to their problems. He works closely with therapists in the same office, so he can refer you to someone if you need psychotherapy to deal with PTSD, depression, etc. As I said above, most psychiatrists strictly dispense medicine, but Dr. Vas mixes in a bit of therapy as well, and it makes him a very effective doctor. I can't recommend him highly enough.

I needed help dealing with PTSD and high blood pressure. All he wanted to do was look at the clock and write prescriptions to keep me sedated night and day. After wanting to see me 2 times a week and not helping my real issues,he also thought I needed to see a behaviorial thearapist at least once a week. Don't even ask him to forward documentation to employers or Social Security. Worst excuse for a Doc ever. Needs to go back into a hospital Psych ward and keep then drugged so he doesn't have to deal with real people. DO NOT SEE HIM.