Dr. Stuart Michael Leeds, PhD

Seemed to constantly find “issues” were there were none. His advice on correcting questionable behaviour created even more issues. When expressing my concerns to him and proposing that perhaps another therapist would be a better fit for my son he he basically threatened me. Dr Leeds has been very unprofessional, unethical at times, as well as blind to my concerns. My son will never be seeing him again.

It’s been over two years and I still have trouble seeing other therapists now because of the scarring experiences I had with Dr. Leeds. He was also rude and unprofessional. Even the Doctor who initially recommended me to him was troubled and concerned by what I had experienced with him during those 6 months. Please don’t send your kids to him! Don’t know if he’s changed, but can say with 100% honesty that I left every appointment more helpless and dreading the next one because of how he made me feel and the way he handled my situation. Even took awhile to convince my parents to allow me to stop seeing him because he would tell them one thing and me the complete opposite. Happy to say that once I stopped sessions with Dr. Leeds, I immediately saw a positive change in my progress and mood that had been absent during those 6 months.

I took my teenage son to Dr. Leeds at the recommendation of another physician who was treating him for Lyme disease (and who, I later learned, knew very little bout Lyme disease). Although it was early in our journey with Lyme, I had read and researched enough to know that depression is one side effect of chronic Lyme disease. My son was feeling low, and he insisted it was simply because he had felt so ill for so long, not that he was clinically depressed. I had hoped Dr. Leeds ("Dr. Stu" as he has patients refer to him, how chummy) could guide my son through the Lyme brain fog and frustration. Instead, he conducted a series of expensive psychological tests (that weren't covered by insurance, naturally) and diagnosed him as semi-suicidal. He also deduced from the testing that my son has social difficulties and a hard time maintaining friendships. I'm sorry, were you actually speaking to my son during these sessions, doctor? My son has always had friends and has had a consistent friend… group since he was 11. Although a suicidal child might not be relied upon to admit these ideologies to a parent, my son denied ever feeling that way, and he certainly never exhibited any such inclination. In fact, he constantly insisted his "depression" was because he had been unwell for nearly two years and he was "sick of being sick." But Dr. Leeds apparently had another agenda altogether and declared my son was in need of "serious help." After a couple of months of therapy, when the doctor seemed to find more and more issues that would require more and more therapy (!), I stopped making appointments for my son, who dreaded going every time anyway. When we finally got a proper Lyme diagnosis and began to see a Lyme literate medical doctor (LLMD), we learned that all the emotions my son had been feeling were perfectly normal within the scope of the illness and his health, just as my son had suspected all along. To his credit, because of this lengthy illness my son has come to know his own health and can read his body extremely well and recognize symptoms, and it turns out he was correct about his mental state all along. But I, as a nervous, worried mom, chose to listen to doctors who hardly knew my son and were clearly making big bucks off of him. I hate to use the word "scammer," but I truly feel Dr. Leeds magnified my son's symptoms and exaggerated my son's condition in order to keep him coming back. I imagine he must have a few nice vacation homes if he treats all his patients this way. My recommendation: seek another doctor.