"Specialize in Integrative Psychiatry: integrating the modalities of…read moretraditional, Eastern and functional medicine with newer techniques that cater to natural healing, longevity and resilience: Full Spectrum Healing: Non-pharmaceutical therapies, Micro nutrients for mental health. Also: Age Management with Bioidentical Hormone Replacement, Energy Medicine, Tesla Energy Lights." (practice's website http://www.carolbanyasmd.com) Be Careful. Yes it is great to be in balance and use non-pharmaceutical means to feel stable but be smart. Know yourself and observe your mood. Do research form reputable sources before you trust your entire condition to be remedied by nutraceuticals. If you are not feeling well are you willing to add 20 or more nutraceutical pills a day? Yes this can be and is prescribed. She does not take insurance. She will give you a super bill. You may or may not be able to submit that super bill to your insurance. Good, Bad, Indifferent

After many years of traditional treatment for depression and anxiety, I decided to seek out a…read moredifferent solution. This was not an easy decision: I am an engineer by trade and was skeptical of any "alternative" treatment. However, the limited relief I received from western medicine and the kaleidoscope of prescription medications over the years have never provided a complete, lasting solution for me. Something needed to change. Willing to try anything, I went to Doctor Banyas for an Energy Healing and did not know what to expect. It was an amazing and eye-opening experience. During my session, I felt a lightness and euphoria that I had never experienced before -- completely unclouded by medications. I have continued periodic treatment with Dr. Banyas, including Tesla light sessions. Using this treatment in addition to some traditional medication, I have achieved a level of wellness that I have never experienced before. I also appreciated being provided the option of traditional medication and natural alternative treatments - allowing me to weigh the benefits and cons of both options. I felt that my wishes were taken into consideration and my concerns were addressed before we decided on a treatment program. I would strongly urge anyone that doesn't get complete relief from depression from medication to try talking to Dr. Banyas. Traditional medicine did not have all of the answers for me, and the supplemental treatment from Dr. Banyas has made my life as good as I imagined it could be.

If you live with a mental illness or care for someone who does, you may feel alone. It is a very…read moredifficult journey. Hopefully you are here looking for ways to connect, and this may be the place for you. NAMI stands for National Alliance on Mental Illness. The Bay Area is blessed with several chapters. They are mostly laypeople who have direct experience, suffering from mental illness, or caring for someone who does. With COVID, the way to connect is through their many Zoom calls. They offer a wide variety of calls. The people who lead the calls are very helpful, and the connections you make will make you feel less lonely. Sometimes you will simply listen, other times folks will reach out to you on the call with a supportive word or valuable information. Hope this is one step to helping you on what is a longer journey.

What an amazing array of supports, resources, services, companionship! PLEASE become a member and…read moresign up for the newsletters--chalk full of gold! DEFinitely take the 12 week Family to Family Class! And NAMI Basics (online or in-person) if you have a kid with mental illness!

I'm discouraged to write this because I was genuinely excited after reading so many positive…read morereviews and how thoughtfully this doctor describes his approach. Unfortunately, my experience mirrors another reviewer's: I first reached out over a week and a half ago, left multiple voicemails, and followed up asking to briefly learn more about his approach, but never received a response. I understand he likely has a full practice and other priorities. That said, it would be helpful if his voicemail or profile set clearer expectations around response times or availability, or noted if he's not taking new clients. Silence after multiple follow-ups is disappointing. I personally rely heavily on reviews when making decisions about providers, and I'm leaving this for others who do the same. He sounded great based on reviews and his profile, but based on my experience, he does not seem very communicative. Bummer. :(

You'll find no one else even close to Dr. Steve Balt, in terms of his expert skill, sincere empathy…read morefor his patients, and uniquely effective approach to mental health treatment.  If you've grown exasperated or etiolated with other providers who just won't *listen* to you; if you're looking for someone to selectively challenge your thoughts to inform your "gestalt" to you and others, as appropriate; or, if you just need someone you can trust to have your best interest at heart, I can personally attest to the fact that you should see Dr. Balt now, while you can. The rough can only obscure a gem like Dr. Balt for so long.  Dr. Balt's style precludes traditional "paper" diagnoses, which, at least to me, makes the most sense because no one can maintain with any level of confidence that their thinking and psyche can be wholly and correctly labeled in a box. Let's face it: our thinking is fluid, as our issues may be of mercurial function. Dr. Balt not only fully understands this truth but clearly relates to it in his treatment, which I would describe as medication-assisted psychotherapy.  Seeing Dr. Balt every other week since Summer 2018 has been perhaps the most rewarding experience I've accrued in that same timespan. I had seen other providers, but only Dr. Balt recognized my issues as specific to only me, as a person.  Dr. Balt's "collective" approach assures that you won't be stuck scarfing down tablets for reasons you don't fully understand or agree with, and compromise is the name of the game when loggerheads nears broaching.  Without delving into my personal issues, suffice it to say that complexities have been manifold, and I've honestly actually come to eagerly await each and every meeting with Dr. Balt!

This is my second review. My story maybe a little long- but worth reading here. I'm continuing to…read morebenefit from the information and care that Dr.Toups has provided for me over the years. She uses nutrition, supplementation, medications and her superior diagnostic skills and research skills as a physician to care for her patients. Her care plans and personalized data sheets to get you on track functioning and enjoying life - they are treasures! I am turning 66 in November and recently had to review my notes and information provided by Kat regarding my initial treatments because I had fallen out of the parameters and the functional way of living (supplements when needed, nutrition and exercise) for optimal health and was not functioning.I have adhd, anxiety, depression, arthritis, TMJ, Asthma, adverse medication reactions and metabolic problems (overweight) which is giving me borderline high blood pressure,borderline pressure in my eyes (re:glaucoma), IBS and prediabetes. A recent trip to the ER - made me reevaluate the low standards of self care especially regarding diet. Kat had the good plan and I strayed. In addition, I jumped on the WFPB vegan nutrition but I could never go all in and felt hungry and unable to digest the foods. I could only lose weight eating about 800 calories a day. I believe this way of eating also led me eating more High Carb processed food especially feeding my Sugar addiction. I decided two months ago to get back on track with "High Fat" keto diet prescribed by Kat and gave absolutely no regard for scale numbers. Initially, I gained weight - but now two months in (with very few cheats) it is stabilizing and the numbers are coming down slightly. My sugar cravings are almost gone. Here is what is now happening to me eating very few carbs, HIGH FAT, mostly grass fed beef or pork or eggs, a few what I call neutral veggies (example- green beans), few berries, no seed oils, olive oil, Kerry Gold butter, and a dash of cream for 1/4 cup coffee in morning, staying away from sugar substitutes - I feel "happy" I have "energy" I am exercising - swimming over 1 mile 5 days a week, I walk on my rural property 6K to 10K steps a day,I have no aches and pains, I recover from repetitive swimming easily, my recall for names and where I place items has improved, I have no doom and gloom in the morning, My ADHD symptoms improving (able to clean up messes and organize). My figure is changing, I have definition in my biceps and calves and my waist is smaller. My weight is now concentrated in my hips and thighs and butt. My TMJ has improved. Sleep improved- not perfect yet (supplementing with Magnesium). I was able to cut my BP med in half - soon hope to eliminate. Able to stop using daily Inhaler for Asthma and haven't used my rescue inhaler in 1 month. What arthritis? Gone! My skin looks vibrant. For sugar cravings I drink bone broth. I stay full as not to stray from this way of eating and I only counted calories a few times to see how much I am really eating - it turns out to be 1500 to 2000 calories a day - that is what I feel I need. I only eat when I am hungry except if I think I might get tempted on an outing or something - I will eat before I go. Thank you Kat for helping me. I pray I will not be tempted back into the wrong diet - this way of eating and exercising is too important. I have big plans for my future and look forward to everyday.

In my desperate search for a practitioner who could help my son with his MTHFR diagnosis, I…read moreresearched & contacted many. Dr. Toups replied on a Saturday with feedback, referrals and resource links. She was not only professional, but k-i-n-d and encouraging. It made me cry. When your child is not well, it can feel like shouldering the weight of the world. It was beautiful that someone I never even met cared enough to take the time to give a generous response. I'm grateful for the list of practitioners and I'll certainly utilize it. I appreciate you Dr. Toups!

Michael is wildly brilliant. I have been dealing with ADD my whole life and through the years have…read moregone to a variety of different Psychiatrists with no real understanding of what someone with ADHD goes through. I have a fairly extreme case and this thing I deal with is affects my work and relationships in dramatic ways. Since I have started working with Michael he has been able to target my medication and help me develop strategies and systems that make it possible to me get my arms around the chaos and desperation that has defined my life for so long. He is a compassionate listener and someone whose medical expertise has given me hope and I'm truly grateful

One of the most caring, professional and dedicated psychiatrists. I highly recommend Dr Kron to…read moreanyone who has not gotten the right diagnosis, treatment , meds or a practice with integrity such as his.

It has taken me a long time to write this review. I don't like speaking ill of people when I know…read morethey are not malicious. However, this is important information: After a 45 minute conversation, Dr. Shain diagnosed my 9 year old as being Bipolar, and immediately prescribed them a mood disorder drug. The drugs caused my child to begin having severe, medication-induced psychotic breaks. After several terrifying months of this, my child's symptoms dramatically worsened. I asked Dr. Shain if we could wean them off and try something else. He was very reluctant, dismissed my concerns, and suggested we just pile on more meds. When I pushed back, he told me that, if I really wanted to go back to zero with the meds, I should just cut them out immediately, without titrating them down. We ended up in the hospital, after a severe, terrifying meltdown. No one there could understand why our psychiatrist would advise us to abruptly cut our child off mood disorder drugs I proceeded to have my child evaluated at Stanford, and found a new psychiatrist. My child is not bipolar. They are autistic, with depression and severe anxiety. They are extremely sensitive to medications - which is apparently common with autism. A year later, and my child has stabilized beautifully. They still struggle with depression and anxiety, yes, but I no longer have to hold them down to keep them from trying to claw their own eyes out. We haven't had any psychotic episodes since we stopped giving them the wrong meds, and had them properly diagnosed I feel bad about posting this. I do not think Dr. Shain is a bad person - I feel certain that he cares about his patients very much. However, he made catastrophically bad judgement calls where my child was concerned. I don't like to think about what my child's life would be like if we had followed Dr. Shain's recommendations.

If I could give zero stars, I would…read more I tried to reach Dr. Shain for a consultation meeting for a family member. He gave me 3 hours notice on a Friday and I told him that unfortunately we couldn't make that time and would like to schedule an appointment the following week. He sounded frustrated and said he going to be out on vacation. No problem, me thinks. So I tell him we can be in touch when he returns. Thankfully, in that time, we found a very professional psychiatrist (Dr. Zuberi in Lafayette) that we were very happy with. Yeah! 2.5 weeks later, I get a call at 9:30 on a Monday night from Dr. Shain. After asking rudely if we were going to schedule an appointment with him "or not," I told him that while he was out, a therapist was found and we are going to go with him. He curtly replied, "you know, you are a piece of work," and HUNG UP. Amazing. No idea where that came from - he acts as if I stood him up for an appointment or had gone round and round trying to schedule something, but this as our second conversation. Once I was able to fully grok what just happened (have never been spoken to by a "professional" in this manner), I immediately tried to call him back, only to get voicemail. This is so unfortunate and inappropriate on so many levels. For a THERAPIST to actually be mad at us for finding a doctor we were happy with is, at best, disgusting. I can only imagine if we would have selected him - we would need a psychiatrist for our psychiatrist! Update: I should say that he came to me as a referral by a trusted friend, and he did help her family. So while I'm glad to hear that he has helped someone, I question anyone's judgement - especially a therapist - who thinks they can speak to others in the way he spoke with me.

I have had mixed experiences with Dr. Bloch. While he is adept at communication and promptly…read moremanages prescriptions, his approach as a psychiatrist leaves much to be desired. He can be brilliant when you first see him but then as conflict from medication management comes, seeing him long-term comes with real complications. PROS: *Communication: Dr. Bloch is responsive to emails and efficient in ordering medication. *Medication Knowledge: He demonstrates a strong grasp of medication combinations. *Pleasant Interaction: Working with him is comfortable in low-pressure situations. CONS: *Lack of Transparency: Dr. Bloch's recommendations sometimes lack clarity, and his treatment decisions can seem arbitrary. I had on multiple occasions because of contracting nasty side effects said, "I don't want to be on this medication again." Dr. Bloch would forget what I said and recommend the medication (typically anti-psychotic) again at another point in time. *Conflict Management Challenges: He struggles to manage conflicts professionally, which can be frustrating if you are a long-term patient with volatile health challenges. *Inadequate Side Effect Guidance: I was not adequately informed about potential side effects, leading to unpleasant surprises. It is even more complicated when Dr. Bloch does not follow through with additional appointments for medication management. It is all on you to do the heavy lifting in scheduling follow-ups. *Poor Collaboration: Dr. Bloch's communication with other providers is inconsistent, leading to discrepancies in treatment plans. Additionally at follow-ups, his evaluation process is by-the-book, and the meetings can feel rushed where conversation is not as open as you want it to be. *People-Pleasing Tendencies: If under pressure, his approach can prioritize patient preferences over clinical necessity, leading to ineffective treatment strategies. *Lack of Organization in His Practice: Unfortunately, Dr. Bloch does not have a good medical records system by which to keep track of information. He could benefit from having staff working for him or at least use a digital system by which to keep track of medical records and at least make them more visible for patients upon request. Perhaps having a website that includes a Patient Portal option for patients would help. While Dr. Bloch has solid credentials, his lack of true collaboration makes it difficult for me to see how he is effective as a psychiatrist. Patients seeking an involving, collaborative approach may need to look elsewhere for a psychiatrist who can better manage their expectations.

There are not enough good words to say about Dr. Bloch and his standard of care. He has made the…read moredifference in life or death situations for my loved one countless times. His expertise, knowledge and persistence has given my loved one a much better quality of life than his prognosis might otherwise suggest possible. He is professional, impeccable with his time management, caring and competent. We've been bringing our loved one to him regularly for close to a decade and he's never had an "off" day. I hold him in the highest esteem and gratitude.

We started working with Dr. Danielyan with our daughter who has anxiety and ADHD. The doctor checks…read morein with us regularly, he does zoom visits with our daughter and works with us to adjust medication levels as we help her get better adjusted. We have had a great experience with the Doctor and can recommend him.

I've been trying for over a week to get a hold of anyone, nobody ever answers. Left multiple…read moremessages, sent e-mails. John Muir shows he is accepting new patients but nobody ever answers or responds. Is he even sill practicing?