Dr Levine is truly amazing and kind and compassionate. He listens to you and provides you with all the reassurance you need. One of the best healthcare professionals I have ever encountered and I wish his business many many more years of success. He provided the best care to me and let me know the next steps with my problems. read more

Dr. Levine refused to give me a diagnosis because he "didn't like labels" yet he prescribed antipsychotics and antidepressants. When I asked why I should take them he said they would help me. I ran up over $35k in debt and all he said was "can you afford it?" I was on disability, so no, I couldn't afford it. I changed doctors and have saved money and my mental health. read more

I have been seeing Dr Levine for 13 years for severe MDD, severe GAD and severe ADHD. I have been in psych care for 30 years and Dr. Levine is the best doctor I have ever had, bar none. He has literally saved my life. He is an expert in his field, thoughtful, kind, respectful and supportive. I have no idea why others took the time to write outlandishly negative reviews. Maybe he was the 150th doctor they tried to get Valium or Ritalin from? I have recommended him to family members and friends and none of them have had anything but excellent experiences as well. read more

These are some fascinating reviews. The man I met listened to me carefully, asked intelligent questions, probed some areas further, and made a recommendation. It was up to me to decide if I agreed. He did not push, he suggested. All the while he was calm and non-judgmental about the very tricky issue of pain and addiction. As someone who has had 17 operations in ten years, I have come across many doctors, some excellent, some not so good. Dr. Levine provided me with exactly what I came in for, a chance at a solution. By my book that is what an excellent doctor should do. read more

Interesting comments that I have just read. I went to Richard Levine initially in 2007. At that time he was very helpful, suggesting a slightly different class of antidepressants which turned out to be a good choice until it stopped working. I went back about 1 year later telling him I felt my depression coming back, that it was harder and harder for me to feel happy about anything. He said that there's nothing else out there, he dismissed the use of trying a different medication. Whether this was on closure inspection a sign of professional burnout or actually a true belief that there were absolutely no medications out there, I will never know. I do know however that one should not advertise/present themselves as a psychiatrist if medication is not one of your treatment modalities. This would put you into the category of therapist, LCSW, MSW, etc. read more

Hard to understand the negative ratings here. Dr Levine has been extremely helpful to me in navigating my "issues" As well as a valuable Dr patient relationship I have had personal experience with DR Levine in his role as Director of New Bridge Foundation. Dr Levine's approach is practical and no-nonsense. He's Board Certified as an Addiction Psychiatrist. Perhaps people who are responsible for treating vulnerable people by making complex medical decisions shouldn't be Yelpable at all. It's no pizzaria where you get what you order. Dr Levine uses his expertise for the good. If you need caring competent help, call Dr Richard Levine. read more

Dr. Levine has been helping me with my depression, he is always ready to listen and give advice and I have been going to his practice since 2005, I am living a normal life, thank to him. read more

Absolutely horrid Psychiatrist ! My now ex partner who suffers from multiple personality disorders, depression, whom experienced self mutilation, suicidal tendencies was going to this Dr. just so he could attain easily prescribed aderral. Initially I thought he was helping my ex partner with his depression and violent mood swings, as my ex was extremely psychologically abusive and physically as well. The last time I experienced abusive situation from my ex I was hoping Dr. Levin would help him isolate his issues and assist with treatment, instead of just issuing anti depressants and aderral. My ex partner asked me to accompany him to Dr. Levin's office in SF an hour away from our then home in the city of San Jose ( 1 hour away). He asked me to accompany him in a last attempt to keep the relationship as I was realizing how mentally ill he was and how unhealthy it was to remain in a relationship. After accompanying him to Dr. Levin's office, my ex partner had maybe only a 15 min visit then took me outside after to speak about what Dr. Levin had told him. The following events that took the place in the middle of the street in front of Dr. Levin's office were absolutely horrifying .. my ex started screaming at me, running away and publicly humiliated me by saying that Dr. Levin had basically told him I was a user and that he should dump me (screaming in the streets). My ex then went on in a psychotic rage screaming obscenities to me in public and even ran into the middle of an intersection amidst traffic and sat Indian style flipping me off and threatened to abandon me in SF with no money or means of getting home. After being screamed at he threatened to call the police if I didn't stay in a relationship with him. After he drove us around with his window down screaming "fuck you SF" ! He gloated and yelled "Dr. Levin said it was normal to be this way" !! Then as we approached the highway he began breaking the car dangerously upon entering the highway, then started swerving the car dangerously, endangering my life. He then drove us off a an unknown road and threatened my life some more declaring in the name of Dr. Levin that this was healthy and his behavior was "normal" through tears I submitted only so that I could calm him down as he continued driving and berating me and that Dr. Levin said he just needed to up his anti-depressants to " level him out". I eventually persuaded my ex to drop me off at a nearby mall so that I could use the restroom, where I ran for my life in fear to the closest security guard where I explained that my ex partner was holding me by will. I ended up escaping, and leaving town (to another state) to safety notifying my friends and fam never seeing my ex again, since our visit to Dr. Levin's office. Currently I have ceased contact with my ex partner and I am now 2 months later still being harassed and stalked by this ex partner a patient of Dr. Levin's and also my friends are being stalked as well. I don't know what kind of Psychiatrist treats patients that remain this ill and condone psychotic behavior but, it's a shame that this Dr. has a license to practice, and ignore true mental illness all for extra street cash making aderral easily available to truly damaged individuals. At the expense of ones life (mine) Absolutely terrible and very unethical practice!!! read more

Extraordinarily helpful psychiatrist; particularly helpful in treating my adult ADD. I had a very complicated insurance claim, and Dr. Levine took extra time to comply with numerous requests for more information, reports, phone calls, etc. Very smart, funny, extremely easy to converse with. My first psychiatrist, and I've been with him 3+ years - and counting! 100% recommended. read more

Quite possibly one of the worst psychiatrist out there, despite being well known in Berkeley and supposedly well respected for his practice. There is nothing worse than a doctor who doesn't believe in what you are experience and tries to minimize the experience you are experiencing on day to day basis. To make the long story short, he basically claimed that my experiences weren't legitimate because he claimed that his other patients with the same symptoms that I was describing to him acted differently then I did. Well no shit!!! Everyone is different and that is in the medicine world and outside the medicine world. I wasted about 2-3 years with this looney bin and don't recommend anyone come see him or waste your money here because he is pricey. Check out other doctors in the building or in the building across the street, they are highly knowledgeable and will consider your experiences as real as the next patient. read more

I find Dr Levine well informed and a good partner in managing my mental health. He has a bit of a contrarian view of psychiatry which aligns closely with my own perspective. read more

I had the same experience as Anne R. with the one star below. Dr. Levine completely invalidated my real experiences again and again, and in the end he led me astray, talking me out of going to a day program, taking me off a medicine rather than titrating it up to a therapeutic dose--the same medicine that like eight years later absolutely changed my life (thanks to a good-if-gruff doctor, Steve Baskin, who unfortunately has retired). Dr. Levine did things like leave me sitting in the waiting room while he, leaving the door cracked, spoke on the phone with his broker. The waiting room is or was downstairs from the offices, so I assume he didn't think I'd come upstairs to hear--but I did, because I'd been waiting long enough that I went upstairs to check with the front desk. Inside the office was just as bad: nothing I was going through was real. Bipolar II? It doesn't exist, and in fact I was just trying to make myself feel special by wanting to have bipolar disorder (??). In comparison, the aforementioned Dr. Baskin--who has an enormous reputation in this region--put me on exactly the right dose of Lamictal for Bipolar II, and once I got up to about 200 mg, I experienced life for the first time ever in a way. I was suffering horribly when I went to see Dr. Levine, and he acted like I was making it all up. All of it. I'm a writer, and he kept suggesting that I was just some wannabe special snowflake who should just buck up and go get a real job rather than thinking she's some suffering artiste. I asked him about going to a day program for intense outpatient care, and he said that it would be of no use, because it would be full of people with real problems and real illnesses. He's treated people with serious mental illness, he said, derisively. When I asked him about switching off of a medicine that I've taken two separate times and that caused me to have problems with word retrieval, he said, "That's not possible." I even had a friend who'd experienced the same thing. I mentioned that, and she, too, was some fabulist. I don't know why Dr. Levine is always so highly recommended--I went to see him because he had glowing recommendations on the Berkeley Parents Network. The man seriously starts your appointment late so that he can call his broker. Everything he discounted I later got treated for and treated successfully. I am baffled by any and all positive reviews. Mean, arrogant, and shockingly dismissive. More interested in his stock portfolio than you. read more

Dr. Levine was my doctor until he felt I could make it on my own. He helped with my depression and bipolar issues. He helped me adjust my meds as a prevention to depression. As a result, I haven't had a major clinical depression for the past 15 years and I may someday not need the low dose meds. I highly recommend him. read more