I've been a patient in with Cara since 2016, and it has truly been a transformative experience…read more Before meeting her, I was living my life never quite feeling right. Despite my concerns, my HMO doctor repeatedly told me there was nothing wrong. I had resigned myself to the idea that I would spend the rest of my life feeling slightly off--unwell, but not sick enough for doctors who treat based on statistics to take action. Then I was introduced to Cara. She listened to me, ran blood tests that my primary care doctor deemed unnecessary, and discovered an issue that had been overlooked. She began treatment right away but didn't stop there. She continued to listen, test, and make adjustments to my care, refining the approach until I truly started to feel better. Cara is very direct and precise in her treatment approach. For instance, when I started taking a vitamin she hadn't recommended, she made her disapproval clear. That's because she cares deeply about your health and expects you to be an active partner in your care. She's thoughtful, knowledgeable, and always up to date on the latest research. Cara ensures that your treatment is holistic, with a focus on healthy living, vitamins, and medication working together to support your overall well-being. I would recommend Cara to anyone ready to understand why they don't feel the way they should--those truly seeking to improve their well-being. Today, I can honestly say that I wake up feeling energetic, happy, and without anxiety or depression--something I never thought possible!

I just had an initial call with Cara, and I feel dumbfounded and shell-shocked. She came across as…read morerobotic and completely devoid of empathy. She repeatedly questioned my therapist's credentials and emphasized the importance of laying out one's entire educational and training history on their website. I found this to be extremely digressing, rude, and off-putting. Really - this is what you want to focus on after I answered your questions about the trauma I am experiencing? She asked me towards the end of the call if I had any questions. Before I could even formulate my question, she cut me off and explained that she's the "most expensive" because of XYZ and that quote "I only work with people where money isn't an issue for them". During this mini tirade, she emphasized how a lot of people expect a magic pill. When I reminded her (gently) that I had mentioned in our email exchange that I specifically do NOT expect a magic pill, she suddenly grew defensive and said "okay sorry but I receive 1000 emails a day and I can't be expected to remember everything. I am human too." Is this how a "top-tier" psychiatrist is supposed to treat prospective clients? I am shaking as I type this out. It was as if she has NO CLUE on how to talk to people who are suffering greatly with their mental health. STAY. AWAY. Also - read her responses to the negative reviews that she receives on Yelp. Just completely devoid of human emotion - just cookie cutter, professional speak. No honest accountability for her actions. No genuine apologies. There's a level of sociopathy that I believe has helped her achieve the success that she has achieved - by removing human emotion and empathy for others out of the equation, she's discovered that she can make a lot of money (but she only serves people who don't have a problem with money - remember that!)

ICK Not accepting new patients. Found this out after…read moreinsisting on knowing her availability BEFORE I filled out their required intake form and getting a referral from my primary doctor. Why do so many businesses have customer service backwards these days?

I received excellent care from Julia. Its difficult to put into words how grateful I am for her…read more Aside from the therapy and the medication I feel I could not have gotten over coping with my mental health issues. I had been treated in the past by great ppl but Julia made understand my part of the healing process.

I'm incredibly grateful I was able to work with Chad. I would recommend him to anyone seeking more…read morepeace, ease, and clarity on their path. A friend recommended Chad when I was looking for a coach to support envisioning the next chapter of my career. I'm so glad I took the leap, as this work has improved all areas of my life-- not just at work. He connects aspects of mindfulness, spirituality, and psychology in a way that deeply resonated with me. The work was challenging, refreshingly to the point, and very much worth the effort. I felt supported through it all. Chad is an incredibly intuitive and generous coach, and I wish everyone was able to experience this kind of coaching and support. Go for it!

Chads ability to listen, support, and guide on this journey is unparalleled…read more The love and care he poured into all of our prep and sessions were life changing. I have my life back and I am forever in his debt.

Dr. Xia was very helpful to guide me in the right direction. He is interested in the entire story…read moreand was able to understand me well. I received some great advice from him. I'm very grateful for his help.

More than a psychiatrist-- an effective, caring THERAPIST, too. Dr. Xia's therapy cuts to the heart…read moreof complex emotions with surgical precision. I've tried a half dozen different therapies, but none like Dr. Xia's, and none as efficient or effective. I've been seeing Dr. Xia weekly (sometimes monthly) for over two years to help with general anxiety and depression. I believe my period of depression lifted because of his help. Only con is the $, but for me, it was worth it.

Dr. Ward is a very compassionate psychiatrist. I'm so happy she finally left LifeStance…read more I found all the information about her on her website: www.elizabethwardmd.com

I was a patient of Dr. Wards for many years. At first I thought she was a good doctor but I never…read moregot better in all the years that I was her patient. The last time I saw her (2015) I was crying because I had debilitating leg pain for 4 months and barely able to walk. I had seen multiple doctors and no one could figure out what was wrong with me. She has no compassion. I told Dr. Ward the situation and she just said I needed a mood stabilizer. When I refused the medication she said my time was up and handed me a book titled why am I still depressed. I WAS NOT DEPRESSED! I threw the book in the garbage at the clinic and left. Once I found out what was causing my leg pain I emailed her to try and educate her that just because someone cries it does not mean they need a mood stabilizer. And just because someone has pain it does not mean they have a psychiatric disorder. Psychiatric doctors never try and figure out the cause of a patients mental health issues. There are causes but they just give you a label and drugs. Google 13 blood test everyone with depression should get. Also, google mental health symptoms and Lyme disease. Lyme, Babesia, Bartonella and CIRS have been the cause of my pain and suffering for 22 years. This includes all my mental health issues and the labels she gave me. Dr. Ward has tunnel vision and needs to get educated. She just wants to give you drugs and does not care about your overall health. I no longer take any prescriptions medications and I am much healthier now that I am almost done treating the CAUSE.

I found Dr. Cohen on Yelp in December when I was battling a particularly nasty bout of depression…read more My usual refuges of eating healthier, exercising, or diving into hobbies weren't improving my mood. I lacked motivation, excitement for activities I once loved, and felt incapable of working, so after months of suffering I called Dr. Cohen. I've seen therapists off and on at various stages of my life, typically to talk about how I was currently feeling or my childhood. Though it was nice to talk to someone, I never felt like I made progress, developed coping tools or learned why *like clockwork* I'd spend 1/2 the year in a depressed state. In just a few months since seeing Dr. Cohen, I've had several breakthroughs which have helped me to understand the source of my depression. I'm also learning to be mindful of my triggers, so that I don't feel completely consumed by my emotions. I've been able to return to work and I've gone from being a withdrawn, shell of myself to feeling the full variety of my emotions. I'm still in recovery, but I'm learning to be patient with myself, to be kinder to myself, and to be more flexible. I wish I'd had Dr. Cohen earlier in my life, but I'm thankful to be in her care now and have her support. If you're ready to earnestly put in the work to get better, do yourself a favor and give her a call today.

For the plus side, I think she's a decent listener and she would be a good therapist for people…read morethat mostly have their lives together and have a lot of money to spend on therapy. I think for any struggling individual, I would strongly recommend avoiding her as a doctor/therapist. Dr. Cohen saw my mother 1-4 times a month over the course of a year. To list out all of the unprofessional, uncaring, ways Dr. Cohen has treated my mother and me as clients would take too long to write and too long to read, so I'll try to stick with the bigger issues. 1. Dr. Cohen discharged my mother from her care due to her and me being "too difficult of clients" before going on a month-long vacation. I believe Dr. Cohen's health isn't what it once was, and I believe at this point in her career she is only looking for "easy" cases. 2. After discharging my mother from her care, Dr. Cohen kindly gave us a few months of prescription refills. After I was unable to get them extended by a few urgent care doctors and came to Dr. Cohen for help, she refused to extend any refills. I offered to pay for another session in exchange for one last extension. She reluctantly agreed, called the pharmacy to extend the prescription by one final month, and then charged me $900 for 3 sessions. This is months after discharging us from her care and she has never seen us since, the only care she has given us was a phone call to the pharmacy. *EDIT* Dr. Cohen has since refunded us $900 after seeing this yelp review and receiving calls from my credit card company. 3. Dr. Cohen prides herself on therapy over drugs. Her website and my first meetings with her convinced me that she was someone I could trust to really attempt to fix problems rather than increasing drug dosages. I was wrong. For every new issue that came up, Dr. Cohen's first response was to recommend increasing medication dosages. For my mother's drowsiness during the day, the first thing she recommended was to increase her sleeping medication rather than focusing on behaviors that could have impacted her sleep (caffeine intake, lack of exercise, etc.) Aside from those big 3 issues, there were a handful of minor issues that I've seen in some other yelp reviews. 4. She often, and unnecessarily, takes client time to fumble with technology. She is very clearly not technically proficient, yet she insists on using client time to attempt to set up apps / open google spreadsheets, etc. She doesn't come prepared to sessions and doesn't want to do any of this outside of client time. 5. Despite my mother's native tongue clearly not being English, Dr. Cohen speaks overly academically and focuses more on expressing herself vs. being understood. Her language was often either pretentious or condescending, with little in-between. 6. After almost every session, she encouraged me to write a Yelp review. Maybe just a pet peeve but I don't think you should give subpar service and then ask your customer to write a review. Overall, I think there are people out there that Dr. Cohen is capable of helping. However, I genuinely do not believe that Dr. Cohen is capable of helping people that are actually in need of help. For that reason I believe her to be the most disappointing medical professional I have ever come across.

I saw Dr Hastik for about 7 years while living in San Francisco and cannot say enough good things…read moreabout her knowledge and treatment. She completely (and successfully) re-diagnosed my illness and set me down a better pharmacological path. I highly recommend her, especially for those with hard-to-treat illnesses.

I've been seeing Karin for almost 15 years, and am continually impressed with her knowledge of…read morecurrent psychiatric and medical research and her commitment to improve my health. She was the one who recommended I have a sleep test... now I know I have severe sleep apnea and use a CPAP machine every night to give my brain the oxygen it needs. She was also the one who suggested I get tested for MTHFR gene SNPs.... now I know I am homozygous for the C677T allele and take L-methyfolate every day to normalize my neurotransmitter levels and reduce fatigue (as well as reduce my risk for certain heart diseases). Karen has also helped me adjust or switch anxiety medications several times, and seems to know the pros and cons of each drug available. I highly recommend her.

I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 17 years old through a private practice…read more Out of necessity, I transferred my care to a psychiatrist who was generic, disinterested, and overworked. The cocktail of medicine the psychiatrist put me on worked for 8 years, or at least I believed it did. Fast forward to November 2019. I was in my first semester of law school when it became very evident that the cocktail of pills were no longer a service to me. I had to make a change, no matter the cost. I opened my laptop and searched, "ADHD specialist San Francisco, CA." Somewhere in the midst of that search, I found Doctor Johnson. I met with him, we spoke, and he immediately got me on a much more SAFER and EFFECTIVE treatment. Ultimately, I took a medical leave of absence because my grades suffered so greatly to the point of no return. I took the year to work and adapt to the new treatment. Now I'll get to the good stuff. I returned to law school in fall 2020. My (second) first semester of law school was amazing. I was at the top of my class. Of course I credit myself for putting the hard work in, but I have to give much credit to Doctor Johnson. For if it weren't for him, I would not have returned, and I would not have been as successful as I was. I wish this was the end of the story, but it's not. Second semester of law school, Spring 2021. I am unable to sleep. The pressure of needing perform at a high level is real because I set the bar so high for myself. Once I informed Doctor Johnson of what I was going through, he made sure he was on call for me during this whole period of time. He checked in on me daily, and did everything he possibly could to make sure I would make it through this difficult phase of my life. If you asked me a couple months ago if I thought I would make it through, I would of said no. But with the help of Doctor Johnson, my PCP, and my therapist, I fought and clawed my way through and ultimately, I was able to finish my first year of law school! Moral of the story: I am truly beyond grateful for Doctor Johnson, and I recommend him to literally anyone in need of a compassionate, caring, and highly intelligent psychiatrist. I hope this review helps others find their way to an enlightening path. Thanks for reading!

I met with Dr. Johnson in early June and my entire experience from start to finish has been nothing…read moreshort of amazing. Dr. Johnson is thorough, accommodating, and pays attention to acute detail when learning patient history/background. I've worked with many different Practitioners/Psychiatrists and this experience has been far and away the most hands on, more personalized, and *most importantly* the most HUMAN. For those of you who get healthcare through Kaiser or other HMO's, this should resonate profoundly. Dr. Johnson doesn't treat you like a number. I spent more time in his office than I did the waiting room. Very pleasant experience and would highly recommend to individuals looking for personalized and complete help. Thank you.

Kay is the real deal. She helped me navigate a challenging moment in life when I was at a…read morecrossroads. I got a lot out of only a handful of sessions together--she was immediately helpful and never pressured me to engage in any sort of long term engagement, which I really appreciate. I have new tools I was able to put to immediate use, but more than that, her insightful questions and active listening helped me find the clarity I was seeking. I cannot recommend her enough. P.S. this was written by a real actual human :)

Kay helped me get over a recent onset of insomnia I was experiencing for about a month. Her…read moreapproach was amazing as she got to know me and the potential things that might of created this in order to develop a personal plan to help me get through it. I am so glad I trusted in her and would highly recommend! Thanks Kay!

It's been 11 years since the last time I wrote a review. What could possibly inspire me to want to…read morewrite a review after such a long hiatus? One word: therapy. I still remember the day I reached out to Esther requesting for her psychotherapy service. I had just ordered all these self-help books via Amazon that were piling up on my nightstand, but my mind was all over the place and I couldn't find a way to focus on where to begin. If you googled the phrase "woe is me", the top result would probably be a photo of me. I needed someone to help navigate me through my anxious thoughts, someone to provide me with the right tools that would let me better articulate my feelings, someone to boost my confidence, but most importantly someone to just help me get a grip on my entire mental wellbeing. Fortunately shortly after reaching out to Esther, she was able to take me in. I remember feeling wary coming into our first session. I had worked with a few other therapists prior to her, but I didn't feel like I got to where I needed to be with them. I remember during that very first session I was experiencing so much anxiety and overthinking so many events in my life. The simple question of "how are you doing/what is going on in your life?" sent me into a spiral and I remember just crying and pouring out so many bottled up emotions. By the end of our first session, we practiced a cognitive diffusion exercise together and I remember immediately feeling a sense of relief. I felt so much more hopeful than at the beginning of our session and that if I gave it more time I could overcome the mental obstacles that were holding me back. What really solidified my decision to stick with Esther was her hands on approach. With other therapists, we would have a full session of chatting, maybe do an exercise or two, and then pick up again the following week with nothing to hold me accountable with what we practiced. But with Esther, she would assign me homework that would consist of more than just reading. Her assignments would really challenge me to get out of my scared little comfort zone. Then the following week she would always follow up to make sure I really completed that homework. Six months later of consistent therapy with Esther, I can confidently say I am in a much better head space. She's provided me with so many tools that really helped build my confidence and foster a better relationship with myself through emphasizing the importance of self care and just really speaking more kindly to myself. It sounds so simple, but it honestly is a lot of work. I'm so glad I got through it with Esther. She has such a kind, compassionate, and most importantly a nonjudgmental demeanor. I always felt safe during our sessions and that I could speak my mind no matter how silly I thought I might sound. She really helped boost my confidence and made me believe in myself and that under all this "woe is me" there truly is an amazing lovable confident person.

I had never been to or experienced any form of therapy prior to meeting with Esther. I also don't…read moretypically feel comfortable talking about myself so I was naturally a bit anxious and unsure of what to expect. What I noticed right away is that Esther is so warm - she really provides a safe space and environment that encourages you to open up. Outside of this, what I appreciated the most through working with Esther is that she helped me identify and "name" my feelings and inclinations. I know everyone is different and has their own experiences but this was such a breakthrough for me because it allowed me to understand ME better. She helped me identify my own thoughts and feelings which now allows me to take a step back to recognize and break out of certain tendencies. She gave me the tools I needed to work through my anxieties and I'm so grateful that I now have an idea of how to help myself. She was also my cheerleader and reminded me to practice and prioritize self-care - something I have always neglected but am focused on working on moving forward! For those who are also new to therapy, I would recommend giving it at least two+ sessions as it won't always feel comfortable or natural at first! Thank you, Esther, for the time and space to present my authentic self and for coaching and guiding me through my feelings!