Who Does Dr. Gottfried Treat?

Dr. Gottfried is trained to treat adults, children, and adolescents for mental health disorders.  She is highly skilled in treating children and adolescents with mood, anxiety, and behavioral disorders and can treat all ages.  She has the most training and experience with children and adolescents.  Nutritional approaches she has found have benefits for all ages. Every psychiatric disorder can benefit from nutritional changes just as many medical problems also improve with nutritional changes. 

Dr. Gottfried can and does prescribe controlled substances, but in her private practice she chooses to forego that modality of treatment.  She can consult with your primary care doctor if the continued use of controlled substances is indicated and this is also agreed upon by your clinician who is willing to prescribe it.  Dr. Gottfried is currently licensed in Maryland, Illinois, and the District of Columbia.  Controlled substances such as stimulants like Adderall are frequently used to treat attention deficit disorders and less frequently other disorders.  Another controlled substance class are the drugs that treat anxiety such as Xanax and Klonopin.  If you are someone who does not wish to explore any opportunities for change around these types of medications, you may want to consider carefully whether this is the right practice for you.  It is not that these medications are never helpful.  They are helpful.  The question that is always worth exploring is, “Are the benefits worth the risks?”. Dr. Gottfried believes that like other medications, controlled substances, are best kept to a minimum. The limitations of the telepsychiatry practice also limit the use of these medications to patients that can be evaluated by her in-person at least once. At this time, Dr. Gottfried is not setup to prescribe these medications herself directly in her private practice.

Another limitation to be considered when reviewing the fit Dr. Gottfried is for your needs are the finances.  Often people expect their medical insurance company to pay for all of their medical and mental health services. However, insurance companies make it difficult for doctors in general to practice the way they were trained, that is to spend the time required to evaluate and treat problems comprehensively. Doctors in small or solo private practice are even more disadvantaged against the pressure of large insurance companies to restrict payment. The focus is on seeing large volumes of patients in shorter and shorter time periods.  I am sure you have noticed this problem when you have visited your doctor.  Did you feel rushed?  Did you feel the doctor had the time to really hear what is going on with you?  Often people blame the doctor for these rushed feelings. However, the doctor is also a victim of the system.  The doctor often feels just as frustrated and unsatisfied as you do.  The power is all with the big insurance company and the solo practice does not have staff who can spend time fighting for payment. Thus, we do ask for you to pay the practice directly rather than us billing your insurance company.   We can provide documentation to you so that you will be able to request reimbursement of fees by your insurance company to you directly if you so choose.  Although Dr. Gottfried would love to do the work that she feels passionate about for those that need and desire her services without regard to ability to pay she does need to herself afford all the things that make her practice possible and at the same time provide for her family.  

Things Dr. Gottfried does not do are related to legal matters, disability, and psychological testing. She does not provide disability evaluations.  She does not provide evaluations for court.  She does not do custody evaluations.  She does not do neuropsychological evaluations.  She does not do personality testing.  She does not in her private practice provide prescriptions for controlled substances.