Inpatient
Services
Outpatient Behavioral Sciences
Supportive/Blended Case Management Program
(COPAD) Combined Outpatient Psychiatric and Addiction
Disorders Program
Clinical Divisions:
Geriatric Psychiatry
Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
Addiction Psychiatry
Child Psychiatry
Treatment Centers & Specialty Programs:
Center for Anxiety & Post-Traumatic
Disorders (Anxiety & Stress Disorders)
Zirinsky Mood Disorders Center
Schizophrenia Spectrum Center
Neurobehavior and Alzheimer's Disease Center
HIV/AIDS Psychiatry Program
Primary Care Psychiatry Program
Brief Psychotherapy Program
Long Term Psychotherapy Center
The Bipolar Family Treatment Center
Evening/Weekend Programs
Inpatient Services
Located at the Petrie campus of Beth Israel Medical Center, our inpatient
services consist of a general psychiatric unit, a general geropsychiatric
unit, and a nationally recognized dual diagnosis unit that specializes
in the treatment of patients with both psychiatric and substance abuse
disorders. In total, the inpatient service maintains a 92-bed capacity
and is licensed by the New York State Office of Mental Health.
Inpatient psychiatric treatment at Beth Israel focuses on the resolution
of acute symptoms. Treatment consists of a wide range of somatic and psychosocial
therapies, with a strong multidisciplinary approach. Each unit has two
full-time board-certified attending psychiatrists, who coordinate all
aspects of the patient care. Upon admission, each patient is assigned
an attending psychiatrist, a psychiatric resident, a social worker who
coordinates the discharge plan, and an occupational therapist or assistant
who provides therapeutic activities seven days a week. Each unit also
has a full-time Ph.D. psychologist, who coordinates psychotherapy groups
and supervises psychological testing.
Featuring 33 beds, the General Psychiatric Unit is primarily an adult
service, but it also maintains several beds for adolescents and treats
patients from the ages of 14 to 64. The staff is well trained and experienced
in the treatment of acute aspects of psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia,
bipolar disorder, major depression, severe anxiety disorders, and personality
disorders.
Patients in the General Psychiatric Unit are treated by a multidisciplinary
team, including an attending psychiatrist, a psychiatric resident, a psychiatric
nurse, a social worker, and an occupational therapist. This staff offers
patients the most up-to-date treatments for acute psychiatric illnesses,
including medications, electroconvulsive treatments, individual and group
psychotherapies, family counseling, and a range of both psychotherapy
and occupational therapy groups throughout the day. The treatment of adolescents
includes an assessment from the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
In addition, adolescents are provided schooling during the academic year
through the New York Department of Education.
A 31-bed unit, which is made up of both an Adult Service and a Geropsychiatry
Service, is available to treat those who are 65 years of age and older.
Half of the beds on the unit are dedicated to working with geriatric patients
who present with disorders such as late-life depression, late onset schizophrenia,
delusional disorders, and behavioral disturbances secondary to a dementia.
All patients are offered a multidisciplinary approach and the most current
psychiatric treatments.
This inpatient unit is part of the geriatric service, which includes a
geriatric psychiatry fellow working with the attending psychiatrist and
the rest of the multidisciplinary team—all of whom are well experienced
in treating geriatric patients. Younger adults are admitted with the full
range of psychiatric diagnoses that require inpatient hospitalization,
such as schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, and severe personality
disorders. As on the general service, all patients are assigned a psychiatric
team, including an attending psychiatrist, a psychiatric resident, a nurse,
a social worker, and an occupational therapist.
The Addiction Psychiatry Inpatient Unit is a unique and highly specialized
service that treats individuals with active drug or alcohol abuse disorders
who are also suffering from a serious psychiatric illness. These psychiatric
symptoms may be depression, panic, anxiety, or the more serious manifestations
of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The presence of concurrent drug
or alcohol dependence often magnifies the severity of the psychiatric
condition and complicates its effective treatment.
This unit also treats withdrawal symptoms from the full range of substances
and of all magnitudes of severity. It offers the advantage of this intensive
detoxification while acute psychiatric conditions are simultaneously medicated
and brought under control. Careful attention is given to the differentiation
of substance-induced disorders from those of primary underlying conditions.
The Addiction Psychiatry Inpatient Unit is staffed by an experienced and
highly trained team that includes nurses, social workers, and occupational
therapists, and is led by a psychiatrist who is board certified in both
psychiatry and addiction psychiatry. There is a well-established post-doctoral
addiction psychiatry training program associated with the unit that provides
additional resources for patient care. The unit is also connected to our
outpatient addiction psychiatry service that provides long-term care for
this special group.
For information about admission to the Inpatient Units, please call
Aida Ruiz at (212) 420-4650.
Outpatient Behavioral Services
The Psychiatric Outpatient Service is a comprehensive and innovative ambulatory
mental health service located at the Petrie campus of Beth Israel Medical
Center. Staffed by a large group of mental health professionals, including
psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, we strive to provide
the highest level of care to our patients following a full physical and
psychosocial evaluation.
Our services offer a complete array of psychiatric and psychological treatments,
including cutting-edge forms of psychopharmacology; innovative types of
individual, group, and family psychotherapy; psychological testing; and
programs directed at assisting patients with special needs, such as addiction
disorders or chronic mental illnesses. As an important service to our
patients, we offer specialized divisions of Geriatric Psychiatry, Child
and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Addiction Psychiatry, as well as active
research divisions in which patients may participate if they so choose.
Our position within Beth Israel Medical Center allows us to provide an
integrated physical/psychosocial treatment plan whenever possible. We
assist patients in obtaining general and specialized medical care within
the hospital and from community agencies that match the individual’s
needs. In case of crises, psychiatric emergency services are available
24 hours a day.
We accept Medicaid, Medicare, several Medicaid managed care plans, 1199
Union insurance for Continuum employees, and HIP as well as other managed
care plans. We are also able to arrange sliding-scale fees under specific
circumstances and assist in referrals to other resources and providers
as appropriate.
For general information about Outpatient Behavioral Services, please
call (212) 420-2400. To arrange an evaluation, please call (212) 420-4135.
Case Management Program
Supportive Case Management (SCM)
Beth Israel Medical Center's Supportive Case Management Program is designed
to provide post-hospitalization case management services for patients
with serious and persistent mental illness who would otherwise make inefficient
use of available resources. Our aim is to ensure that these patients obtain
psychiatric and medical care, housing, benefits, rehabilitation etc. Case
managers make home visits and liaison with individuals and institutions
to connect patients with needed services.
Blended Case Management (BCM)
Beth Israel Medical Center’s Blended Case Management program utilizes a team approach integrating the case loads of two intensive Case Managers and one Supportive Case Manager. This approach allows patients to transition from one level to another when appropriate. Services are targeted to the seriously and persistently mentally ill patient who has impairments which seriously interfere with the ability to function independently within the community. Patients receiving ICM services are seen at least once weekly.
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)
The ACT Program is directed at chronically and persistently ill psychiatric
patients and dual-diagnosis patients with psychiatric disorders and substance
abuse. Treatment is conducted by a multi-disciplinary team consisting
of a psychiatrist, nurse, social worker and mental health workers. The
team sees patients primarily in the community and provides direct care
to patients and families. Medication compliance is major focus, along
with stabilization and maintenance of the patients in the community. Psychiatry
residents may elect to work on this service to fulfill their requirements
in community psychiatry.
COPAD
The Combined Outpatient Psychiatric & Addictive Disorders (COPAD)
program began in 1990 as an NIMH grant-funded study to treat persons with
schizophrenia spectrum disorders and comorbid addictive disorders.
The program provides clinic based medication management as well as supportive
psychotherapy, relapse prevention and psychoeducation in a small group
format. Manual driven service components are delivered in low intensity
(2 times per week/1.5 hrs per session) by a psychiatrist and social worker
skilled in addiction treatment. The goals of therapy are to enhance retention,
reduce drug and alcohol use and avert hospitalization, as well as improve
adaptive skills and socialization. An assertive community treatment arm
was added in 1995 with additional funding from NIDA to further the same
goals.
With the end of both grants, patients have remained in treatment under
the umbrella of the addiction psychiatry clinic. Given the established
reputation of the COPAD program, various community agencies continue to
refer dually diagnosed patients to this clinic, where they can avail themselves
of this unique service.
The program also serves as fertile training ground for up to five PGY-3/4
residents who each co-lead a group. Supervision is provided weekly by
experienced faculty, and includes the review of videotaped material from
groups.
For more information on COPAD, please call (212) 420-2900.
Clinical Divisions:
Geriatric Psychiatry
The Division of Geriatric Psychiatry of Beth Israel Medical Center is
committed to improving the lives of seniors with emotional and cognitive
difficulties. We offer comprehensive evaluation and treatment, including
inpatient geropsychiatry, outpatient geropsychiatry, nursing home consultations,
and house calls to homebound patients.
Currently, the division has two major initiatives. First, we are working
with other departments in the hospital to make sure that elderly patients
receive comprehensive, integrated treatment. Our staff psychiatrists and
geropsychiatry fellows are available to patients in a variety of settings
so that people with medical and neurological problems have easy access
to our services. Secondly, we are working closely with a number of community
organizations including the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged
and the United Jewish Council to reach seniors with depression and dementia
who otherwise would never receive appropriate care.
We are also involved in research to examine the benefits of providing
seniors with home-based psychiatric treatment. Clinical trials are being
conducted in collaboration with the Center for Clinical Research.
Our training program includes an accredited fellowship for psychiatrists
who have completed their residency. We also provide education in geropsychiatry
for psychiatric residents.
For more information on Geriatric Psychiatry, please call (212) 420-2400.
.
Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine
The Division of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine
at Beth Israel Medical Center provides comprehensive psychiatric evaluation
and management to patients who are admitted to the hospital for a variety
of medical and surgical conditions.
Psychological reactions to illness such as depression or anxiety are not
uncommon, and the Consultation-Liaison division is available to help the
patient’s primary doctor address these problems. In addition, some
illnesses can cause certain psychiatric symptoms that the Consultation-Liaison
division can help diagnose. Finally, the division can also help manage
patients with long-standing psychiatric conditions when they are admitted
to the hospital for medical/surgical treatment.
The liaison aspect of the division’s work often involves teaching
non-psychiatric hospital staff how to better address the psychosocial
needs of their patients as well as educating them about different coping
styles of the patient’s care and discharge planning. We are also
able to provide support for hospital staff to help them cope with the
intensity of inpatient hospital work.
Our staff is comprised of three full-time, board-certified attending psychiatrists
who have each received additional training and experience in Consultation-Liaison
Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine. Our division also provides such
training to two Psychosomatic Medicine fellows each year, as well as training
psychiatry residents in the specialty of Psychosomatic Medicine. Other
attending psychiatrists associated with the division have expertise in
areas of cancer and HIV/AIDS, and we also work closely with the HIV/AIDS
Psychiatry Program and the Primary Care Psychiatry Program.
For more information on Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, please call
(212) 420-4230.
Addiction Psychiatry
The Addiction Psychiatry Division is a specialized service for patients
who require simultaneous treatment of both a psychiatric condition and
a substance-related disorder. Each of these disorders can serve as a barrier
to effective treatment of the other. Psychiatric medications and therapies
may be rendered ineffective by coexisting drug or alcohol abuse. Conversely,
untreated psychiatric illness can hinder efforts at overcoming addiction
problems. Concurrent treatment of these disorders is the mission of the
division and requires specialized training and specific clinical strategies.
The division is under the supervision of attending psychiatrists who
are board certified in both addiction psychiatry and general psychiatry,
and have extensive experience working in both areas. The division staff
is also composed of psychologists, post-doctoral fellows in addiction
psychiatry, psychiatric residents-in-training, psychiatric nurses, addiction
counselors, and psychiatric social workers with comprehensive experience
in addiction treatment. There is a postgraduate training program for board
certification in addiction psychiatry, as well as an active research program.
The major components of our addiction psychiatry services are the 28-bed
inpatient unit—the first such service established in New York City—and
the busy outpatient service. In addition, a wide range of treatment modalities
are offered that utilize the services of the Department of Medicine, the
Stuyvesant Square rehabilitation programs, the Department of Pain and
Palliative Care, and the Beth Israel methadone maintenance treatment programs.
The services offered include:
Acute inpatient psychiatric care with concurrent substance disorder treatment
Inpatient detoxification in both psychiatric and non-psychiatric settings
Outpatient addiction psychiatry treatment
Outpatient detoxification
Intensive inpatient 28-day drug/alcohol rehab treatment
Intensive outpatient partial-hospital drug/alcohol rehab program
Part-time and evening outpatient rehab program
Referrals to methadone maintenance
For more information on these addiction services, please call the following
numbers:
Inpatient addiction psychiatry/Admissions (212) 420-4650
Outpatient addiction psychiatry (212) 420-4135
Inpatient /Outpatient Stuyvesant Square Rehabilitation programs (212)
420-2966
Methadone maintenance (212) 726-6800
Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
The multidisciplinary Child and Adolescent Psychiatry service provides
clinical assessment and treatment to children and adolescents in the department’s
outpatient service. Our services are provided by a team of experienced
clinicians. The treatment includes psychiatric evaluation, individual
psychotherapy (including play therapy), parental counseling family therapy,
group therapy and pharmacotherapy. Group therapy services have been expanded
and we continue to provide social skills training for children. We have
groups for adolescent boys and girls to improve their ability to adjust
to the demands of adolescence and their specific developmental tasks.
In addition we have parenting groups to improve guardians’ ability
to deal with a variety of childhood behavioral problems. Consultation/Liaison
is an important part of our service and we have close relations with our
pediatric and psychiatric inpatient units. The staff of the division also
participates in training psychiatry residents and fellows, as well as
psychology interns and externs and pediatric residents.
For more information on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, please call
(212) 420-2699.
Treatment Centers & Specialty Programs:
Center for Anxiety & Traumatic Disorders
As a whole, anxiety disorders are an extremely prevalent group of disorders
that constitute a major health burden on the population. Even prior to
the events of September 11th, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder alone occurred
in up to 5 percent of all men and 10 percent of all women in the United
States. Risk factors for this and other anxiety-related disorders include
a personal history of sexual or physical abuse and direct exposure to
trauma and poverty.
Our Center is located at Beth Israel’s Psychiatric Outpatient Services.
Our patients come to us from a broad array of social and cultural backgrounds.
However, a large percentage of our patients have a history of childhood
abuse, and up to 50 percent suffer from a severe anxiety disorder. Furthermore,
given our location, we serve a patient population highly in need of increased
psychiatric services. The Lower East Side of Manhattan is officially designated
a medically underserved area by the federal government.
At the Center for Anxiety & Traumatic Disorders, it is our mission
to provide the most advanced psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic
treatments, based on well-founded research and clinical experience. The
Center is staffed by psychiatrists in close alliance with psychologists
and social workers, many of whom have extensive research and clinical
experience in treating patients with anxiety and histories of childhood
and adult trauma.
To address the needs of our patient population, several of our existing
programs will be expanded. In addition, several research initiatives will
be started to further improve and expand treatment options for our patients.
Some examples of current programs in expansion or development include:
Program for Trauma-Related Group Psychotherapy, including Hispanic Women’s
Anxiety Management Group, Eating Disorders Group, and Survivors of Childhood
Sexual Abuse Groups.
Programs for Advanced Biological Therapies for Anxiety, including both
ongoing clinical treatment and research trials into novel medication strategies
for anxiety, are conducted in collaboration with the Center for Clinical
Research.
Program for Advanced Training in Trauma Treatments, which focuses on the
creation of expert, rapid-response mental health specialists capable of
providing emergency counseling to disaster victims in and around New York
City.
For more information on the Center for Anxiety & Traumatic Disorders,
please call (212) 420-4135.
Zirinsky Mood Disorders Center
The center specializes in the treatment of mood disorders using state-of-the-art
approaches, including pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy and electro-convulsive
therapy. Center staffs are actively engaged in teaching psychiatry and
psychology trainees in all of the currently used modalities of treatment.
In addition, center staff are developing and conducting a number of research
projects in depressive and bipolar disorders.
For more information on the Zirinsky Mood Disorders Centers, please
call (212) 844-1253.
Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders Center
The schizophrenia spectrum disorders, including the subtypes of schizophrenia
and schizoaffective disorder, affect over 1 percent of the American population
during their lifetime. Hospitalization rates are high; it is estimated
that at least 50 percent of all mental hospital beds are occupied by schizophrenic
patients. In addition, over 15 percent of all outpatients in treatment
carry this diagnosis. This high prevalence, with its attendant psychosocial
repercussions, make the Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders Center critical
among the new programs in the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel
Medical Center.
Both inpatient and outpatient services—with expert staff and special
strategies that ensure continuity of care—are required for treatment
of these illnesses.
Special programs within the Center address the following issues which
are highly relevant to the Beth Israel patient population:
Use of Novel Treatments in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: Our Center,
in collaboration with the Clinical Research Center, is interested in assessing
the use of novel treatments (including new medications, psychotherapies,
rehabilitation options) for the schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
Treatment Compliance Program: Our Center is working on the development
of improved methods of identifying both barriers to compliance in the
population and innovative strategies to overcome them.
Issues in Competency in Consent to Research: Our Center is interested
in assessing the capacity of schizophrenia spectrum disorder patients
to consent to research. Little is known in this area, and we believe that
expanding this knowledge base would have important and wide-ranging implications.
For more information on the Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
Center, please call (212) 420-2204.
Neurobehavior and Alzheimer’s Disease Center
The Betty and Morton Yarmon Neurobehavior and Alzheimer’s Disease
Center is a consultation and treatment service headed by a psychiatrist
who is board certified in both psychiatry and neurology. The division
cares for patients who have neurological disorders and who have concurrent
symptoms or behaviors of neuropsychiatric origin. Staff members also evaluate
patients with primary psychiatric disorders in whom an organic etiology
is suspected.
The division conducts ongoing research in Alzheimer’s disease and
is studying the effects of right hemisphere pathology on personality,
awareness, and psychological defense. Other members of the department
are collaborating to study the relationship between brain pathophysiology
and behavior using SPECT and PET scanning. The division also has special
interests in mind-brain interaction. Staff members are currently investigating
the relationship between the anatomy and physiology of the brain, consciousness,
and epistemological theory.
For more information on the Neurobehavior and Alzheimer’s Disease
Center, please call (212) 420-4111.
HIV/AIDS Psychiatry Program
Beth Israel has a long history of providing comprehensive care to people
with HIV/AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic. The AIDS Psychiatry
program was one of the first programs in New York City dedicated to the
evaluation and management of the neuropsychiatric manifestations of HIV.
We currently have two full-time psychiatrists and two full-time psychologists
working on-site at the Peter Krueger Clinic for the Treatment of Immunologic
Disorders with the full support of social work and nursing staff. In addition,
a Ryan White funded program, Stepping Up, provides mental health and case
management services to methadone patients with HIV/AIDS.
For more information on the HIV/AIDS Psychiatry Program, please call
(212) 420-4230.
Primary Care Psychiatry Program
The Primary Care Psychiatry Program at Beth Israel Medical Center attempts
to integrate psychiatric care into the medical mindset and clinical setting.
We offer high-quality psychiatric consultative, referral, educational,
administrative, research, and supervisory services at Phillips Ambulatory
Care Center (PACC) to the residents and attending physicians of Beth Israel’s
Departments of Internal Medicine and Pain and Palliative Care. This results
in medical providers being better suited to address the emotional illnesses
found so frequently in the average primary care and medical practices.
Brief Psychotherapy Program
The Brief Psychotherapy Research program offers specialized treatment
for adults who suffer from the following: depression, anxiety, low self-esteem,
and/or interpersonal problems. Designed to shorten the therapy process,
brief psychotherapy focuses on very specific problem areas and involves
high levels of therapist activity.
If thorough evaluation indicates that short-term treatment is appropriate,
a therapist is assigned to the patient. Treatment consists of 30 psychotherapy
sessions and involves an integration of cognitive/behavioral and interpersonal/relational
principles. If short-term treatment is rendered inappropriate, we assist
the patient in finding alternative treatment.
After each session, patients are required to fill out a brief questionnaire.
In addition, all sessions are videotaped with patient’s consent
for research purposes only. Patients have to pay a fee for each session,
but the fee is based on an income-sensitive sliding scale.
For more information on the Brief Psychotherapy Program, please call
(212) 420-3819.
Long-Term Psychotherapy Center
The Long-Term Psychotherapy Center provides patients with a dynamic psychotherapy
experience as part of a training program for senior psychiatry residents.
Patients with interpersonal problems often accompanied by anxiety and
depressive disorders are recruited from the community.
Each patient is given two to three hours of intake interviews, so that
a thorough evaluation can be made. Following the intake evaluation, patients
are given treatment recommendations. The majority of patients are assigned
to long-term psychotherapy with a senior resident who is supervised by
an attending psychiatrist. All intake evaluations and psychotherapy sessions
are videotaped. Fees are based on ability to pay using a sliding scale
arrangement.
For more information on the Long Term Psychotherapy Center, please
call (212) 844-1543 for an evaluation.
Evening/Weekend Programs
The Psychiatry Department’s Evening/Weekend Programs provide psychotherapy
and medication treatment after 5 p.m. on weekdays, and medication treatment
during the day on Saturday. We offer treatment in English, Spanish, Hebrew
and other languages.
Our clinicians are capable of treating patients with a wide range of psychological
difficulties. Our psychotherapists are licensed psychologists, certified
social workers, and psychology graduate trainees who have completed our
Department’s Psychology internship program. Our psychiatric services
are provided by board-certified psychiatrists on staff at Beth Israel
and by residents in their final year of training at our hospital. We accept
a large number of insurance policies, as well as self-paying patients
for whom we have some ability to adjust fees depending on income.
For more information on our Evening/Weekend Programs, please call
(212) 420-2400.
The Bipolar Family Treatment Center
The Bipolar Family Treatment Center
is dedicated to the compassionate support, treatment and understanding
of bipolar illness within the context of the family. Recognizing that
preserving family health and stability is an essential part of successful
bipolar illness treatment, the Center's clinical program is unique in
that it is the first ever to systematically focus on including caregivers
and family members at every step along the patient's way to wellness.
Under the direction of founder Igor
Galynker, MD, PhD, the program is designed to both improve patients'
outcome and quality of life, and also protect family members - including
children - from the pain, frustration, isolation, and misunderstanding
that are associated with dealing with a family member's bipolar illness.
For more information on the Bipolar Family Treatment Center, please
call (212) 420-2204.