Payne Whitney

R. Greenwald

I entered an intensive outpatient program back in 2007. I am writing about it now in 2022 because the deleterious effects of it were not fully clear until last year. Payne Whitney needs to take responsibility for its bad practices. In 2007, I looked into a program that I suspected might have been right for me. I was given a fifteen minute evaluation over the phone. This is unacceptable. All psychological evaluations are at least an hour long, sometimes two. No diagnosis can be made with a few questions remotely. The fact that the program diagnosed in this way demonstrates an inability to grasp the complexity of mental illness. In the end, the program was wrong about my issues, and the clinicians probably weren’t qualified to do their jobs. My therapist never explored my family background, which was very important to understand my psychology. I was emotionally abused. She actually wanted me to attend a family Thanksgiving, ignoring the family dynamics that created my issues in the first place. The program was sloppy in how it handled the psychiatric treatment of its patients. Payne Whitney is attached to Cornell residency. We patients had to give up our very experienced psychiatrists in order to participate in the program. Suddenly, I was working with people who were finishing up a four-year apprenticeship. The fourth year residents were clearly very green. The quality was uneven, and I knew when there were problems. My concerns were regularly dismissed despite my long-term experience with psychiatrists. Some of the techniques in the first year did put me in touch with and help me move past maladaptive behavior, but after a year, progress stalled. My therapist moved onto a technique with no known therapeutic basis that was extremely harmful. Whatever she was doing induced rage. I asked if she could find an alternate method. She said no. The rage scared my neighbors and had me extremely worried. Eventually I left a voicemail for the attending physician and my therapist that had them frightened. That should have been a wake-up call, but they continued to induce rage. I left the program shortly thereafter. Rage serves no clinical purpose. In fact, it is probably treated as a symptom. The motivations of the therapist and the attending physician were unclear, but their behavior was unprofessional. The attending’s (Malley Occhiogrosso)coup de grace was telling me that the most I could expect from my work life was working a cash register and summarizing newspaper articles. Nothing this vicious ever belongs in a therapeutic setting. I left the program severely hampered in my ability to work. Tasks I could handle before the program became impossible after. Twenty years of successful work experience continued to slip away to the point of not being able to work at all. All physicians take the Hippocratic Oath: “First, do no harm.” The psychotherapeutic professions have created something similar. The staff at Payne Whitney violated these oaths.

Israel cardona

I absolutely love the child and adolescent department, they are very attentive to the needs of my family and all patients alike. My only wish is that they would open just an hour earlier for the convenience of the working class. Thank you for all ÿour help and advice.

Joe David

DO NOT GO HERE They ignore you, don't respond to your calls or voicemails, refuse to utilize forms of communication that are legally required, they don't prescribe meds on time, they have no will or ability to help with anything. In the sessions, that are approximately 25 minutes less than once a month, there's almost nothing accomplished. Your concerns, inquiries, attempts to get better are fully ignored. I've been trying to reach them for weeks and nothing. THEY DON'T EVEN PICK UP OR RESPOND TO THEIR EMERGENCY LINE HALF THE TIME!!! I'm quickly dying and it's severe medical negligence. If you care about your loved ones life health and well being, DO NOT SEND THEM HERE. Hope I make it. Love you all.

Miller Benjamin

I know someone who went there. STAY AWAY. They have no science behind their so called treatment. They don't take patients seriously. They are controllers. They survey the terrain ala Jayne Goodall and the apes. Jayne Goodall treats her apes better than they treat humans. Insurance pays and they milk them. They take advantage of vulnerable people. Labeling people with misdiagnoses is their game to make money. DONT TRUST THEM