Dr. Pernilla Schweitzer, MD

I’ve been going to Dr Schweitzer for 2 years now - the first year when she was at a larger clinic and this past year in her new private practice. She has been a huge support in helping me with severe anxiety and panic attacks. She always offers a different perspective that helps me get out of my head. I especially love her new office which is like a calm oasis in the middle of downtown, with big windows overlooking a serene garden.

Dr. Schweitzer helped me figure out a new medication for depression when the one I had been taking stopped working. She is the first psychiatrist I've worked with who actually seemed to have a strategy for choosing the right medication instead of just saying "it's trial and error." After a few sessions she honed in on my key symptoms and the new medication we selected led improvement surprisingly quickly.

Dr. Schweitzer really took the time to listen and in our very first meeting uncovered that I have OCD in addition to generalized anxiety. Neither of my previous therapists figured this out even though I’d spent years with them. Getting this diagnosis really changed my life because it helped me get the specific kind of treatment that I needed and helped me understand why all the therapy I’d done before never fully worked. I wish I would have met her sooner.

I’ve been working with Dr. Schweitzer for a couple years now. What I appreciate most about her is that she really meets me where I’m at in terms of what I need. At first I mainly wanted her help finding a new medication for my ADHD. She is incredibly knowledgeable about all the different stimulants and their various side effects. After a couple months we honed in on a really good combination that worked better than anything I had ever tried before. She was also really helpful in terms of teaching me other strategies to manage my ADHD. After a few months I was doing pretty well and didn’t need much help anymore so for about a year we just met once every few months. But then my work got really stressful and I started having panic attacks and really bad anxiety so I got in touch and asked if we could meet more often. Unlike other psychiatrists I’ve worked with I really felt like I could talk to her and wanted to see her for therapy. So for about 6 months we met every week and that really helped me get through one of the most stressful times I’ve ever been through. I really appreciate that she has been able to help me with both my medications and therapy and that we can adjust as needed.

Dr. Schweitzer is by far the most knowledgeable, kind and thoughtful psychiatrist I have ever worked with. I have struggled with depression and panic attacks since I was in high school and I really thought I'd tried every combination of medications out there, so I wasn't really expecting all that much. But she really took the time to get to know me and went through each and every one of the medications I had tried before to come up with a new strategy. She didn't just prescribe a bunch of new things, she actually presented me several different options and explained the pros and cons of each to help me decide what I wanted to try which I really appreciated. She also really takes the time to explain how each medication works and how best to take it. I am now feeling better than I have in years. She is also extremely responsive, answers my messages quickly and thoughtfully, and has always fit me in for a phone call or appointment when I needed it urgently.