Dr. Joseph P. Merlino devotes his professional time to clinical private practice and teaching, specializing in working with individuals in the arts, healthcare professions, and religious life utilizing an interactive psychodynamic approach. Dr. Merlino has been a leader in the field of innovative, ethical, community behavioral healthcare for the past several decades. He received his medical degree from New York Medical College in 1978, and Master of Public Administration in 1992 from Baruch College. Dr. Merlino is Professor at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine (Psychiatry) and Visiting Professor of Psychology & Religion at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He has received certifications in Psychoanalysis from New York Medical College, and in Bioethics and the Humanities from Columbia University and Montefiore Hospital. In 2009, following a national search for a leader to take the helm of the beleaguered Kings County Hospital Behavioral Health Service, then under a federal lawsuit from the United States Department of Justice, Dr. Merlino was appointed Director of Psychiatry and Deputy Executive Director and is credited with leading its successful transformation. He next served as the founding Vice President for Faculty Affairs & Professional Development at the State University of New York, Health Sciences Center at Brooklyn. 1987 began a 13-year tenure at Lenox Hill Hospital and promotion to Associate Director of the Department of Psychiatry. He became the founding chair of the Lenox Hill Hospital ethics committee and ethics consultation service. As Director of Community and Ambulatory Psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital Center during the 9/11 attacks, his expertise and support was provided to the office of the Chief Medical Examiner and New York’s family support centers. This work led to an invitation to join the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP), a national think tank for psychiatry and included opportunities for him to contribute to improving approaches to disasters and terrorism, as well as becoming the founding chair of the Committee on Administration and a member of the GAP Board of Directors and Publications Board. Dr. Merlino is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists, and a Distinguished Fellow of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. Clinical Professorships have included NYU and Mount Sinai Schools of Medicine and New York Medical College. Dr. Merlino has edited or co-edited four books: the first on disaster psychiatry; the second on Freud in collaboration with the Austrian embassy in Washington, DC on the 150th anniversary of Freud’s birth, celebrated at a plenary meeting at the Austrian Embassy in Washington; the third, an oral history of the homosexual rights movement in American psychiatry and his fourth published by Oxford University Press on quality transformation of behavioral healthcare in large systems of care. COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS: WILL YOU SPEAK OR JUST LISTEN? Our sessions are interactive. Yes, I will speak, often to seek clarification and further understanding. I also use humor as appropriate since that is basic to my personality. DO YOU ACCEPT ANY INSURANCE? I do not. The paperwork burden and restrictive fees of insurance carriers I find interferes with our work. Many insurance plans do offer what is called “out of network” benefits, meaning they may pay a percentage of the professional fee charged to you directly. You should clarify this with your carrier. IS YOUR PRACTICE LIMITED TO THOSE IN THE ARTS, HEALTHCARE, AND RELIGIOUS LIFE? While exceptions may be made, this is my area of focus. I find assisting in realizing the fullest potential in such individuals especially rewarding. DO YOU PRESCRIBE MEDICATION? I do when indicated. My preference is not to immediately go to medication but to try understanding as much as possible initially. Of course, if medication is indicated I do prescribe them. I do not have a “psychopharmacology only” practice but prefer using psychotherapy to its fullest even if medication is indicated. WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY “INTERACTIVE, PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH”? We talk together, as in a conversation but the difference being that the focus is on you, not me/us as in a typical social interaction. “Psychodynamic therapy” according to Merriam-Webster is defined here: “Psychodynamic therapy, also known as insight-oriented therapy, focuses on unconscious processes as they are manifested in a person's present behavior. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are a client's self-awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behavior.”

Education & experience

Education

Medical School - New York Medical College, Doctor of Medicine

City University of New York, Baruch College, Master's in Public Administration

New York Medical College, Certificate in Psychoanalysis

Columbia University & Montefiore Hospital Center, Certificate in Bioethics & Medical Humanities

Practice

Joseph P. Merlino, MD

Affiliation

Lenox Hill Hospital

Certifications

American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology

Psychiatry (Psychiatry and Neurology)

Professional memberships

American College of Psychiatrists

Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry

American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry

Awards and publications

Lean Behavioral Health: the Kings County Hospital Story, Merlino JP, Omi J, and Bowen J., Oxford University Press, 2014. Hidden Impact: What You Need to Know for the Next Disaster, A Practical Guide for Clinicians. Stoddard F, Katz C, and Merlino J, Jones & Bartlett, Sudbury, MA, 2010. Freud at 150: 21st Century Essays on a Man of Genius, Merlino JP, Kaplan JA and Moritz L, Jason Aronson Press, New York, October 2007. American Psychiatry & Homosexuality: An Oral History, Drescher J and Merlino JP, The Haworth Press, New York, May 2007.