Shipko Stuart, MD

Event was well planned & organized. Very informative. Staff were friendly & knowledgeable. Location was great :)

I saw Dr. Shipko yesterday to touch base on the medication I have been on for the past five years and whether or not I wanted to make changes (up the dose — change medication all together etc). After more than an hour of consulting — we came to a decision with what to do going forward.
I have been to many psychologists and psychiatrists in my 30 years of living. Dr. Shipko was by far my favorite. I appreciate his direct communication and questioning. He was practical and I felt got a good overall sense of my history. If you want touchy feely and overly empathetic — I recommend you keep looking.
As to some of the other reviews I saw when I googled him…
It is your job to call and ‘interview’ medical professionals. One cannot possibly believe every doctor out there is going to be a perfect fit. I spoke to five other doctors before meeting with Dr. Shipko. Find what works for you.

Dr. Shipko spoke with me on the phone today and was extremely helpful, knowledgeable and supportive. I’ve been suffering since coming off the SSRI Effexor after 15 years and it destroyed my life. Severe anxiety and panic ²⁴⁄₇ in spite of trial and error with many meds to recover. It’s been over 3 years and I’m emotionally disabled, in a constant state of despair. Benzos have been managing my difficulties and have kept me from committing suicide on a myriad of occasions. Dr. Shipko didn’t carry my insurance and I’m currently on disability, but he nonetheless took the time and care to speak with me over the phone and give me his thoughts. I recommend him highly, especially if you are looking to come off psychiatric drugs.

Thorough assessment, easy to open up to and understand. Honest, knowledgeable and provided good advice. First Dr who did not give me more pills but rather did the opposite. Very pleased with the advice and direction I received. Thank you!

Dr. Shipko is a humanist, not a druggist.
After my valuable consultation with him last week, I’m giving him my highest recommendation.

Dr. Shipko is a gifted psychiatrist who has cured me of the depression that I have lived with for over two decades. For most of my adult life, I accepted that my condition was incurable. I was normal and successful on the outside, but the depression was like a tide — sometimes high, sometimes low — that always washed ashore in the shipwreck of my consciousness.
When I came to Dr. Shipko six months ago, I was looking for medication. I had been through multiple psychologists in the last few years, and talk therapy was clearly not working. I would have told you back then that my psychologists were great people — they were bright, articulate, caring, with a nice bedside manner and sympathetic ear. The only problem was, our therapy was more like a whining session: I was depressed about one thing or another, and I paid this person to listen to my sad story, occasionally interject a smart question, and generally make me feel a little bit better by the time I walked out of the office that day. The problem was, we didn’t fix the depression — the whining sessions would go on indefinitely. Years ago I had tried medication, both on a long and short term basis, and I knew that the pills were more poison than salve; for the most part they made me numb. However, I reached a mental inflection point where I decided that even numb would be better than living every day in debilitating pain. Since my psychologists couldn’t prescribe — after all, psychologists are not real MDs, whereas psychiatrists are — I went looking for someone who could.
I went through Unilocal and found only 8 psychiatrists in Pasadena. I called every one of them. Either no one returned my call, or they sounded unkind, or they wouldn’t give me an appointment for another four weeks. With all the psychiatrists in Pasadena, it was amazing that Unilocal didn’t provide much direction (of course I then realized that people probably didn’t want to post that they were seeing a mental health professional; I don’t, either, which is why I’m posting this from a Unilocal account separate from my usual one). Then, almost by accident, I found Dr. Shipko’s website. His credentials were the real thing: a published psychiatrist who also happens to specialize in medication withdrawal, in particular Xanax. The appointment was easy to schedule and I saw him the same week I called.
Dr. Shipko’s practice is unique. Let me explain. Almost all psychiatrists make money by prescribing — they try to get you out in 30 minutes, and make you come back every month to get your pills, which they know you’ll be on for the rest of your life. So 2 patients every hour, with steady return customers; a nice money-​making business. In contrast, Dr Shipko prescribes on a truly as-​needed, situation-​specific basis. Dr Shipko wants to actually fix the depression. He asks provocative, insightful questions in our discussions about root causes. In some cases, including mine, he focuses on a holistic approach that may include an exercise and/​or healthy living component in addition to the talk therapy.
This review may have run a bit long, but I am deeply indebted to Dr Shipko for bringing the joy back into my life. I had forgotten what that felt like.