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Dr. Kavin Fatehchand’s psychiatric practice for adults and teens is built on a simple philosophy: An accurate diagnostic label matters, but a physician can support sustainable life changes if they understand the nuance of your life.
“It takes time to understand someone’s life narrative and how it’s shaped them into who they are today,” Dr. Kavin said in an interview last week. “I need to understand not only how someone views the world around them, but also how they are perceived by the world around them.”
Dr. Kavin, a nonbinary physician who uses they/them pronouns, has in-person offices at 140 W. 71st St. and 80 Fifth Ave.
They began practicing as a private psychiatrist to allow adult and teenage patients the time and care they need to be fully understood. While this might seem like the bare minimum for a mental health provider, most psychiatrists in Manhattan can’t provide it.
In the insurance-based system, doctors are effectively prevented from providing frequent appointments or psychotherapy, Dr. Kavin says. If a patient is lucky, they may see their doctor for 15 minutes every three months for a quick med check.
Dr. Kavin practices outside the insurance industry, so patients can be seen as frequently as clinically indicated, and most choose to receive both medication management and psychotherapy from the same physician.
“What I really do enjoy is helping patients conceptualize who they are rather than what they’ve been diagnosed with,” they say.
Psychiatrists are the most highly trained mental health providers, and as physicians, they understand both the behavioral and medical side of the equation.
“Someone may have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and that’s helpful to be aware of. But, at my clinic I have time to sit down and say: ‘There’s definitely psychosis going on here, but what is really driving it? Is it biological? Is it medical? Is it impacted by socioeconomics?’”
With Dr. Kavin, the patient’s diagnosis is always secondary to the patient. The real work begins after the diagnosis is confirmed.
In their example of a patient suffering from schizophrenia, “we can treat the psychosis with medications, but we can also treat the psychosocial factors,” Dr. Kavin says.
“If there’s trauma, we can work to get the patient out of a distressing environment. If there’s substance use going on, I have time to use motivational interviewing to help understand what the purpose of the substance use is.”
They say this process is the core of holistic psychiatry.
The psychiatrist recently left a position as an attending psychiatrist and instructor of psychiatry at Columbia New York-Presbyterian after completing their residency with the same hospital. They hold both an M.D. and a Ph.D. from Ohio State University, where they completed research on cancer immunology.
As a career scientist, Dr. Kavin focuses on evidence-based treatment.
In psychiatric care, study after study shows positive outcomes are most common when the patient and provider develop a strong therapeutic alliance. With the ability to see patients weekly for hour-long appointments, Dr. Kavin’s office provides a perfect space for this relationship to develop.
“Patients often attribute their improvements” to either medications or therapy. But this is a common misconception, Dr. Kavin says.
“It is much more likely that the medications give patients some internal peace, and during therapy this allows them to tolerate and inspect the ways their life experiences have affected their symptoms,” they say.
When a patient joins Dr. Kavin’s clinic, the first appointment is an extensive intake evaluation that looks at what has happened in the past, what’s happening now, and what the future may hold. It’s a collaboration, not a top-down directive.
“We work together to understand the factors driving the patient’s symptoms, and then collaborate to figure out what treatment can look like,” Dr. Kavin says. “It’s impossible to pursue a healing process without the patient as a collaborative force.”
Dr. Kavin’s practice is accepting new patients. Same-week new patient appointments are always available. Visit www.kavinmd.com or call 917-300-8998 to request a consultation. Their clinic is a partner practice of Caroline Fu Concierge Psychiatry, a group practice with offices in Boston and New York City.
