Dr. Daniel Mierlak, MD, PhD

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Get to know Psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Mierlak, who serves patients in New York, New York & Montclair, New Jersey.

Dr. Mierlak has been practicing general psychiatry since 1993, and addiction psychiatry since 1995. Since 2000, he has been in full-time private practice (with two offices in New York) focusing on psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy for patients with psychiatric and chemical dependency disorders. In 2006, he expanded his private practice to a third office in Montclair, New Jersey.

Utilizing an approach that integrates medication and psychotherapy, he works collaboratively with other therapists as well. He also provides psychotherapy for psychologically based conditions that interfere with relationship, occupational and social functioning or satisfaction. Some of his areas of expertise include depressive disorders, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and attention deficit disorder. 

Academically, Dr. Mierlak received his PhD in neuroscience in 1987, and his medical degree in 1989, both from the SUNY Health Science Center at Brooklyn, Downstate Medical Center. He completed his residency in psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical Center, Payne Whitney Clinic at New York Hospital in 1993. That same year, he joined the faculty at New York Hospital when he was appointed Chief Resident of the Payne Whitney Clinic psychiatry residency program.

After completing a research fellowship in HIV psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical Center in 1995, Dr. Mierlak joined the Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse at New York University, Bellevue Hospital Center. There, he completed his fellowship in addiction psychiatry and served as the Unit Chief for the Bellevue MICA-TC, a modified therapeutic community for homeless, dually diagnosed men, housed in the Bellevue men’s shelter.

In 1998, Dr. Mierlak became Director for Psychiatric Services at the Smithers Treatment Center (now Addiction Institute) at Roosevelt Hospital. There, he consulted on the inpatient, outpatient, and ambulatory detox services.

In 2000, he returned to the faculty at Weill Cornell College of Medicine as Clinical Assistant Professor. Years later, in 2008, he became Medical Director at the Freedom Institute, a non-profit outpatient alcohol and drug treatment center in midtown Manhattan with a 30 year history of treating patients.

Passionate about his work now as he ever has been, Dr. Mierlak is board-certified in psychiatry and addiction psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). The ABPN is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to serving the professions of psychiatry and neurology.

Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behavior, cognition, and perceptions. Psychiatrists evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients with mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. They conduct thorough psychiatric evaluations, develop treatment plans, prescribe medication, and evaluate treatment results.

Throughout his fruitful career, Dr. Mierlak has treated a wide array of psychiatric and addictive disorders in hospital, clinic, and private office settings. In addition to his clinical work, he has taught and lectured on topics in psychiatry. He has also conducted basic science research on the benzodiazepine receptor, and clinical research on psychiatric illness in HIV patients, and on substance use disorders in homeless, mentally ill men.

He is the author of two publications: Twelve Cases: A Psychiatrist’s True Stories of Mental Illness and Addiction [and Other Human Predispositions] & The Spanish Molecule: And Other Adventures in Addiction Psychiatry.

Through actual cases from his twenty-five years of practice as an addiction psychiatrist, Dr. Mierlak candidly describes the struggles of the addict, their loved ones, and his own as a physician enlisted to help. The ambiguities inherent in these struggles are not watered down for the reader, and while the author often questions his utility, one comes to understand that the house of addiction is full of trap doors for any and all who step inside. The Spanish Molecule is not a slick self-help book, but rather an unvarnished account of the front line battle against the scourge of addiction.

Among his most notable achievements include Patients’ Choice Award (2018, 2017, 2015, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008), Compassionate Doctor Recognition (2018, 2015, 2011, 2010), and On-Time Doctor Award (2018, 2017, 2015).

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