Dr. David H. Lifschutz, MD

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Get to know Psychiatrist Dr. David H. Lifschutz, who serves patients in New York, New York.

With over 30 years experience, Dr. Lifschutz is a clinical psychopharmacologist and trusted psychiatrist with a holistic, compassionate, and integrative approach to treatment. He welcomes adolescents and adults who need help resolving mental health, emotional, and behavioral problems at his private practice in New York, New York.

Each individual has within them the capacity for growth and change, and Dr. Lifschutz sets out to support the natural healing process by building awareness, autonomy, and self-love. He strives to help each patient discover the roots of their suffering and works with them to improve their state of mind. He specializes in a blend of mindfulness-based interventions and medication-assisted therapy, including the use of ketamine. This is a novel approach with solutions to problems and issues that formerly have required endless sessions and treatments over many years.

Patients often say that Dr. Lifschutz’s honest, straightforward, and compassionate style has helped them achieve a level of confidence and strength they had not known before. Likewise, they say that he has given them the peace of mind they need to move ahead with their lives.

Holding the title of Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, he is a member of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology, the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.

A 1968 graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Dr. Lifschutz went on to serve his residency in psychiatry and a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at LAC+USC Medical Center. 

While training at LAC+USC Medical Center in the 60s, he became caught up in the rising interest in psychedelic drugs. In October 2019, as a product of this curiosity, he trained in the administration of ketamine. His primary focus is administering Ketamine both orally and by injection intramuscularly for  Ketamine Assisted  Psychotherapy. This involves taking advantage of the special insights revealed under Ketamine and helping  patients make sense of these insights.  Ketamine has been found to be helpful in treating suicidality,  treatment resistant depression (depressions that don’t respond to typical antidepressants),  obsessive compulsive disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Substance Abuse Disorders.  Additionally, he is trained in harm reduction and the integration of psychedelic drug experiences. He also has had  seven years of training as a psychoanalyst at the NYU Postdoctoral Program for Psychoanalysis.

In his current capacity, Dr. Lifschutz serves as an attending staff psychiatrist at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, where he also supervises psychiatry residents.

Licensed to practice medicine in New York and California, he is board-certified in psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). The ABPN is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to promoting high quality patient care for the public through the initial and continuing certification of psychiatrists and neurologists.

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.

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