Dr. Sumit Anand, MD

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Get to know Psychiatrist Dr. Sumit Anand, who serves patients in Ashburn, Virginia.

A dual board-certified psychiatrist, Dr. Anand is a part of the team of professionals at Ashburn Psychological and Psychiatric Services in Virginia.

He offers psychodynamic/existential psychotherapy to help individuals better navigate important life transitions as well as to address problematic relationship patterns and themes. He also offers joint medication management and psychotherapy sessions on a case-by-case basis.  

A firm believer in the ‘art’ of conversation with his patients, Dr. Anand attempts to get to know a person on a more meaningful level as opposed to engaging simply for diagnostic purposes. He strongly believes in helping and treating the “whole person” to achieve their life goals. As a physician, he strives to remain true to the original meaning of the term, “psychiatry”: i.e. healing and care of the soul.

Having been born and raised in the United Kingdom, Dr. Anand attended medical school in London. He first partially completed a residency program at the University of Cambridge, then came to the United States in 1998 to complete his residency in psychiatry at the University of Virginia Health Center, Department of Psychiatric Medicine. Later, he performed his fellowship training in forensic psychiatry at the University of Virginia Schools of Medicine and Law.  

An authority in his field, he is board-certified in both adult psychiatry & forensic 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.

With an extensive range of clinical experience dating back 30 years, Dr. Anand has worked with a wide variety of patients in the United Kingdom and later in different states in the United States. His patient care has involved working with individuals from a range of socioeconomic/demographic backgrounds and cultures at the same time. He has been treating outpatients with various psychiatric disorders in the Northern Virginia area since 2009.

Having served in a leadership capacity, Dr. Anand has been the medical director at two local state psychiatric hospitals. As a medical director, he supervised the work of junior psychiatrists and was also part of a leadership group that ensured hospital care met appropriate state and federal standards. He has extensive experience as a hospital psychiatrist, having worked with teams to treat patients in acute psychiatric crises, patients with severe treatment-resistant schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and those adjudicated ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’.

Dating back to 2003, Dr. Anand has served as an oral expert witness providing testimony to courts and tribunals. He has also served as an expert witness in Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, as well as has written numerous court reports speaking to ‘ultimate issue’ questions such as the Insanity Defense, Competency to Stand Trial, and Post Insanity Adjudication.

His passion has always been for diagnostic clarity, the ‘art’ of psychiatry and ‘knowing the story’ of the patient. Dr. Anand has published extensively on such issues, ranging from movie reviews to thought provoking editorials in internationally renowned journals. He has co-chaired a presentation on the psychodynamics of aggression at an American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law conference. He has also received the Certificate of Appreciation for Dedication and Excellence in Teaching from George Washington University Department of Physician Assistant Studies for two consecutive years (2015 and 2016).

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.

Among Dr. Anand’s various accolades include Patients’ Choice Award (2018) and On-Time Doctor Award (2018).

On a more personal note, he is fluent in English, Punjabi, and Hindi.

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