Dr. Phyllis J. Heffner, MD

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Get to know Psychiatrist Dr. Phyllis J. Heffner, who serves patients in Columbia, Maryland. 

Dr. Heffner is a board-certified psychiatrist who specializes in holistic and integrative strategies to treat both mental and physical health conditions. As such, she is trained and understands that mental health challenges are related to physical, psychological, and social factors. 

As the owner of Holistic Child Psychiatry, LLC in Columbia, Maryland, Dr. Heffner’s goal is to help each patient improve their functioning in order to reach their highest potential so that they can thrive and be happy. “The integrative treatment plan is individualized based on this initial evaluation and can include nutritional and dietary modification, herbs and nutritional supplements, lifestyle changes, stress reduction/mind-body techniques, biofeedback, essential oils, biomedical treatment of physical health problems, psychiatric medication, detoxification treatments, and other integrative methods. I always strive to reduce, and possibly even be able to eventually discontinue, the use of prescription medication as health is restored.” as stated by the doctor. 

Before embarking on her journey of professional fulfillment, Dr. Heffner earned her medical degree from Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania in 1986. She then went on to complete her residency in general psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by her fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt Hospital Joint Training Program. She is an Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner as of April of 2018 and uses Functional Medicine and Integrative Psychiatry principals to treat both physical and mental health conditions.

“I transitioned to integrative, functional medicine after developing a chronic autoimmune disease, and later Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome from mold exposure, that was not able to be adequately diagnosed or treated by conventional medicine. My goal is to pass on the knowledge I gained in helping to heal myself to my patients by applying integrative, holistic methods to physical and mental health conditions.” as stated by Dr. Heffner.

A Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, the doctor is double board-certified in general psychiatry and child & adolescent psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, 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.

Additionally, she is a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Institute for Functional Medicine, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, the International Society for Environmentally Acquired Illness, the National Association for Environmental Medicine, the International Hyperbaric Medical Association, the American Academy for Restorative Medicine, Integrative Medicine for Mental Health, the Maryland Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Maryland Psychiatric Society, and the Medical Academy for Pediatric Special Needs. 

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. The addition of her Functional Medicine training enables Dr. Heffner to look for the underlying causes of many physical and mental health conditions deeply, using both standard and specialized testing.  Examples of some of the deeper causes include Digestive Disorders, Endocrine Disorders, Chronic Infections such as Lyme Disease, Mold/Mycotoxin Illness, PANS/PANDAS.  She uses both conventional and integrative therapies such as LORETA Neurofeedback, Frequency Specific Microcurrent, Hyperbaric Oxygen, Detoxification, and Advanced Nutrient Therapy to help the whole person heal.  Her practice is Beyond Conventional Psychiatry.

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