Dr. Dean Freedlander, MD

Media Releases

Get to know Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatrist Dr. Dean Freedlander, who serves patients in San Francisco and San Jose, California.

Dr. Freedlander is a brilliant and knowledgeable child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist who has been in practice in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1981, with offices in San Francisco and San Jose. He specializes in the treatment of children, adolescents, and adults with mood, anxiety, and ADHD disorders, as well as has expertise in treating substance abuse, eating and other disorders, and patients who have combinations of these and other disorders. 

“In my practice, I provide both insight-oriented and CBT psychotherapy to about 25% of my clients. In the majority of cases, I provide medication management for patients in treatment with non-MD psychotherapists. For any client who does not have a psychotherapist, I help match the patient with a therapist best suited to their needs” as stated by the doctor. 

With specific expertise in treatments that improve long-term outcomes in mood and productivity, he helps to identify abilities, strengths, and goals, and to help patients reframe their symptoms as obstacles temporarily impairing the use of their abilities to achieve their individual goals.

Before embarking on his professional journey, Dr. Freedlander earned his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he majored in Urban Planning, with a specialty in health care delivery systems. He developed a model lead poison control program that is used to this day.

Thereafter, he attended medical school at McGill University Faculty of Medicine in Montreal, Canada. After that, he came to San Francisco where he completed his residency in general psychiatry at UCSF/Mt. Zion Hospital. He completed his fellowship in child psychiatry at Mt. Zion and St. Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco.

Child and adolescent psychiatry, also known as pediatric psychiatry, is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders in children, adolescents, and their families. A child and adolescent psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of thinking, feeling, as well as behavior affecting children, adolescents, and their families.

Recommended Articles

• What Are the Treatment Options for ADHD?

  Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may affect different aspects of life, including personality, work, and relationships. Getting the right treatment is crucial in managing ADHD. Many studies have been conducted to investigate the efficacy of different treatment options for ADHD. Two...

• What Is a Transorbital Lobotomy?

  Transorbital LobotomyTransorbital lobotomy was once considered as a form of neurosurgery that was labeled as "insane". A pioneer in this field was a Portuguese doctor named António Egas Moniz. He introduced frontal lobotomy in 1935 for certain cases of psychosis and won a Nobel Prize because of...

• What Does Trypophobia Do to the Brain?

  Trypophobia is a term that was created way back to refer to a certain kind of phobia. It is not an official name and you can’t even find it in the official list of phobias. However, the kind of phobia that this term is used to refer to is as real and as natural as it gets. That should explain why...

• Is Schizophrenia Fatal?

  Schizophrenia by itself is not fatal like cancer or any other life-threatening diseases. However, many cases of death have been accounted for and the usual reason behind it is suicide. Moreover, people who have adopted habits such as smoking, taking prohibited drugs, or unhealthy eating, either due...

• Side Effects of Trintellix

  What is Trintellix?Trintellix is an antidepressant used for the treatment of a type of mental disorder called major depressive disorder (MDD). The common side effects of this medication are:...

• Depression Medications and Their Side Effects

  Regardless of the importance of non-medical treatment options for depression like talk therapy and physical exercise, none of them can be as quick and effective as medication. The primary form of medication for depression is antidepressants which help boost brain activity and alleviate depression...