Dr. Dean Freedlander, MD

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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.

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