Dr. Robert W. Benigar, Jr, MD: Smart Health & Wellness Center

Dr. Benigar is unusual in that, while he has treated a wide range of disorders in adults and children, he does not fall into the old-timer's habit of fitting each diagnosis into a narrow category. For him, the categories are just tools, as are the meds and other therapies. He listens very closely to what a patient tells him. He is also continually open to trying new therapies, such as TMS Neuroscience, and other new ways to understand patterns and trends in his areas of practice.

Any doctor's keeping an open mind is especially important to an older patient like me. While the brain is a marvelous thing (as long as it lasts), I have found few diagnostic and treatment professionals, other than Dr. Benigar, who can resist the temptation to fit square pegs into round holes, just to be able to move forward each day with the patient visitation load. Moreover, with a high volume of patient visits, it must be easier to classify a patient and apply a standard protocol quickly, so one can move on to the next patient.

It has seemed obvious from my perspective as a long-time patient that Dr. Benigar possesses true genius, having over the past 20 years mastered flexible treatment protocols for a full range of psychiatric disorders (see list below), applying both range and depth to manage effectively each patient's unique issues.

I cannot imagine how he manages to stay on top of his field, which, though it lay dormant for many years throughout the 1980s's and before, is now bristling with new viewpoints ("wet" versus "dry" brain treatments), new pharma molecular combinations (combining SNRIs with SSRIs to achieve an optimal balance between anxiety and depression), new treatment protocols (transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, which can involve not only "waking up" healthier neurotransmitters, but also therapist/patient interactions to help "educate" those neurotransmitter pathways to solve disorders such as ADD, ADHD, Anxiety, Depression and Substance Addiction. TMS's training of new neural pathways enables patients to pay greater attention to more logical and less stressful ways of "being in the world," especially for children.

In his sense of optimal patient scheduling while retaining an ability to give each patient the optimal treatment protocol, Dr. Benigar never fails to stay focused and on topic during the patient visit, assessing how well a current protocol seems to be working but also considering what might make it work better. You just can't get better than that.

It may surprise some folks that besides psychiatry and psychology, Dr. Benigar is also board-certified in neurology. This is not surprising, as the medical practices have been more often leveraging neurochemical structure, function and trends and less on abstract theory. He seems always ready to consider new ideas, even if they seem to contradict the prevailing norms of the practice, but also exercising great caution over potential side effects and interactions one must accept to derive benefit from any given medication, its timing and its dosage levels.

Dr. Benigar's experience and expertise, over a 20-year period of practice (following the MD and residency requirements), have addressed the following psychiatric disorders:
- Alcoholism
- Amphetamine addiction
- Other psychostimulant dependence
- Anorexia
- Anxiety (both general and social)
- ADHD (more common among children)
- ADD (more common among adults)
- Bipolar Disorder (different from having both depression and anxiety
disorders independently).
- Borderline personality disorder
- Delusional thinking and hallucinations
- Dissociative disorder
- Conversion disorder
- Factitious disorder
- Drug-induced mental disorders
- Mood disorders
- Eating disorders
- Affective disorders in childhood with persistence or recovery in
adolescence
- Homicidal and suicidal ideation
- Impulse control disorders
- Major depressive disorder
- Substance abuse and dependency
- Psychotic disorders (a heterogeneous set of problems)
- Schizophrenic disorders with varying characteristics and diagnostics

Hello!! I have been going to SHW for a year - and I have a family member seeing Dr B as well. I am pleased with their services. If you have a situation that isn’t working out, and need to give feedback - I suggest that you do this bc they do work together to correct the situation .

Dr. Benigar is the Best. I have been his patient since he started out. He listens. He cares. I would not be the woman i have become without his help. My issues are PTSD, Depression, Social Phobia and Severe Acute Anxiety Disorder. At the beginning I had been anorexic since I was 5 years old.
The Staff at SHW is amazing. The patient portal and medicine refill with Chat is run so smoothly.
Since Covid our visits have been virtual. But, Dr. Benigar let's me know he is there for me.
If you need help call them. There is help and healing.

I owe my life to Dr. Benigar. He diagnosed me and figured out what was causing such high stress. Life is better, but they are VERY hard to get a hold of, other than that GREAT.