Richa Bhatia MD Inc. is a patient-centered psychiatric outpatient practice, providing comprehensive psychiatric evaluation, empathic individual psychotherapy, and/or careful medication management where needed, to adults and children suffering from anxiety and stress-related conditions in the San-Francisco bay area.

 

       Psychotherapy provided by our practice is not just for symptom relief, but also, for understanding yourself better, gaining greater insight, and understanding the root causes of your symptoms. 

 

       Our practice style is personalized, striving to provide high quality care based on a whole person, diligent, empathic approach. Dr Bhatia provides a comprehensive evaluation to understand a patient’s unique concerns, needs and strengths. She strives to gain an understanding of each person's emotions, beliefs, life challenges, values, past experiences, and any other factors that may be contributing to their present situation. Given the services are provided by a physician (psychiatrist), in addition to exploring psychological themes, treatment may also involve understanding biological factors such as the potential effect of medications and/or medical conditions on your mental health where applicable. Lifestyle factors are also explored as they relate to mental health.

   

    The types of psychotherapy modalities utilized include psychodynamic psychotherapy (insight-oriented), along with elements of mindfulness based interventions, CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), and acceptance and commitment therapy. Medication management, where needed, is nuanced, with close monitoring, using shared decision-making. The practice focus is providing outpatient individual psychotherapy and/or medication management to individuals suffering from Anxiety, OCD, maladaptive perfectionism, and/or adjustment difficulties in response to life stressors.

​

      Dr Bhatia often utilizes psychotherapy, and only recommends medications if clinically indicated and generally in conjunction with therapy. Starting a medication is a collaborative decision that is approached with nuance and thoughtfulness, aiming for the lowest effective doses. She attempts to keep the medication regimen as simple as possible and has often helped simplify patient's polypharmacy regimens when there are too many medications in the picture and not all of them are needed.

​

About Our Psychiatrist:

Dr Richa Bhatia, M.D. is dual Board Certified in Child & Adolescent & General Psychiatry, with more than 15 years of experience in the field of psychiatry. Dr Bhatia is one of the Co-authors of the chapter on OCD in The Study Guide to DSM-5 TR. She has extensive clinical experience treating Anxiety and OCD in Children as well as Adults. She has served in Medical Director roles at leading academic medical centers such as Dartmouth, as well as in community settings. She is the President of the Association of Women Psychiatrists, an author and has been an invited speaker at several hospitals and organizations. Dr Bhatia was fortunate to train under some of the world's leading experts in Adult and Child psychotherapy and Psychiatry. She has several peer-reviewed publications in psychiatry journals. Dr Bhatia has extensive experience treating a wide array of psychiatric conditions in various settings; Anxiety, OCD, and Stress Related Disorders are her main areas of expertise. She provides individual psychotherapy to Children, Adolescents, and Adults, and judicious medication management where medications are indicated.

                                         ​

Quoted in:

 

            CNBC, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report, WUCF-TV (PBS Newshour), AARP, Prevention magazine, Deseret News. Her work has been cited in Time magazine, Scientific American, Forbes, The Atlantic. ​​For articles authored by Dr Bhatia, see 'Publications' via the Menu bar above.                                  

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​

​

​

​

​

                                                                    Approach

 

Dr Bhatia's approach is empathic, utilizing shared decision making, and takes into account the unique biological, psychosocial, social and lifestyle factors contributing to an individual's mental health condition. She aims to understand the root causes, and understand the individual as a whole person, rather than just symptom management. She strives to work diligently with each individual, spending adequate time to understand their unique clinical situation, challenges, struggles, and goals. Her fellowship training in child and adolescent psychiatry gave her a valuable developmental perspective which she utilizes to thoroughly understand an individual's developmental journey, psychological strengths and areas of growth. Her approach involves honoring and cultivating strengths and facilitating optimal emotional well-being. ​​

 

Dr Bhatia's psychotherapy work is informed by various evidence-based modalities such as psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness-based interventions, dialectical behavioral therapy, and other evidence-based psychotherapies. Her psychotherapy approach is aimed to enhancing insight and identifying any underlying patterns or conflicts which may be contributing to your current emotional state. 

 

For children under the age of 10, Dr Bhatia offers child-centered play therapy and other modalities of psychotherapy.

 

If you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed and unsure whether psychotherapy or medications are the best next steps for you, she would be happy to provide a consultation. If it seems like a good fit to you, she will offer you follow up for individual psychotherapy (which is generally weekly)

 

If symptoms are significantly impacting your day to day functioning and you wish to consider and explore medication options, Dr Bhatia would take the time to answer questions in detail and review various medication options, when they are indicated, along with the risks, benefits, and side effects, and follow up closely if you decide to start a medication.

​

                      

      We look forward to seeing you.