About Dr. Robert J. Hedaya

Robert J. Hedaya, M.D., A.B.P.N., D.F.A.P.A., developed the Whole Psychiatry methodology, which offers a comprehensive physiological and psychosocial approach to mental health. In addition to his private practice, Dr. Hedaya, a visionary in the field of psychiatry, teaches fellow psychiatrists and physicians, medical students, and mental health clinicians. He is the author of three books, hundreds of articles, and has been called upon by the media for his medical expertise.

Read What Started Me on the Path to Whole Psychiatry?

Medical Approach

Dr. Hedaya evaluates and treats major psychiatric disorders by focusing on the detailed evaluation and bi-directional interactions between and among a person’s hormonal system, immune system, gastrointestinal system, nutrition, environment, inflammation, infection, genetics, detoxification, cell signaling, life circumstance, age and gender.  As a result, Whole Psychiatry notably improves outcomes and the potential for avoiding or reducing medication.  The Whole Psychiatry approach is based on the latest scientific and medical research.

Education and Training

Dr. Hedaya has decades of clinical training and experience. He is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and a Distinguished Fellow of American Psychiatric Association. He is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical Center. He is certified as proficient in psychopharmacology by The American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology. Dr. Hedaya has been recognized as a Master Clinician in functional medicine by the Institute for Functional Medicine.

Dr. Hedaya trained under the auspices of students of Goodwin, Beck, and Bowen, each recognized leaders in the psychiatric community. He acquired specialized training in psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical Center and at the National Institute of Mental Health. He later had five years of supervision in Family Systems Theory along with training in Integrative Hypnotherapy. Dr. Hedaya continued on to acquire advanced training in functional medicine and orthomolecular psychiatry.

Teacher and Author

Since 1983, Dr. Hedaya has managed an active private clinical practice while also teaching at the Georgetown University Medical Center School of Medicine where he is a clinical professor of psychiatry. He has been a consultant to the National Institute of Mental Health and was selected to teach the first psychoendocrinology course at the Georgetown University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry.

Dr. Hedaya presents and teaches at medical and professional conferences nationwide. He  also conducts no-cost monthly workshops by phone for both medical and mental health professionals and lay people nationwide. Dr. Hedaya has been featured as an expert consultant numerous times, including television appearances on the Today Show, Fox, CBS Evening News, 20/20, MSNBC, and CNN.  He is an expert on Dr. Oz’s Sharecare website and writes a blog for Psychology Today.

Dr. Hedaya is recipient of the Physician’s Recognition Award from the American Medical Association and has been voted Outstanding Teacher of the Year multiple times by the Georgetown University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry. He is author of Understanding Biological Psychiatry (Norton, 1996), The Antidepressant Survival Program: How to Beat the Side Effects and Enhance the Benefits of Your Medication (Crown-Harmony, 2000), and Depression: Advancing the Treatment Paradigm (2008, the Institute for Functional Medicine). A full publication and research list follows.