Lisa Zakhary, MD, PhD

Are those obsessions and rituals getting the better of you? Have you been struggling with skin picking or hair pulling and just don’t know where to turn? Do you experience distressing appearance concerns that plague you throughout the day? Despite OCD and related conditions being very common, it can be difficult to find someone who knows how to effectively treat these conditions and waits can be long. I have been specializing in this area for over a decade and can help you gain the control you have been searching for with a comprehensive medication consultation. 

A little about me--I am the Medical Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for OCD and Related Disorders and Director of Pharmacology in the MGH Excoriation Clinic and Research Unit and Instructor at Harvard Medical School. I graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed my psychiatry residency at MGH/McLean. Additionally, I earned a Ph.D. in molecular neurobiology and completed the Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute Fellowship during my medical training.   I am often consulted both from within MGH and regionally and I have been invited to speak on more than 30 occasions on the treatment of depression, anxiety, OCD, obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, and psychodermatology.  

A comprehensive consultation can be an excellent way to evaluate a treatment course or get a second opinion.   Many with OCD and obsessive-compulsive disorders find their conditions require a highly specialized approach which may not be familiar to most providers. While I won’t be prescribing your medications, you can bring my recommendations back to your primary care physician or current psychiatric prescriber for possible implementation.  I can also consult directly with your prescriber.  

A consultation is typically 60-90 minutes and will include a careful review prior and current symptoms, past medication trials, non-medication treatments, medical history and review of old records if needed. Sometimes, an additional 1-2 visits will be necessary to compete the consultation.   In my evaluation, I will also consider if other treatment modalities such as therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, ECT, and ketamine, may be helpful. Finally, I will pay close attention to your medical history, to ensure that medication recommendations are safe and also to understand if medical problems may be contributing to your current concerns. At the conclusion of the consultation, you will leave with clear evidence-based tailored medication recommendations.

Consultations are available to  individuals 18 years of age or older. Due to COVID-19, consultations will be done by secure video platform. Clients must be in the state of MA for our visits. 

Client Focus