home

Photo by: Lightchaser Photography

Barbara Schildkrout is a physician/psychiatrist, teacher, and writer.

She is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, in the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts. She also blogs for Psychology Today.

In her teaching and writing, Dr. Schildkrout draws on decades of clinical experience as a psychodynamically oriented psychiatrist. She has worked with adults in individual and couples psychotherapy. Her special interest is in integrating an understanding of brain functioning with the work of psychotherapy.

Dr. Schildkrout’s books are about medical diseases that can masquerade as mental disorders. Unmasking Psychological Symptoms, her first book, is an introduction to this topic. Her second book, Masquerading Symptoms, provides a detailed look at 71 different medical diseases that may present as mental disorders.

Masquerading Symptoms: Uncovering Physical Illnesses That Present as Psychological Problems (2014)
Dr. Schildkrout’s new book discusses 71 different medical diseases that can affect an individual’s behavior and mental state. The first section of Masquerading Symptoms discusses the types of symptoms a patient might have and then directs readers to the diseases that might cause them; this is a convenient gateway to the diseases section. To illustrate many of the diseases, this book contains excerpts of cases from the medical literature.

Unmasking Psychological Symptoms: How Therapists Can Learn to Recognize the Psychological Presentation of Medical Disorders (2011)
Dr. Schildkrout’s first book brings to life the practice of clinical thinking and problem-solving from the point of view of a practicing therapist. The book is easy to read yet sophisticated in content. There is much to learn here–for students as well as for experienced clinicians, for patients as well as for their families. This book received outstanding reviews.