Dr. Laura Polania is an adult psychiatrist in New York City offering outpatient general and reproductive psychiatric services with a Holistic approach. She utilizes conventional medicine, psychotherapy, integrative medicine, mind-body techniques and nutritional counseling to help people optimize their health and achieve emotional wellness. She is available by appointment for psychiatric consultation, as well as short term and long term psychotherapy and medication management..

Mental health is central to wellness. Emotional hardship and psychiatric illness are painful obstacles to health, but can serve as important opportunities for transformation and self healing. Dr. Laura Polania provides a safe, collaborative treatment environment where healing is nurtured through the use of both conventional and integrative treatment approaches to meet your individual needs and goals.

Dr Laura Polania offers office hours in conveniently located office in both the Upper West Side of Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn.

Conditions Treated

General Adult Psychiatry

Anxiety Disorders
Attention Deficit and
Hyperactivity Disorder
Depressive Disorders
Psychosis
Adjustment Disorders

Reproductive Psychiatry

Antepartum Depression and Anxiety Fertility
Menopause
Pre Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder
Preconception Counseling
Post Partum Depression
Post Partum Psychosis

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Approach To Treatment

“What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” – Plutarch

Your treatment will begin with a thorough exploration of the factors that contribute to mental health, including developmental and genetic contributors, a comprehensive medical and psychiatric evaluation, nutritional and lifestyle patterns, as well as social and environmental influences. You and Dr. Laura Polania will develop a treatment plan with recommendations that embrace the worlds of both conventional and integrative medicine. The focus of treatment is nurturing what you can do to return to a place of balance – be it psychotherapy, nutritional changes, integrative medicine, or psychotropic medication. Dr. Laura Polania will work with you on restoring mental wellness, not simply the abatement of symptoms.

Dr. Laura Polania understands that medication treatment alone is often insufficient to achieving wellness. She combines her expertise in pharmacology with her knowledge of integrative medicine to empower you to optimize your physiologic and emotional functioning.The use of medications will be done prudently in full collaboration with you, and only when needed.

As a psychiatrist with training in OB-GYN and Consultation Liaison Psychiatry, Dr. Laura Polania is especially adept at treating women during the major reproductive life stages. She will guide you through an exploration of the safest available treatments for your psychiatric condition and collaborate with you, your family and your healthcare team to make informed decisions about your treatment. Arming women with the tools to maximize their own health and the health of their families can have a tremendously far reaching impact on their emotional lives as well as the lives of their families.

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About Dr. Polania

“We can’t stop the waves but can learn to surf.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn

Dr. Laura Polania received her medical degree at Cornell University. Her post graduate training consisted of a surgical internship in Obstetrics and Gynecology and residency in Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. She then completed a fellowship in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. She has received post graduate training in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy through the Columbia Psychoanalytic Institute and earned certification as Diplomate in the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Dr. Laura Polania holds an appointment as Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University and provides outpatient psychiatric services to persons with a wide range of psychiatric illnesses in the Upper West Side and Washington Heights areas of Manhattan. She supervises and provides training about the treatment of serious mental illness and collaborates with the Columbia Women’s Health Program in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Once we accept our limits we go beyond them. – Albert Einstein

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Practice Policies

“The groundwork for all happiness is good health.” – Leigh Hunt

Payment and Insurance

Dr. Laura Polania is an out of network provider but will provide a detailed invoice for insurance claims. Please contact your insurance carrier for information about reimbursement.

The typical procedure code for an initial psychiatric evaluation is 90792.

Payment is expected at the time of service – cash, check or major credit cards are accepted.

Extended contact outside of session time is subject to charges.

Cancellation Policy

If you are unable to attend your scheduled appointment, please notify Dr. Laura Polania at least 72 hours, or you will be subject to payment for the full session fee.

Confidentiality & Privacy Policy

The law protects the relationship between a client and a psychiatrist, and information cannot be disclosed without written permission.

Exceptions include

Cases of suspected child abuse or dependent adult or elder abuse, where immediate reporting to state agencies is required.

In cases of risk of serious bodily harm to other person/s, care providers are required to report to authorities and inform the intended victim by law.

In the event of acute risk of harm to the patient by himself or herself, every effort will be made to enlist the client’s cooperation to protect them from harm. If unable to cooperate, will be taken without their permission in order to ensure their safety.

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Helpful Information

National Alliance on Mental Illness

National Institute of Mental Health

Postpartum Support International

Postpartum Resource Center of New York

Motherisk

National Women’s Health Information Center

Medical Education Postpartum Depression from NIH

American Board of Holistic Integrative Medicine (ABHIM)

National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)

American Holistic Medical Association

Dr. Polania’s relevant publications:

Polania LM. Pregnancy and Perinatal Period in Motherhood Mental Illness and Recovery – Stories of Hope. Edited by Nikole Benders-Hadi and Mary Barber, Springer, in Press

Dragatsi, D. Mejia BR. Polania LM, Sirulnik L. Court Mandated Outpatient Psychiatric Care for a Pregnant Woman with Psychosis: A Unique Bridge to Alliance. Journal of Psychiatric Practice. 19:157-161,2013.

Boston Women’s Health Collective Nuestros Cuerpos, Nuestras Vidas, (Spanish-language adaptation of Our Bodies, Ourselves), Collaborative Translator – Chapter 22, Aborto. Boston Women’s Health Collective Press, 2000.

Matthews JD. Bottonari KA. Polania LM. Mischoulon D. Dording CM. Irvin R. Fava M. An open study of olanzapine and fluoxetine for psychotic major depressive disorder: interim analyses.Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 63(12):1164-70, 2002 Dec.

Tedlow J. Smith M. Neault N. Polania L. Alpert J. Nierenberg A. Fava M. Melancholia and Axis II comorbidity. Comprehensive Psychiatry. 43(5):331-5, 2002 Sep-Oct.

Sinnamon HM. Polania LM. Coordination of neck and hindlimb extension during the initiation of locomotion elicited by hypothalamic stimulation. Behavioural Brain Research. 89(1-2):289-95, 1997 Dec.

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Contact Dr. Laura Polania

Laura M Polania, MD
(212)561-0877

Manhattan
25 Central Park West
New York, NY 10023

Brooklyn
26 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Fill out the form below to contact or inquire more information.

Disclaimer

The information contained on this website or during pre-visit communications in no way implies or substitutes a treatment relationship or medical advice, which can only be established through a full psychiatric consultation.

Electronic communications are limited to administrative issues only, as such communication is not guaranteed to be protected.

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