John C Shershow, MD – TMS Central Park Sth Psychtry

It’s unfortunate to read the negative reviews for Dr. Shershow as I have found him to be an excellent physician. As some have pointed out, he is NOT a therapist, so if that is your expectation then you will be frustrated. During the few times I’ve been hospitalized he and my doctors at the hospital seemed to always be on the same page. I’ve always felt like my best interest was a priority and I would recommend him without pause or hesitation to my friends or family.

He does not take calls about medication after hours. Not even if he forgot to call in your refill. He never remembered who I was when I was in to see him, asking me if I «was the one who cancelled last time?» Nope, Dr Shershow, that was someone else. He seemed very distracted and so I am not surprised that both times I needed a refill he had failed to send it in. He had consulted with my other doctor, which is how I knew he didn’t know who I am, because he told her he would recommend things to me, that he never brought up to me. Overall a very frustrating inadequate experience. He kept scheduling me to come back every 2 weeks, it really felt like he was just trying to get money out of me.

I love Dr Shershow. I lost him due to an insurance change a few years ago but I’ve been working on finding an insurance he accepts because every other Doctor is a nightmare compared.
I think he gets bad reviews from people who don’t know what they want. He is a pharmopsychologist. His job is to prescribe drugs for your ailing brain, not listen to your problems. He’s not a therapist. I did my research, I figured out what I needed and I told him. He listened to me, worked with me on suggestions (I started with lexapro and when it didn’t work, we switched to Prozac to wonderful results), and didn’t grill me or guilt me. Straight forward and friendly, he always said hello and remembered what I did for a living even if we hadn’t seen each other for a few months. The only hitch I could conceive was you have to book your appointment a month in advance and that was never an issue for me.
Love Shershow. Highly recommend to anyone who knows what they need. If you don’t know, go elsewhere.

Dr. Shershow should be ashamed of himself. I went there this morning, and due to heavy morning traffic, was 15 minutes late. I called his line three times, got his emergency line, and went to the office regardless. He immediately came to the door and said «I can’t help you now.» In this field, with the ailments of the patients he sees, it was cold and rude to receive such an unwillingness from a doctor. I will never return to this office again, and if you want a psychopharmacologist, look elsewhere. You deserve to be cared for.

The doctor and staff are more than ridiculous. I visited the office in late November; in and out in 10min and had a totally useful conversation with Dr. Shershow. Almost two months later, the finance manger called Sara mailed me a bill saying I owed the office $ 280. This is more than just absurd. Though the claim was rejected by my insurance company, HOW COME they didn’t tell me shit in the past two months?

This doctor experience was a nightmare. I had called 20 minutes before my appointment to let them know I was running late due to a train delay. The operator said this should be fine and to come over. I get there, mind you 5 minutes late and he refuses to see me after waiting for 5 minutes. It was a terrible experience considering the reason I was late was out of my control. It’s amazing how cold he was and his lack of understanding was disappointing. Thumbs down. (Also I CREATED a Unilocal account just to write the review.)

This doctor just wants to make money. I asked for a refill on one of my prescriptions because I was looking for a doctor here. He wanted to charge me $ 25 plus $ 150, which isn’t covered by insurance.
My insurance company advised that I ask my psychiatrist for a «bridge» refill while I find a new doctor because I moved, and he still wanted to charge me. Then he asked me how much I was taking, and I was taking ½ the daily recommended dose, which lasted 2 months, and he accused me of being addicted. He is a terrible doctor just concerned with making money.

I saw him several times before realizing what was going on– he’s a quack that is concerned with money only, as several of these patients indicate. Also, he lacks intelligence.
He really is concerned with money over the well-​being of his patients. It’s always sad to encounter a doctor that got into the field for that rather than for the sake of helping people.
He literally remembers nothing about the patient and you literally walk in, exchange a few words and he sends you on your way, taking your copay and insurance money gladly. Some people may be drawn to him purely due to the indications that he is a pill pusher– but he pushes the wrong sorts of medication that can be very dangerous, considering these pills can seriously mess with your both mental and physical well-​being if not administered considering what any qualified psychiatrist would– he does not ask any questions and sends you on your way as he continues on his merry way to the bank with your insurance $$. Also, to shed even more light on his idiocy and incompentency, he refuses to give patients emergency scrips, even when they have an appointment scheduled and need more before the next appointment. Given that he literally asks nothing when you come to the appointment and it’s an in-​and-​out get the scrip, this indicates that he just wants you to come in for an appointment to get the proscription simply to receive the money.
Once I asked him about weening off of the SSRI inhibitor I was taking for anxiety (my old psych always stressed that it should be a temporary thing and I should eventually ween off of it– which I did successfully before moving and having to switch to Shershow) and Shershow commented that he thinks I should stay on the medication forever and that there is no reason to go off of it. He really is just concerned with his bottom line– if I ween off of the medication there is no reason to continue to see him and funnel my insurance money his way. Also, I suspect he gets kickbacks from certain drug companies because he really pushed a certain more expensive SSRI inhibitor despite my stating that I was fine to use what I used prior again. However, this suspicion is obviously unsubstantiated.
This man should not be licensed.

I’ve been seeing Dr. Shershow for a couple of years now, as I needed a new psychopharmacologist to fill my prescriptions after moving to NYC. He is professional, efficient, and knowledgeable. What a lot of people who are writing these reviews seem to forget is that there is a VAST distinction between a psychiatrist and a psychopharmacologist.
It’s literally his job to diagnose mental issues and prescribe treatment medications for you, not to listen to you talk about your dead dog and how it reminds you of the time your mother walked in on you watching Cinemax at 2 AM. Book a PSYCHIATRIST for that.

This man is a DRUG DEALER! Stay far away! If I could also give him a negative rating, I would. He put me on medication that I, at the time, thought would help and immediately it did. But every time I returned to him, he would up the dose for no reason whatsoever. I never complained, because I felt great. After a few months, my family and friends forced me into a psychiatric ward, where I was all of a sudden diagnosed bi-​polar, and put on medications that put me into a serious state of depression. How this man still has his license, I cannot understand.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS DOCTOR.
I wish I could give negative stars.
First of all– doctors like this are the reason there are addicts in the world. I went for one medication and one medication only, and he tried to tell me that I should take ambien and xanax for my sleeping and anxiety issues. Seriously???
Second of all– He is a con-​artist and will never give you correct answers regarding insurance or treatment.
I saw this doctor for medication that my primary physician can’t prescribe me. I called to make an appointment and made CERTAIN that they could accept my insurance, or else I obviously would not have made the appointment. They said yes, so I went. Similar to some of the other reviews on here, I received a notice in the mail a few months later saying that, oops, they aren’t covered by my insurance and owed them $ 300. When I refused to pay, they then sent it to a collections agency and stopped returning my phone calls. When all was said and done, I ended up having to pay the $ 300 and the $ 90 collection charge.
This Doctor is an a$$ and I hope he gets his license revoked.

This review is solely based on my booking experience. I booked my appt on a Saturday. The day before I had a family emergency I had to attend to so I cancelled the appt that Friday. In my mind that is 24 hours notice. Now the Dr. won’t see me bc it wasn’t exactly 24 hrs before I cancelled. The office wants me to pay for my cancelled visit which was cancelled the day before. I am pretty sure that is a 24 notice. Sorry my family had an emergency. If this is the way his office treats patients I will take myself elsewhere!

I am giving this charlatan a star only because I have to select one. This is the most immoral doctor I’ve bumped into in my life.
This doctor is only interested in money and certainly does not give a damn about his patients. I saw him once for 15 minutes and have a bill that amounts to a total of $ 400.
This is a drug pusher, interested in medicating only, and rushes patients out of his office while charging them for a full session.
I made a follow up appointment with this Doctor and called in to change the date within 23 hours of the appointment date. I was informed that I had failed to call within the 24 hour window and was charged $ 155 for a missed appointment (which I foolishly immediately paid).
I informed his office I would not be able to come in for another week and that I needed my prescription refilled since I was running out. I was informed that I needed to pay for an additional full appointment before getting a refill (in other words an additional refill fee). This is what I call a drug dealer.
Never-​mind that he was placing a patient’s health at risk by not refilling an anti-​depression medication without a hefty charge. It isn’t that he was interested in seeing me in person to see how I was doing with the medication. It was just about getting money.
His office even informed me I could pick up the prescription without seeing him as I paid $ 155.
Stay far far away.

I made an appointment, I went to said appointment, Dr. Shershow discussed options for managing my ADHD then gave me a two-​week script to give a shot, sent me home to return in 2 weeks to discuss the outcome. Easy as pie and exactly what I was looking for. He was friendly, straight forward, and very helpful (I came with a list of questions which he gladly answered and explained each one)
He did ask me if my insurance covered specialists or if I had any past problems with it but when I told him I checked it through ZocDoc and didn’t have any issues and have recently seen quite a few specialists he was cool with it.
I did not get a drug pusher vibe from him at all, especially since he said he likes to work on one thing at a time as sometimes these problems can be solved together. I think most of these reviewers were looking for a psychologist or a counselor not a psychiatrist. If you watch his ZocDoc video he’s pretty straight forward about his services and mentions that he works a lot with your counselor for your script needs. You got problems you wanna talk about? Check category: psychologist, ain’t nobody got time for that… except for them.
In any case, I’m a satisfied customer and you can be sure I’ll let you know if that changes.

I have never been so disgusted or humiliated after just one visit. Dr. Shershow informed that I had a lot of family issues and informed to to pay the twenty dollars copay then showed me to the door! I thought his job was to help people deal with thier issues!

Just like the last poster said – Dr. Shershow is an «insensitive, money-​hungry jerk.» Things went south for me personally and I cancelled two appointments at the last minute. Before this, I had always made my appointments, and I’d been seeing him for quite some time. When I tried to talk to him about it, it seemed like it was all he could do not to spit on me. I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so shocked: the «professional» in front of me turned into cartoon character with dollar signs in his eyes. He coldly offered me an ultimatum to pay for the sessions or be blacklisted. Dr. Shershow: you’re a despicable, arrogant two-​face. I wouldn’t see you again for free.

At first I thought Dr. Shershow was very nice but once I lost my job, he started to be become an insensitive, money hungry jerk. Once I found a new job I decided to give up Cobra. Since I no longer had insurance I decided to call Dr. Shershow so he could refill a prescription. He said he would give me the prescription but he could no longer treat me over the phone because he ran a «private practice» in COLUMBUS CIRCLE! I asked him approximately once to refill a prescription over the phone and he gave me a hard time and told me that I needed to make other arrangements for a different doctor because I couldn’t pay his $ 100 fee. At another point, when I found another job, my employer asked me to get a letter from Dr. Shershow stating my diagnosis and medication. Even though I literally had an appointment with him the week before where he refilled my prescriptions, he told me that he wasn’t «comfortable» writing a letter for me without me being in his office while he writes it. Are you serious? So, what you’re basically saying is that you’d rather charge my insurance again even though I saw you last week? Also, when I told him I lost my job, I was in tears and very upset, he just smiled, said «good luck» and basically kicked me out after literally five minutes. He turned out to be a such a jerk. Now I’ll be HAPPY to make arrangements for another doctor.

I have been seeing Dr Shershow for a few months and he immediately prescribed me medication within 5 minutes of seeing me. I tried it out but each follow up I had concerns regarding side affects and he kept upping my dose. Recently I tried to get an appointment with him, giving him 2 weeks before my medication ran out and I still can’t get an appt. His office’s solution?- pay $ 125 for a 10 – 15 minute phone consultation that is not covered by insurance and then he can call in my prescription to my pharmacy. I have nothing against his policy of not giving out more meds without an appt but I can’t get an appointment! So it’s either go through with drawls and wait for my appointment or pay for this ridiculous phone consultation. I’m going with option C– I’m finding a new doctor that can treat me with respect and not try to squeeze every penny out their patients.

I could not have asked for a better first visit with Dr. Shershow. He was kind, funny, intelligent and cared about my medications and what plan was best for me. He never said, «We’re going to go in THIS direction.» Instead, he offered me options and, in the end, I went with his recommendation. He was truly someone I felt comfortable with immediately. The office was clean and pleasant as was the receptionist, Diane. Five star experience.

Dr. Shershow basically tried to steal my money. Beyond that, he was also a drug-​pusher who didn’t bother to take the time to understand my issues. He charged my credit card $ 250.00 because «he was worried about my insurance». First of all, there’s no world where I’d owe that much because insurance negotiates agreed on charges in-​network. Secondly, it’s fraudulent to charge that much before even submitting a claim and seeing what insurance does and doesn’t cover. On his advice itself, he wanted to put me on drugs after talking to me for about 15 minutes. His philosophy appears to be, ‘try lots of medication and see what works’. This is backwards and terrible. Never see this doctor.