John Alston's Online Review Report Card

Dr Alston retired a little while back. He was, and is, an excellent psychiatrist MD. Three members of our family visited Dr. Alston for almost 20 years. So far, no one has compared to Dr Alston’s expertise and guidance, and his top notch staff. We wish we had not misplaced his P O Box info so we could stay in touch and thank him from the bottom of our hearts.

HES RETIRED DONT CALL

Despite his previous diagnosis of clinical depression, he decided I must be mildly bipolar due to the fact I had good days and bad days. After three different mood stabilizers and several hundred dollars worth of visits, I was once again severely depressed. When I told him this, instead of reviewing the 16 years of mostly good responces to antidepressants he had sitting in his lap, he stuck with his bipolar diagnosis and basically told me it was my own fault because I wasnt getting enough exercise. I cried all the way home while I wandered if my depression hadnt been my own fault all along. Took me a while to remember I had tried exercises before and it had only helped a little. Turns out very nearly every patient who walked though his door that year was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Every psychiatrist I have seen since then has sort of weakly laughed and said, your not bipolar. He saw me when I was a kid too, and I never liked him or trusted him, which I also figured was all my fault. I realize now that in order to correctly diagnose a child with anything, you have to first earn their trust so they can tell you exactly what is going on. He never made any effort to do that. I only remember having a feeling of guilt and trepidation every time I left his office as a small child, and now I have a distrust of psychiatrists in general. I dont care how far you have to drive, find someone else.

Dr. Alston is very judgmental and made my son feel very uncomfortable from the beginning, and be ready to pay 475.00 per visit. He is a very cold, burned out therapist. He also doesn't get around to calling in refills. Find a therapist who actually cares about his clients, do not waste your time or money on this man.