Center For Anxiety & Depression's Online Review Report Card

My son went to this clinic hoping to be tapered from prescribed benzodiazepines, which had made him extremely ill. My son took them exactly as prescribed. Dr. Christina Demapolus, who works in this practice, is listed in the Benzodiazepine Information Coalition as a physician who has tapered patients from benzodiazepines. She did not have any appointments available, so my son ended up with Dr. David Dunner. Dr. Dunner never explained benzodiazepine interdose withdrawal to my son, making my son believe that his symptoms were caused by mental illness, and the prescription Dr. Dunner wrote - .5 to 1 mg daily "as needed" - showed extreme ignorance about benzodiazepine interdose withdrawal, as the worst possible thing for interdose withdrawal is to change the dosage. What should have happened is that my son was given a high enough dose to ease the symptoms and from there, slowly tapered off of these medications for several months or possibly years. Patients who develop interdose withdrawal must be especially careful when withdrawing from benzodiazepines. Dr. Dunner, the "expert," should have known that and should have explained this to my son. He did not. My son developed severe side effects because of this terrible medical advice. Dr. Dunner was one of the physicians who helped Xanax be approved by the FDA. This drug was not sufficiently studied when it was pushed through - it was studied only for eight weeks. It is now known that this drug should be prescribed for only two to four weeks and that even then, patients can develop severe, protracted withdrawal after taking this drug as prescribed. The only reason this is now known is because damaged patients , like Dr. Christie Huff, whose symptoms and story were very similar to my son's, spoke up. When Xanax passed the FDA, there was no research on interdose withdrawal or how to deprescribe these drugs, which severely damage the brain's GABA receptors. Despite my sending Dr. Dunner the most cutting edge research and directions on this topic, writing to Dr. Dunner twice and sending him several published articles about the dangers of benzodiazepine interdose withdrawal and the Ashton Manual, by Dr. Heather Ashton, who was the leading expert on benzodiazepine injury and withdrawal, he did not explain this to my son. Klonopin, which is the benzo he prescribed, is 20 times stronger than valium, so jumping between .5 and 1 mg "as needed" is severely damaging to the brain. Dr. Dunner has collected millions from drug company research. I hate to think how many lives have been destroyed by Dr. Dunner's "research." Don't be fooled by fancy websites and smiling faces on them. This is a poison center.

The comments about this place not being financially accessible to many are probably right; that said, this is the best clinic of its type in WA. Incomparably.

No. Rude receptionist. No referrals. Overly priced, this place is just trying to make money off you. Half an hour is like $200 something and first visits $700 and don’t accept insurance.

Not taking new patients & do not accept insurance. Each visit is $700. I think these are fantastic people, but they aren't accessible.