As a preeminent member of the medical community and a Life Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Carol W. Berman is that rare and courageous physician who—much like the late prolific and beloved neurologist Dr. Oliver Sachs—is not afraid to draw upon her own artistic and intuitive powers to enhance her scientific approach and engage her patients in a deeper level of healing and self-empowerment.
Carol Berman grew up in Los Angeles and studied at the University of California at Berkeley as an undergraduate. Once she moved to New York, she attended NYU Medical School. Her residency in psychiatry was spent at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital. In 1986, she returned to NYU to accept a research fellowship at NYU Langone Medical Center, where she remains as a clinical assistant professor in psychiatry. She is also in private practice in New York City. When she is not writing or treating patients, she paints in acrylics, oils, or watercolors.
As an author and playwright, Carol Berman is at home in both nonfiction and fiction. She wrote a monthly column on mental health for the Huffington Post, and several of her short stories have been published in literary magazines. In addition, she served on the editorial board of The Bellevue Literary Review.
Her first play, UNDER THE DRAGON, was produced by The Workshop at The Neighborhood Playhouse in 2002. Her second play, SUNSHINE SALLY, was produced in 2007. Her third play, PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT, and fourth play, BROWNSTONE BREAKDOWN, were produced by Egoactus Company in New York City. IN THE KINGDOM OF SAM played at the Manhattan Repertory Theater and PARKING LOT 63 had a run at the Hudson Guild Theater. LIGHT MY FIRE was presented as a staged reading at the Dixon Place Theater. In May 2019, under the auspices of the American Psychiatric Association, her play UNDER THE DRAGON was featured as a media session at the APA’s annual conference in San Francisco. DOUBLE BLIND had a run at Theatre Row from May through June 2022. Many of her ten-minute plays were in festivals in New York City and London.
Dr. Berman’s nonfiction books include 100 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT PANIC DISORDER, first published by Jones and Bartlett in 2005 and reissued in its second edition in 2009, and PERSONALITY DISORDERS, published by Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins in 2009. Dr. Berman’s third book, SURVIVING DEMENTIA: A Clinical and Personal Perspective, came out in 2016 by Springer Press. TAMING THE NEGATIVE INTROJECT is available now from Amazon and Francis & Taylor press.
PSYCHIATRY ON THE STAGE, her latest is available now from Oxford University Press.