An Interview with :: Dr. Elliot Handler, MD :: Medical Director

ANSWER:

Medications aren’t the first line of treatment. For OCD, I often think about it more like I’m an anesthesiologist and the therapist is the surgeon. Helping loosen up some of their rigidity, improve some of the anxiety, and the physiological symptoms associated with it. Essentially, making somebody ready to receive the therapy in the most optimized way. It plays a very important supportive role, but it isn’t the star of the show.

BIO: Dr. Handler

UNIVERSITIES + DEGREES: Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts [Biology + Psychology, BA], University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, Colorado [MD], Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota [Resident, General Adult Psychiatry Program & Fellow, Integrated General Psychiatry Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Program]

CLINICAL SPECIALIZATION: Dr. Elliot Handler is board-certified in Adult Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He holds bachelor’s degrees in biology and psychology and obtained his medical degree from the University of Colorado, Denver School of Medicine. After completing his residency and fellowship at Mayo Clinic, he spent six years as clinical faculty at the University of California, Irvine. There, he served as medical director of the adolescent inpatient psychiatric unit, ran an ADHD and a Transitional Age Youth specialty clinic, and received the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Teacher of the Year award three years in a row.

Dr. Handler is passionate about psychodynamic psychotherapy, ADHD, and development across the lifespan. His treatment philosophy centers on patient-focused, whole-person, collaborative care. He nonjudgmentally meets people wherever they are in life, helping them enact meaningful changes through compassion, humor, and evidence-based interventions.

CERTIFICATIONS

• American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN): Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support (ACLS): Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support
• American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN): Psychiatry
• American Heart Association (AHA): Basic Life Support (BLS)/Provider
• Mayo Clinic Quality Academy: Mayo Clinic Quality Fellow: Bronze Level Certification
• National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT): Emergency Medical Technician – Basic