Psychiatry and Human Behavior

About the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior

Michael Vergare, MD

Academic Title: Professor

Chair, Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior

Board Certifications:
Psychiatry, Geriatic Psychiatry

The psychiatrists and therapists of Jefferson's Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior provide services to Hospital patients. In addition, we focus special attention on the consultation and treatment of the most common psychiatric problems of anxiety, depression, insomnia, substance abuse, eating disorders and sleep disorders.

Services

• The Department staff is experienced in individual, couple, marital and family therapy and serves child, adolescent and adult outpatient populations on a sliding-fee basis.
• Our general care unit is for adult inpatients with moderate to more severe psychiatric conditions. The units simulate a constructive home environment as much as possible.
• We assess behavior and memory changes in our 12-bed inpatient unit for geriatric patients. Our multidisciplinary approach pulls together a team of psychiatrists, neurologists, nurses and social workers to treat age-related conditions such as memory loss, depression, anxiety and delusion. We are the only such facility in the Philadelphia region with a separate section for those with advanced dementia.
• We provide treatment for psychiatric conditions related to medical or surgical conditions, including menstrual, menopausal and sexual disorders and problems related to pregnancy.
• We offer a psycho-oncology service, staffed by a psychiatrist specially trained to counsel cancer patients.

Research and Education

Visit the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Thomas Jefferson University for more on research and education.