I've heard Dr. Amitay speak about therapy on his podcast, and I can say that it accurately reflects my own experiences with therapy with others and with him. He always stresses personal responsibility, but he does it in a way that makes me feel he's got my back and is looking out for my best interests. He's real, he definitely knows what he's doing, and he's motivated me to make many changes in my life which I knew I had to make, but I just couldn't get out of my head and do what I need to do.

I know I've been doing much better since I really started being accountable to myself. Dr. Amitay always says he doesn't care if I do the homework or not, because he wants me to do it for ME, but having someone else to be accountable to really helps with the motivation. I guess that's true with any therapist, but I feel a stronger urge to live up to Dr. Amitay's standards than I ever did with other psychologists (again, he always says he doesn't have any expectations of me.)

I don't know what else to say that hasn't already been said about Dr. Amitay. I really appreciate him and everything he's done for me, or helped me do for myself.

Submitted Aug. 23, 2023

Easily the most skilled mental health practitioner I have seen. I learned an incredible amount from Doc Amitay (I preferred this to Dr. Amitay) and have heard the same from others. A real pragmatist, Doc Amitay is able to get to the root of a client's concerns and apply a breadth of effective techniques and approaches (ACT, CBT, psychodynamic therapy). I have never met someone who cared as much as he does about his clients. Moreover, he greatly exceeds expectations in terms of availability. Unlike other practitioners, who often overstate their abilities and training, and who often work with clients and concerns with who they have no experience, Doc Amitay had true humility and was willing to admit things he knew and did not know. As someone with training and education in the field, Doc Amitay is very well-read and can speak to both the scientific (e.g., clinical) and more humanities-based (e.g., existential) dimensions necessary to make positive changes. With that said, I will continue to see Doc Amitay periodically in the years to come, as I have the utmost respect for him.

Note: Doc Amitay helped with neurodiversity-related issues, which, ironically, is not even his area of expertise. I think, his humility, honesty, and openness, were exactly what I needed, as many other therapists and clinicians (in my experience) are poor listeners, miss the issues, or are bound to the orientation they learned in graduate school. Doc Amitay provided a dynamic and flexible approach, while others, in my experience, have been rather rigid, terse, and packaged (which meant it took forever to get anywhere or to be comfortable enough, to actually be honest with). Fortunately, as I found with Doc Amitay, what made him a great therapist was the fact he knew himself and could make the client feel comfortable within the first session. Finally, to not get too technical, Doc Amitay had a firm grasp of the biopsychosocial model, and therefore, was able to draw connections that others seemed to miss, thus indicating a "holistic" vision that only comes from years of experience.

Submitted Aug. 6, 2022

Dr. Amitay helped me through some very dark times by giving me the compassion I needed, but also the tools I needed to see things in a more realistic and better way overall. He helped me let go of my old beliefs and harmful ways of thinking about my problems, and myself and my life in general. I was hesitant at first because it's very scary to let go of old mental habits, especially when they are part of who you are and how you relate to the world around you.

But Dr. Amitay earned my trust and got me to commit to trying so many new things, and I never was scared to fail because I never felt judged and I came to see that there was no such things as failure, only learning experiences. Dr. Amitay always reminded me that I was choosing to do all the hard work to make all the changes I was making, but he deserves a lot of the credit for helping me believe I could do it and making me trust him enough to take really big risks as I tried out different ways of seeing myself and my experiences.

Basically, I've learned to let go of any thoughts and actions that were hurting me or holding me back, and keep trying new ways to deal with problems or just make it through life better. It's been a few years since I last saw Dr. Amitay, and I feel this is the least I can do to show my appreciation. Thank you Dr. Amitay!

Submitted Feb. 2, 2022

I've seen many therapists since childhood, including quite a few psychologists, and Dr.Amitay is nothing like any of them. He is like the 'cool funny uncle' , supportive best friend, and 'wise old man' all rolled into one. I can't believe what some people say about him online! If a friend hadn't recommeneded Dr. Amitay to me, there's no way I would've checked him out. I can honestly say he is more effective than any therapist I have ever worked with, and I did really appreciate some of them and I know they did help me, sometimes they probably saved my life. But Dr. Amitay brings something 'extra special' to therapy.

Submitted Aug. 1, 2021

Wow! After only a few sessions, I am already making huge changes in the way I think about myself and everything else in my life. Dr. Amitay is a no BS kind of therapist, but he is also very empathetic and supportive. He has inspired me to step out of my comfort zone and make some major changes in my life, or to put it in his words, "I'm extricating myself from limbo"!

Submitted March 23, 2021

He is truly exceptional . He sees right through the nonsense, the lies and the manipulations. He sees clearly and can truly help you. He is a credit to his profession.

Submitted Jan. 24, 2021

As a survivor of extensive childhood abuse (cPTSD) and sexual assaults, I have been in and out of therapy all my life. All my therapists have been female, which I admit did make me feel safer and most of them were very compassionate (except for some at CAMH!) I was scared to meet with Dr. Amitay because he is a man and can be intimidating with his size. But my partner was his student and insisted I see him, and I'm so grateful that I did. He is not judgmental at all, but he calls me out on things, while also showing me as much compassion as any female therapist ever did, but the difference is that he also empowered me for the first time in my life. I love most of my former therapists, but they never made me feel I could be strong and grow as a person by learning to take full responsibility for my own thoughts and actions, but also learning to set healthy boundaries and holding others to account for THEIR actions. I can't explain it well, but Dr. Amitay manages to strike a balance between many competing needs and realities within me and between me and the people in my life. It's paradoxical, if I can say that. Like, I know I can contact him whenever I need to (which I do sometimes), but I feel more independent than I have ever felt in my life because I know he is there for me. Like I said, I don't know if I can explain it clearly enough, but this is just one of the many great developments in my life since I started seeing Dr. Amitay. One other development is that I used to have a love-hate relationship with men because they perpetrated most of the abuse against me, but I also desperately sought their validation (daddy issues cliche, I know) and got involved in many unhealthy relationships. I also always undervalued myself and took a subservient role to men at work, while also trying to prove I was better than them because I devalued men so much. That was another paradox in my life, but Dr. Amitay has helped me come to terms with different relationships with males, and I doubt that would've happened if he was a woman. I have learned to connect with so many parts of myself that I thought I had lost or never had, and being a more complete person has helped me connect with others, most importantly in a healthy way for the first time in my life.

Submitted Dec. 7, 2020

My family and I have been working with Dr. Amitay for quite some time now over the years. Whenever a major crisis strikes, we know that we can reach out to him and he will make time for us, even on a Sunday morning or night. Each of us has also recommended people we know to see Dr. Amitay, and no one has ever had anything bad to say about him. He will not treat you with kid gloves, but he deals with issues with a lot of compassion, caring, and empathy.
He has always been available and very responsive, such as giving out his cell number, text, and e-mail, and always getting back quickly, sometimes within seconds. I can't say enough good things about Dr. Amitay. He has saved my family and has actually saved the life of someone very close to us. And he is truly good hearted, as he saw a friend who couldn't afford therapy for free.

Submitted Feb. 8, 2020

I have been a student of Dr Amitay about 16 years back and he still remembered me so well. I visited his clinical practice recently with a life altering issue and he gave me the time generously, he listens carefully to what you have to say and responds by giving unbiased opinion and professional advise, doesnt matter if you like it or not, but he will give a fair judgement which will push you to think over it more carefully. He is very knowledgable in his field of clinical psychology and overall a very good human being. Not sure why anyone would give him a poor rating, he is one of the most genuine people I met in my life. Even as a professor, he was always available to students through electronic channels like MSN outside of office time, even though he has a very busy schedule. He is kind and generous.

Submitted Sept. 28, 2019

I feel very similar to the last person. I have worked with Dr. Amitay for the past few years, mostly on an as needed basis. I come back for his "tough love" and "straight talk". But he is also brilliant and empathetic. I have never felt judged by Dr. Amitay, even when he is being very straight with me. Knowing this has made it possible for me to open up about so many things I could never do with any of my other therapists over the years. I have also been able to be honest with myself about choices I've made and especially the mistakes, which I used to blame on everyone else. Dr. Amitay helped me find the courage to finally take responsibility for myself and my actions. When he told me he was writing a book on this very topic, I smiled because I am sure I will recognize a lot of what he says in it. I can't recommend Dr. Amitay enough for anyone who wants to make major changes in their life. But you have to be ready to do a lot of hard work. I also want to add that he made himself available by phone, text, and e-mail at all times. I sometimes reached out to him, not even in crisis, and he got back to me immediately. I always felt like he was in my corner, and I don't know of any other psychologist who is like that...total commitment to his patients.

PS
I rated his staff as 5/5 because he is his own staff. But he always makes sure he can see me when I need to, he always finds time for me in person or from a distance.

Submitted Sept. 22, 2019