took part in the program he owns (CITPD) for 7 months. My thoughts are below. For the full, please go here as there’s a max with word count.

Full review and experience: https://tinyurl.com/2vxwcpby

For some this program can be helpful in addressing the emotions beneath hard experiences + difficult personality traits to assist in bettering these traits, for others it can be invalidating, infantilizing distressing and may be not a good fit exacerbating your negative symptoms and suicidal ideations. For me, it was not a good fit after trying to make it work for seven months. But again, there are people that this process works for. There are positive reviews online if you search for them. I’d recommend you read those as well. Look at all the info and make an educated decision for yourself. don’t knock it till you try it.

Are you thinking about joining? If so, I think it’s worth checking out. It has potential, the ability to live up to that potential is dependent on your commitment in addition to making sure you have the best primary therapist to manage your lived experiences. What’s odd is that you can have the commitment, but with the team itself it really depends on who you get and that’s an enormous variable that you’ll need to figure out when you have an intake with CITPD. Mutliple patients have expressed this to me. If you try this program or thinking of trying it, it’s my hope that you can use my experience to help guide you to get what you need and learn from my experience.

If you look at the CITPD manual or videos online from Dr. Twardon, Director of the 150 patients per year program, it says a lot about the different types of premium innovative therapies that they utilize + how they specialize and tailor their approach per patient: psycho dynamic, dialectical, metallization therapy ,cognitive, psychopharmacological, mindfulness therapies. I didn’t experience much tailoring or a single word of support / validation during my 7 month attendance. But again, some people responded positively to this methodology and everyone is different.

I say this because every time I expressed the need for a change, no adjustment was made, but rather it was communicated that no patient has had their therapist changed in three years minimum. I’ve seen this happen with multiple other patients as well. Theres also no information on pricing so please see below for a breakdown of the day to day in addition to a variety of details that I wish I had known prior to beginning so that I could make an educated well rounded decision.

Regarding twardon, the leader and owner of this program, he doesn’t really have time for patients. Or me at least. I don’t think that’s what his job in the program entails with everything he has on his plate, but it was communicated to me that if I had difficulties, he’s the next step in the powerful hierarchy that mount sinai citpd implements. my experience with him was minimal and at times pretty distressing.

Sent multiple emails asking questions about program details and key performance indicators with no response. If this program has been around for a decade, there should be information on drop rates, graduate rates, death rates, patient feedback and growth. Got none of that. His main communication to me when I met him for the first time during a distressing dysregulating experience was that the clinic was closing so I needed to leave or he’ll call security. This is standard, but a strange experience at the same time. I’ve seen and heard about it happening enough times that it’s consistently their procedure.

I think during these distressing times we expect some kind of de-escalating empathetic compassion from the therapists that work at citpd. That’s not the modality/ strategy that twardon/ tim chi executes on, or at least not with my experience. And the longer I take part in this program, the more I realize that this is a deliberate decision. There also seems to be some staffing issues with doctors dropping like flies. I’ve asked why, no real answer there either.

Submitted Nov. 19, 2023

Wow. There are quite a few "judgmental" comments below. I attended CITPD, and I am very glad I did. While I certainly did not "win the lottery" with my personality disorder, I most certainly did with the treatment I got at CITPD. I am a neurotic personality. There is much work left to be done. I have gained from the experience that Andrew has acquired over then years and implemented into the program. And thanks for that Andrew! I really appreciate it. CITPD got the ball rolling. To help me better help myself!!

Submitted Nov. 30, 2022

This placed cured my BPD. The person I was before CITPD and the person after don't really make sense given the state I was in when I first walked through those doors. I didn't want to be alive anymore, felt hopeless about my future...I didn't really talk in the group for the first 6 months I was there, but I remember one day telling a 'funny' story and I just started crying so deeply. It was strange but I think all of those rules are in place to help people feel safe.

It was never safe to talk about my emotions before CITPD so it took me time + some very specific circumstances to feel safe enough to feel my feelings.

I've seen other therapists since graduating and it's been hard finding someone who I don't completely flake on after a few sessions. If you give me an inch I'll take a mile, so while flexibility is nice (I agree the NYC subway system sucks), the strict policies forced me to take my commitment to getting better seriously.

I learned how to explain my emotions clearly and immediately as a result of group sessions where we were encouraged to explore our feelings. The last comment about how the therapist "tried to turn the sadistic bullying and infighting into anything for anyone to gain insight from and, maybe, change" - uhm, what would the better option be? Group therapy is about working out the issues you all have in common in a safe space.

I took everything that was hard about the program as a learning lesson, looked at it with curiosity, and it saved my life.

Thank you, Andrew.

Submitted March 11, 2022

I have to agree with all of the comments here, although I have less complaints about the lateness policy and rules of the program. There is a reason for those rules and it is to establish consistency for someone who struggles with just that. However, the staff at CITPD is not trained to handle people severely affected by childhood trauma. I have never felt more judged, more invisible and more misunderstood than I did there, and the human to human component is often missing. You cannot put a 40 year old in group therapy with a bunch of teenagers and 20-something year olds and think you are helping these patients because they are all personality disordered. Similarly, you cannot put someone with antisocial personality, narcissistic personality, and borderline personality in group therapy and think you are helping them. These ¨experts¨ Dr. Twardon hires usually come from the New School (where he went) and are inadequately trained on one basic level - human compassion. Dr. Twardon thinks very highly of himself and accidentally revealed how little he thinks of the patients who attend his program more than once to me. He is very much into mindfulness and meditation, but I am pretty sure that his ego runs the program. Most of the therapists who actually treated the patients as human beings left for some reason or another - it is a shame. And most of those who remain carry the same condescending, arrogant attitude as Dr. Twardon; objectifying you and judging you on your behavior, with little/no desire to actually understand you as a person or your intentions. I suggest doing a real DBT program, like Dr. Marsha Linehan prescribed.

Submitted March 19, 2021

I was in psychotherapy in with dr. Twardon almost two years with the contract that we solve my problems with connecting to people. The only high point for me was when he told me that my wife does not accept me. Because of no results I quit only to be later diagnosed as Asperger Syndrome person. Nieuk czy naciagacz ?

Submitted March 28, 2020

Beware! This man will make you feel like pathetic garbage. Andrew Twardon is the director of Mount Sinai's Center for Intensive Treatment of Personality Disorders (CITPD) who I've been unlucky enough to meet numerous times, and I have no clue how he's gotten that position considering he perpetuates the stigma towards people with personality disorders. Literally every patient I've met in that program didn't like him. He's rude, condescending, and dismisses legitimate complaints. He pretends he's there to help you, but god forbid you come in five minutes late to a session. You are not allowed to enter if you're five minutes late. They close the door in your face and refuse to let you in regardless of the circumstance. We live in NEW YORK CITY where the MTA is extremely unreliable! The first time I met him, he gave me and an enormous group of patients a 10 minute lecture that we're lazy, aren't trying hard enough, and don't want to get better because we said we didn't like their lateness policy. It's extremely coldhearted to insult and reject patients who have abandonment and rejection issues from lifelong trauma. Being at CITPD destroyed my self-esteem and made me feel like I was a lost cause. Despite all the effort I had been putting in, despite the fact that my therapist thought I was making immense progress and wanted me to stay, I got the boot. I don't qualify for a personality disorder anymore, but that's not because I went here. It's because I went somewhere else. Save yourself the emotional energy.

Submitted Feb. 27, 2020

CITPD is a very strange destructive place. It is not therapeutic or helpful- it is a living nightmare. Stay away!!!! The therapists are all robots who tow the party line (almost verbatim) and only care about patients with violent and or suicidal behavior. DBT is only one session per week and taught in a large group setting-useless. Dr. Twardon, Dr.Banthin and Dr. Zimmerman are arrogant and uncaring and do not listen or pay attention to the patient’s needs.

Submitted Sept. 12, 2019

Cons: The treatment is terrible
Pros: There is a lot of it!

Submitted Dec. 4, 2018

This is a place where one goes to get emotionally raped. Dr. Twardon is the head of the department but doesn't care about his patients. At community meetings, he'll bring up the question as to why there is such a high drop out rate. What he doesn't realize is that people aren't getting the help they require. My psychologist was Morton Rosenbaum who appears to be an empathetic individual. However, it is just a mask which he puts up for the patients. Basically a waste of time along with a chance of experiencing a traumatic or disturbing life event.

Submitted Oct. 26, 2018

I did attend this program. It is a terrible program. The reviews on this page are correct and more so. Dr. Twardon stays in his own private room and does not talk privately with patients even when approached with said request. The staff tows the "Party Line". Patient turnover, during my stay, was quite high. You are assigned a therapist who then runs all 3 groups per week. This therapist is the therapist for all members in the group. You can not change if you request another therapist. My group was run by therapist who seemed to have no idea as to how to run an effective and challenging group. There is no support or assurance from the top on down. Rules seem to be made up and vary from one therapist to another. Once you decide to leave there is absolutely no work done by your therapist in finding an alternative form of treatment. You are on your own. DBT was very good, but only offered once a week. And I could go on and on with the negative. Sadly there is not much to say in the positive. Avoid this at all costs. It will do nothing but wast your time and send you downward instead of upward.

Submitted Feb. 2, 2018