Scheduling of appointments is very easy and professionally handled. The premises of the clinic are nice, tidy & quiet. Dr Hapworth participates in major insurance plans such as BCBS.
My first encounters with Hapworth were quite bizarre and in some ways disturbing. For one, he declared himself a follower of libertarian philosopher/author Ayn Rand and spent lots of time on having me describe my career objectives and my situation at work, even though I made it clear that is no major problem area. I had a sense that he was just wasting time chit-chatting, with the meter ticking and running up a bill for the insurance company.
Still more bizarrely, Dr Hapworth went on to issue orders about changes to make in my life. For example, even though I have no drinking problem, he ordered me to stop drinking alcohol altogether. At the next appointment he asked if I had stopped drinking. When I said no, he got visibly angry that I had not followed orders and went on trying to bully me into submission. After some back and forth he simply declared he would refuse to continue my treatment unless I followed his orders.
A pretty thorough search of available literature has revealed no scientific evidence supporting Dr Hapworth's notions about the damage low doses of alcohol causes in the brain. Nor could I find support for any of the other claims he made about the potential interaction between low-level alcohol consumption and the proposed (but not yet prescribed) pharmaceutical.
Disturbingly, Dr Hapworth's nonstandard treatment methods are not only at variance with established practice but are also used as a condition for receiving treatment at all. Making treatment conditional on the patient accepting pseudo-scientific notions and changing his life so as to please the psychiatrist, rather than being convinced by valid arguments to change it for his own sake, strikes me as unethical.
Judging from the positive reviews I have seen, Dr Hapworth may well have his merits, but mainly for people who need an authoritarian ""life coach"" to run their lives. People like myself, who prefer discussing matters intelligently and making their own decisions based on facts, evidence and personal preference, will in all likelihood be frustrated and disappointed -- or simply thrown out -- by Dr Hapworth.
Pros: Has administrative house in order
Cons: Methods out of step with accepted scientific practice
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