Sentara Behavioral Health Specialists

Christine A. Is great. After years of fighting for correct mental help. She was the only one in 10 years to listen and get the correct diagnosis. My life has changed so so much since I came to her. Literally saved my life. I recommend her to anyone who may be struggling. She really cares
Feb 18th, 2024

My new provider there is great. She really listened to my symptoms & knows what she is doing bc she actually matched me with a medication that I have noticed improvement. Unlike other times where Ive had to deal with tons of side affects with no improvement. Thanks C.A. I really appreciate you taking time and truly listening to understand my symptoms.
Mar 9th, 2023

Never on time for med refill and blood work
Jan 10th, 2023

Extremely rude and unprofessional. Stated I had been scheduled before and canceled but I had not even heard of this practice a year ago. Had me wait two months for a provider to become certified to bill Medicare and Medicaid, then another month and a half for an actual appointment. My insurance hasnt changed from last year either, so if I supposedly scheduled then with a provider, why did it change now if they havent lost any providers? I do not recommend this office to anyone with mental health issues as it is more stressful than its worth. The Community Services Board is better than this place.
Sep 16th, 2022

Unfortunately Ive had a very bad experience here. My psychiatric name was Christine Arcidicono. My first time coming here, I described my symptoms to the psychiatrist I was seeing, explained I have anxiety, panic attacks that happen a few times a week, and just after an hour of seeing her, she diagnosed me with bipolar disorder and wrote me a prescription for lamictal. It blows my mind that after just one visit, a doctor can diagnose you with bipolar disorder. Typically, it takes months or a year and a half to diagnose something like this, but this lady decided to just throw this on me and quickly write me a prescription for a mental disorder I dont have. I was very hesitant about this, so I told my therapist about it who I have been seeing for 2 years, and even she couldnt believe the fact I was diagnosed so quickly and given medication, as well as disagreeing that I have bipolar disorder. My therapist knows the only thing I truly struggle with is panic disorder. I tried taking the medication given to me, but had very adverse effects considering I do NOT have bipolar disorder. It made me incredibly depressed and I had to stop. My therapist decided to get into contact with my so called psychiatrist, explaining to her that she thinks I was misdiagnosed and asking if I can be put on medication for my panic attacks, and the psychiatric writes a very rude email back to her, basically telling her to stay in her lane and she should not be talking to me about medication, and being completely passive aggressive. Also, I think the psychiatric literally might have even been confusing me for someone else, because she said I struggled with alcohol dependency/addiction when I have never even touched alcohol in my life. She also stated I had several no shows to my appointments and I was not even a patient in the system anymore because of this, when I have never missed an appointment in my life. I was really stunned by this, so I tried calling the sentara office and asking why she would say this and be so rude to my therapist, and the ladies in the office tell me they have zero record of these communications between my therapist and psychiatrist taking place.. so basically the psychiatric wrote an incredibly rude and off putting email and erased it from the system. How shady and unprofessional. I have never had a worse mental health experience in my life. It seems like this psychiatric, C. Arcidicono only cares about money, and will throw a diagnosis at you and give you medication just to shut you up. Maybe this place has better psychiatrists than her, but Im not willing to ever come here again. I hope sharing my story will be a warning to anyone who might be a future patient of hers, and anyone visiting this office in general. Its really disappointing to me because this is one of the only psychiatric offices available to me , as I live 45 minutes away.
Jan 19th, 2024