Alan S Ruttenberg MD

This is my very first time EVER to write a review in my 60 years on earth! However my treatment at this office compels me to do so. I’ll try to keep it short.
The nature of my business dictates that I sometimes must leave town in a few days notice. That can be tricky when making appointment three months in advance. I was called away on a job and while away, realized that I had an appointment the following week that I needed to cancel. I called the office to cancel and spoke with the much maligned (and deservedly so) Carmen. The conversation went like this;
Carmen: Doctor’s office.
Me: Hi, I’m calling to reschedule an appointment.
Carmen: For when?
Me: I know it’s next week, but not sure which day.
Carmen: You should know which day.
Me: The appointment was made three months ago and, I guess I forgot.
Carmen: What day do you think it was?
Me. I don’t remember. Maybe Tuesday?
Carmen: (After 30 seconds of checking) No you don’t have an appointment Tuesday.
Me: I don’t know. Maybe Thursday?
Carmen: (after 30 seconds of checking) No, not Thursday?
Me: I can’t imagine, those are the only days I usually can come in. Can you check Wednesday?
Carmen: I’ve already spent twenty minutes (more like four minutes) looking. You’re wasting my time.
Me: Ok, can you cancel any future appointment that come up and I’ll schedule a new appointment when I return?
Carmen: Ok.
One month later, I scheduled an appointment by phone with Dr. Ruttenberg. I went like this;
Dr. Hello
Me: Hi Doctor.
Dr. How can I help you? Are you still on Paxil?
Me: No, I weened my self off of it. It wasn’t working for me.
Dr. Ok, how can I help you?
Me: Well, I wanted to find a medication to help treat my excessive drinking. You see, I’ve had…(cut off)
Dr. We’ll get to that in a second. What am I prescribing you today?
Me: That’s what I was going to get to.
Dr. Ok.
Me: I first began drinking heavily wh…(cut off)
Dr: I’ll ask you again. What am I prescribing you today?
Me: Hmmm,… Ok… I was interested in Naltrexone for helpi…(cut off)
Dr. What am I prescribing you today?
Me: Not sure I understand.
Dr. Are you taking any of the medications that I’ve prescribed you in the past.
Me: Oh, uh, none. I thought you were asking me what I wanted you to…(cut off)
Dr. Ok, so you want Naltrexone?
Me: Yes.
Dr.: Alright, you should take it once a day and in the morning. Now, I haven’t seen you in a year. I’ll want to see you in three months, Ok?
Me: Yea, sure. One of the reason that I’ve not come to your office is that I had called to reschedule an appointment and I didn’t have the exact date. After a few minutes of searching, Carman said that I was wasting her time and…(cut off)
Dr.: Well, you were wasting her time! We see upwards of forty patients a day and she has lots to do and spending time to find your appointment is a wast off her time!
Me: If you computerized your system it would simplify…(cut off)
Dr.:Listen, listen (talking over me) listen. I have to go!
Me: Alright.
Dr.: Do you want to pay your outstanding bill from your last session?
Me: Not right now. I spoke with Carmen and told her that the insurance company told me it had been paid and we’re trying to…(cut off)
Dr. Ok, see you in three months. Good by.
And there you have it. Reading all the negative reviews on this site regarding the rude staff makes sense. But, I’ll call it «trickle down rudeness. I understand trying the Doctor wanting to rake in as much money as he can. My suggestion to him would be, instead of having forty patients a day, maybe have thirty nine patients a day and leave the remaining fifteen minutes to listen to the other thirty nine should one or more patients need to ask a question.
This Doctor, along with his rude staff will never see me again!

Staff sucks! Save your time & avoid the hassle from coming here.
Conversation earlier this morning [6−1] with I believe to be Carmen:
The Doctor wrote me 3 prescriptions in advance all for a lower dose taking them couple times a day. And I didn’t want that. I wanted something higher and to only be taking them once a day or even go back to my 30mg dose. So I tossed them. And I told her that. She goes «oh you just threw them out like nothing? Like they’re trash? Would you do that to your own clothes your own stuff?» Going on and on as to why I should have never lost my prescription. That it is now my own fault that I’m without my medicine. & Bc it’s not a medicine that doesn’t support blood pressure that it’s less important. She’s like: «you can’t get another prescription until August» bc that’s when my next appointment was. She says «you won’t get anything bc you threw them away like trash.» I said well I’m not from California. I’m from Texas and I’ve never had this problem with any medications. If I lost something or wanted a new medicine I would just go in their and get a prescription: hassle free. I said why would I keep taking a medicine that wasn’t helping me? Why would I think to hold onto a prescription for ¾ months that wasn’t doing anything for me? She’s like so you tossed it out? No. You keep it and all this rude shit. I just told her to cancel my appt in August before I get charged 150 $ for not showing up.
This all blows my mind bc a couple months ago I called and got a prescription over the phone. Walked in their picked it up. Left. Then went to refill it. Now this bullshit.
Moral of the story is: regardless if I am wrong or right. I am a client contributing to you. You shouldn’t treat me like scum. Nor make my visits harder then they ever should be. Simply try & solve this solution. You know… the only job you gotta do. Clients/​customers are always first.
I will never ever go back to this horrible office.

Sorry, but I’ve only been to this office TWICE and EACH time, the front desk receptionist has had attitude with me, a patient. The first time was my intake appointment and this last time on the phone.
The intake appointment obviously has paperwork that needs to be filled out, which takes time, but i work until 5pm and have an hour commute, so scheduling me for a 6pm appointment was risky. I told her I could try to make it, but that I’d have to fill out the paperwork afterward. When I arrived, she copped attitude with me, and bolted, saying that I had to fill out paperwork and was clearly irritated that I held her up.
The last time over the phone, I asked her why she’d denied my prescription refills when Dr. Ruttenberg had *just* told me I could call them in. She heard what I guess was a projected tone in my voice, and asked me why I was upset — I told her that I was being denied medication that I needed to feel balanced and she still said it was too early. Uhm… I take Xanax as needed — it’s not «too early“when you can’t predict panic attacks.
I’m finding another doctor — you can’t treat patients like this, and Dr. Ruttenberg needs to find other staff if he wants to keep patients.

I have been a patient of Dr Ruttenberg for almost a decade. He is well informed about medications and is NOT a pill pusher like so many other Dr’s. He is a great listener and exceeds in getting to the core issue. He is readily available during office hours and after hours for a return call. Dr Ruttenberg is a compassionate and well educated man. My experience with him and is office staff has been nothing but very positve.

Dr. Ruttenberg is a great Doctor. He briefly listens to what is wrong, makes his assessment and follows up with the patient. I would give him 5 stars if this review was based solely upon him. He cares about his patients; which is why I don’t understand why he allows Carmen to continue to work for him. She is rude and insulting to patients. There are some staff in the office who are very kind, but she is not one of them. I am actually considering finding a different Doctor because I cannot stand the way she speaks to patients. There have been times when she is nice and actually does her job in a professional manner and then there are other times when she is just plain unprofessional to patients and crosses the line. In a business such as Dr. Ruttenberg’s, the staff needs to treat patients as well as Dr. Ruttenberg does or he will lose patients.

Dr. Ruttenberg, is smart, compassionate and current. He has been there for me, everytime.
Thank you!!!

The doctor is okay, when you try to dismiss his services politely. He talks to you like you can’t identify your left from your right foot. His immediate action was asking me «are you depressed would you like more medication prescribed «. This doctor is quick for to give prescriptions to his patients. I’ve been going to see this doctor over 5 years… the main thing that dismissed me from his services is his staff!!! He has two HIGHLY RUDE secretaries one of them is Carmen. Me traveling back and forth out of state for college at times when I wanted to tell/​talk to Dr. Ruttenberg how things were going with the new meds. They would make a battle with me and get very in depth of the reasons for the conversation that wasn’t there business whatsoever; after they would hang up on me and not give him th e message. It’s suppose to be a somewhat pleasant experience calling your doc. Having a doctor such as a pychiatrist is an intimate bond. Having to deal with the games and pure ugliness of his spiteful secretaries makes it stressful and simply uncomfortable!

this Doctors office has some extremely rude staff members. We received a bill in the amount of $ 75 and the notice said 2^nd notice. We had never even received a 1^st notice. I called the office to see what this was about, I got transferred to a lady named Carmen who was so rude and not helpful. she said the $ 75 fee was for missing an apportionment. I had never made an apportionment and when I tired to explain that she said OK don’t pay but we wont ever be able to see you again! what kind of nonsense it that??? I never even got a call the day before to confirm the appointment that i never even made! the doctor may be good but with these horrible people working there I will never want to go back anyways!

I don’t normally write reviews but based on some of the other reviews here I thought it was important to do so. I’ve been seeing Dr. Ruttenberg for about 5 months and could not be more pleased. He literally turned my life around and I couldn’t be happier. Dr. Ruttenberg is very easy to talk to, he’s quick to assess the underlying situation and he *listens* to what’s most important to you. I wouldn’t go anywhere else and I recommend him highly.
His staff is VERY kind and professional. They have always been extremely pleasant, they are terrific at explaining the finances (Dr. Ruttenberg is very reasonable even if you don’t have insurance) and they work WITH you. 5 starts to the staff too!

I went to see this dr for the very first time yesterday and I have to say he was very easy to talk to and I felt like he really listen without any judgement I do feel like he truly seems to care which in refreshing I will def be going back. I felt it was important to write this review for him cause I did read the other reviews on here and my experiences was very different.

I have been a patient of Dr. Ruttenberg’s for more than 5 years. He is a wonderful, kind, caring and compassionate physician. He handles the medical management component of mental health concerns. He works with patients to establish the best medically managed model. Patients that require «talk therapy» need to see a therapist. I do not agree with the low ratings. He provides the medication portion of treatment, and a psycho-​therapist provides the talk therapy. Anyone who complains about Dr. Ruttenberg, does not understand medical management. Most patients that seek medication for mental health concerns have already tried talk therapy, some for years, before they are willing to take a prescription medication. Prescription medication works in combination with some form of psycho-​analysis. He knows his medications, listens to the patients side effects and benefits. He will try other medications if the one (s) prescribed are not effective. His staff has always been very polite to me; they are efficient, refills are always taken care of and the doctor is extremely punctual. I highly recommend Dr. Alan S. Ruttenberg, M.D.

I’m not one to evaluate MDs because ultimately I do not hold a medical degree. But here are some observations I have made:
1) the office keeps a credit card on file and will charge u 80 bucks if u don’t show… No… That would be ok if they called u the day before for a friendly reminder of your appointment… Which they don’t do. So unless you are super organized which is not a strength of people with mental issues missing an appointment will be pricey.
2) he focuses ONLY on medication management. My profile clearly stated I should not be on certain medications that even I know are not conducive to me and yet he handed me a prescription for this issue (I had to tear it up)
3) he is not touchy feely… When I began to cry he diverted immediately to the medication aspect, told me to get a gym membership and exercise my issues off — granted I had tried the alternative way before and since it wasn’t enough I sought his help
4) he will not assist you in regards to applying for state benefits in case you are incapable of doing your usual and customary work — even if it is for a short period of time… He is a strong advocate of «toughing it out» even though you are crawling into his office from a mental/​emotional perspective. Again… Get on the treadmill and work it out… Which is hard when you have zero motivation because your mental state is so much in the toilet…
I believe there is a mental health professional out there that will fit you. Try him and see if he works for you… But I strongly suggest to have a back up… I have seen many shrinks before who provided both therapy and medication management and those were usually the best… If you are looking for scripts he is your guy… I’m not one to bash MDs, but I doubt I will return for my follow up and since my old shrink contacted me again I will return to him… Even though he is not in my insurance network…
Please judge for yourself… But have a backup plan… Just in case…

One of our children is served by Dr. Ruttenberg. I’m not sure that he knows how important his choice of customer-​facing staff is to his patients. I can tell you, as a parent, that it has has a huge impact on my impression of his practice.
I have never in my life endured the type of verbal abuse that I was given yesterday, by a woman half my age, no less. When you deal with the front office for this provider, be very careful how you choose your words, you may become her target too.
My mistake was getting the name of a medication wrong when I dropped by to pick up samples for our child. Rather than look up my daughters records and/​or talk to the Dr to verify, she chose to be sarcastic, abusive and vitriolic. Sarcastic from her very first words, she began by dressing me down about controlled substances and how they are distributed. I actually had to call my wife to get the correct medication name, as the receptionist didn’t take any initiative to look it up herself. She was relentless. Even after I received the correct meds that I had come for, she couldn’t manage to restrain herself. Incredibly, the last thing I heard her yell echoed in the halls after I walked out the door… «things aren’t going to go well for you in the real world».
In the «real world», I am a 30-​year veteran of consumer marketing, and I can tell you, your customer-​facing staff are in fact, the lifeline of your business and at minimum, they MUST treat your customers with dignity and respect.
I hope to meet this provider face-​to-​face in the near future, though can’t even contact him without dealing with her. If his receptionist is no longer there, apologizes, or at the least I become convinced that she is not representative of his practice, I will gladly change my Unilocal rating immediately.

Dr. Ruttenberg is not going to therapize your problems away. He sticks to the M.D. side of his profession. If you need therapy, talk counseling, or cognitive help (most of us do) seek a therapist of whatever credentials you prefer. Dr. Ruttenberg will listen to your behavioral health symptoms and medicate if and where he feels is appropriate and after you inform him will or will not help. As with most kinds of medicine, you’ve got to be accountable for your own welfare. Doctors never have all of the answers. Mental health is dynamic.
I’m all too aware that mental illness can gravely impair one’s ability to defend one’s well being, but there are many types of mental health professionals for many different needs. Dr. Ruttenberg is fantastic for those of us who know what works, or doesn’t work, and are simply needing somebody to listen to our experiences with medication and prescribe (or not) based on what he is told. He responds well to assertiveness. He does speak slowly in a somewhat singsong voice, but it’s is very likely from years of dealing with persons who have to listen to him while trying to filter out their interior stirrings.
After several years of being a patient in this office, I will admit that his staff is definitely cranky and at times, downright nasty in their treatment of the mentally ill. I know what it’s like to deal with a clientele that taxes one’s kindness but repeated occasions of hearing them speaking to obviously impaired patients in tones that I wouldn’t use on a pervy gas station accoster has left me leaving the office with a conflicted heart.

Dr. Ruttenberg’s office charges 50 dollars UPFRONT BEFORE YOU EVEN SEE HIM JUST TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT. I have been told numerous times by my insurance that this is ILLEGAL, they claim it’s «just office policy» …
The Doctor arrived 15 minutes late and his secretary was 30 minutes late, causing me to wait and have to fill out forms after my horrible 10 minute evaluation by Dr. Ruttenberg
Dr. Ruttenberg constantly cut me off, and had an overall rushed, brief, and rude attitude toward me. His explanations about serious inquiries would usually be very ambiguous and vague. At the pinnacle of the experience, he tried to force me to take some anti-​depressant that I had never heard of and was NOT COMFORTABLE at all taking. He then went on to say if I denied the medication he could not help me any further and would not work with me any other way.
In short, THIS DOCTOR IS A SHILL FOR ANTI-​DEPRESSANTS, if you need actual help for a psychiatric condition, stay as FAR away from DR. ALAN S RUTTENBERG as POSSIBLE!

Dr. Ruttenberg talks in a sing-​song voice. He seems to like to keep you under medication. When I told him I wanted to off medication, he gave me a hard time about the reason why. I always dreaded going to see him. Two other people I know have gone to see him and they had the same experience.