Current Environment: Development

Dev

Roberta Isberg | Medical Services

Programs & Services

Languages

  • English

Roberta Isberg | Education

Medical School

Harvard Medical School

1987, Boston, MA

Internship

Mount Zion Hospital

1979, San Francisco, CA

Residency

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

1982, Boston, MA

Fellowship

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

1984, Boston, MA

Fellowship

Mental Health Center

1986, Boston, MA

Roberta Isberg | Certifications

  • American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
  • American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry)
  • Safe Zone Trained

Roberta Isberg | Professional History

Even before starting medical school, I had the opportunity to learn to meditate: to sit quietly and watch what the human mind is doing. From this, I learned that awareness of my thought-patterns, impulses, likes and dislikes could be helpful in responding to life's challenges. Early in my career, this interest in helping others through understanding of the mind led me to train in psychoanalysis. Psychodynamic psychotherapy remains an important part of my practice as well as my teaching and supervision of Child Psychiatry Fellows. Yet the crises arising in my practice so often involved suicidal and self-injuring teens, that I was compelled to train in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. From this training, I learned how the apparently opposite approaches of acceptance and behavioral change could work together to address human suffering. As my training in behavioral therapy enriched my approach to treatment, I learned how parents themselves could be the most effective agents of therapeutic change with young children. Inspired to train in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, I now take delight in coaching parents to help their distressed children learn to cope with challenges and to enjoy their improved relationships with others. Throughout my career, I have been privileged to teach and supervise Child Psychiatry Fellows, from whom I continue to learn.

Roberta Isberg | Publications

My wish to decrease the suffering of people with emotional illness has led me to train in several different approaches to treating mental disorders. While my specialties in Psychoanalysis, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy are distinct in their approaches, they all use the human relationship as the essential therapeutic agent.