Dr. Heather Berlin, Ph.D.

Dr. Heather Berlin is a dual-trained clinical psychologist and neuroscientist, and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in NY. She specializes in lifespan (child, adolescent, and adult) treatment of anxiety and impulsive and compulsive disorders (e.g., OCD). Dr. Berlin takes a holistic approach to therapy, focused on maximizing your mental health and well-being. She incorporates mindfulness and humanistic approaches with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), including exposure-response prevention (ERP). By combining evidence-based therapy with her deep understanding of the brain and its mechanism, she gives clients a unique, comprehensive perspective.

Dr. Berlin received her doctorate from the University of Oxford, Master of Public Health from Harvard University, and Master’s in Psychology from the New School for Social Research. She completed her NIMH post-doctoral fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai under the supervision of Dr. Eric Hollander, her clinical internship specializing in OCD and related disorders at Biobehavioral Institute, and a post-doctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at Weill Cornell Medicine in the Department of Neurological Surgery.

Her research explores the neural basis of impulsive and compulsive psychiatric and neurological disorders with the aim of developing novel treatments, utilizing neuroimaging and neuropsychological and psychopharmacological testing. She is also interested in the brain basis of consciousness, dynamic unconscious processes, and creativity. Dr. Berlin has conducted clinical research both nationally and internationally, including at Bellevue Hospital and the Institute of Psychiatry in London, and has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles and chapters in high-impact textbooks and journals.

Dr. Berlin is a visiting scholar at the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and was a Visiting Professor at Vassar College, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology/University of Zurich, and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the recipient of numerous honors including the Young Investigator Award from the American Neuropsychiatric Association, the Young Investigator Award from the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder, and the Clifford Yorke Prize from the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society.

Passionate about science communication, destigmatizing mental illness, and promoting women in STEM, Berlin is a committee member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Science and Entertainment Exchange and the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) Committee on Science and Technology Engagement with the Public. She co-hosts StarTalk with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and hosted television series on PBS and the Discovery Channel. Dr. Berlin also co-wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed off-Broadway and Edinburgh Fringe Festival shows, Off the Top, about the neuroscience of improvisation, and Impulse Control, about the science of impulsivity. She has made numerous media appearances including on the BBC, History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, and TEDx, and was featured in the documentary film Bill Nye: Science Guy.

Dr. Berlin believes that the relationship between therapist and client is a component part of therapy. She works to build trust, so her clients feel safe and fully seen and heard without judgement. She is driven by the belief that change is always possible and that you have the power to change your brain by altering your thoughts and behaviors. Dr. Berlin is there to help you navigate that process with compassion and empathy so you can reach your full potential as you journey towards self-knowledge, self-improvement, and self-empowerment.