Dr Alberto Pertusa - Psychiatrist in London

Jul 7th, 2022

May 17th, 2021

Dr Pertusa is warm and calm with a meticulous attention to detail, rarely forgetting or overlooking details that many doctors & psychiatrists may find irrelevant or unimportant. I felt seen and understood very quickly, which can be therapeutic in itself. He is generous with his time & knowledge, often going beyond the basic requirements to help me - for instance he will not abruptly end a session, but lets it come to a natural, timely end. He and his secretary, Jennifer, are very polite, courteous and considerate - I have actually had very supportive conversations with his secretary, who has taken the time to get to know me, she anticipates my needs and is always efficient and compassionate when we speak. I have taken a particular interest in functional medicine and often wanted to discuss lifestyle interventions that might help my OCD - I never feel afraid to discuss these theories with him (previous doctors and GPs have made me feel very humiliated for wanting to understand medicine more, just because I am not a doctor it seems GPs & doctors feel I shouldn't bother to understand the biochemical side of my condition - a feeling that left me isolated and further powerless) he doesn't patronise me as I try to get to grips with some of the more technical sides of medicine, and encourages me to think for myself with humility and caution. Dr Pertusa has a high degree of knowledge of both medications and therapy, obviously favouring a multi-disciplinary approach he encourages me to be patient and humble in the anticipation of results, never over promising but teaching me how to maintain healthy optimism. I would not (and have not) hesitate to recommend family and friends to Dr Pertusa, he is a very safe pair of hands.
Aug 15th, 2020

Jan 14th, 2020

I was delegated after wrong diagnosis, influenced by the company I worked for as a contractor (and who paid the psychologist) and after very damaging and excruciating behavioral therapy exposure following that wrong diagnosis. Wrong diagnosis was made after a manager to whom I reported for a few months (and who also was a skilled CBT therapist) disturbed and upset me for months with NLP practice aimed (I think) first at picking me up and (when it would not work) at framing me. When I reacted to it hysterically eventually framed me and reported on me. The case was complex, I was stranded in a foreign country, my contract was not updated for a year already, my line manager was excluding me from meetings, earlier my invoices were delayed. The colleague in question exploited the situation and used NLP on me continuing whispering on the phone, mimicking my gestures on meetings, repeating my words (and then distoring their meaning), whispering in lewd allusive manner, using sexual allusions, sighing on the phone etc - all in the way that was difficult to pinpoint but repetitive and extremely disturbing. I was delegated to dr. Petrusa after the said corporation (who "mercifully" decided to pay for a private psychologist and intimidated me to visit him (and not an NHS psychologist)), got scared with my reaction to an illegally organized CBT exposition. It was organized without informing myself or my family and started without even warning me that what I was doing was "CBT" and what this therapy would involve. The exposition was heavily based on report of the colleague who pestered me (and whom the psychologist interviewed), and in all probability was organized to sweep it under the carpet what that colleague had been doing, making it look "on paper" that "had issues". Even the report to dr. Petrusa which the psychologist had prepared contained a blatant lie (easily verifiable btw - namely when I hysterically after weeks of pestering wrote to my colleague "for what you've done you WOULD HAVE been beaten by a woman's father and brothers in [xxx my city]", dr. Petrusa apparently read out during the meeting that changed version of that sentence "you SHOULD be beaten" and referred to it "there were threats". That lie undermined my trust in dr. Petrusa's impartiality unfortunately... I am writing all this to say thank you though. Despite wrong diagnosis and partial information passed to him, dr. Petrusa managed to make me trust in myself for a moment. Following the visit the corporation tried to persuade me to share "Doctor's report" with them (I refused), then I was blackmailed and literally terrorized (by shouts and accusations) to do again "therapy" with therapist paid by that corporation. The corporation also pestered me by sending private individuals not very well known to me to "tell me things" - referring to facts from my life (which I never shared with these people). One of the accusations of my "pesterer" when he framed me was apparently misconstruing my attempts to share country and family history of German made genocide in private conversations as my "bias". The effect of the "therapy" was most damaging in this area - for months I suffered from horror day dreams of supporting Hitler's genocide (because I was so heavily mentally tortured for trying to speak against it). I am on the safe side now and do share this as "thank you" and a warning. Dr Petrusa was a bright spot of light in the darkness I was pushed into by dishonest corporation in which I was not even legally employed. Warning - corporations should never pay "therapists" who would base "therapy" on report of managers, colleagues and bosses. This might be heavily manipulated in corporations' interest and at the expense of patient's health. Such practices should be condemned.
Aug 31st, 2020