Mitchell K. Naficy, MD

FAMILY MEDICINE/ADDICTION

Dr. Naficy is a board-certified family physician with over 25 years of clinical experience. In 1985, he graduated from Rutgers University with a B.A. in Microbiology and French Literature. In 1986, he enrolled at the Universidad Central del Caribe, School of Medicine in Puerto Rico. In 1990, he received his Medical Doctor degree. In 1991, Dr. Naficy completed his post-graduate training at the University of Southern California Medical Center. In 1998, he completed his residency in Family Medicine at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center.

Dr. Naficy has treated hundreds of drug-dependent patients throughout the years. His family medicine background was helpful in establishing his minimalist approach to prescribing medications for patients struggling with drug dependence. Unfortunately, he witnessed too many patients who had been unnecessarily prescribed controlled medications or who were overmedicated in the name of treating drug dependence. From the onset of his involvement in this field, he sought to undo those trends.

Dr. Naficy also happens to be one of only a handful of physicians in the state of California with expertise in the mobilization of the unconscious and Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP). He has extensive training and research with Dr. H. Davanloo, the world-renowned pioneer of the technique at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. This knowledge of the metapsychology of the unconscious has proven invaluable in understanding and treating substance abuse and dependence.

At the heart of all addictions, drug and otherwise, is unconscious anxiety and unconscious guilt, which is the dynamic force that drives self-destructive behavior. These emotional forces are difficult to access and not easily available to examine for most. Dr. Naficy’s intricate knowledge of the unconscious and ability to shine a light on this fundamental area of the patient’s suffering and to guide the willing and determined patient to experience what was heretofore repressed represents a quantum leap in the treatment of substance abuse.