The Psychiatric Division
At Sheba Medical Center, skilled mental health professionals provide patients with the support and tools they need to optimize their emotional health. Our experienced team consists of physicians, psychiatric nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, and psychologists.
Compassionate and intensive short-term treatment programs are offered in an inpatient setting, with the goal of returning patients back to their homes and communities quickly. In addition, we provide a variety of comprehensive therapies in our outpatient and specialty clinics, such as The Eating Disorders Clinic.
At Sheba, we integrate clinical expertise and cutting-edge research to individualize progressive therapies for patients with a range of mental health conditions.
The Rehabilitation Hospital
The Psychiatric Division is part of Sheba’s Rehabilitation Hospital, the national center of rehabilitation. At this world-class facility, we pioneer many innovative rehabilitation technologies in our specialized laboratories, such as Computerized Motion Analysis, Virtual Reality Training, and Isokinetic Exercise. Acute inpatient and outpatient care is administered in three divisions – Rehabilitation, Psychiatry, and Geriatrics.
Our main treatment centers include:
- The Neurological Rehabilitation Department
- The “Steps” (“Tsa’adim”) Institute (treating patients with mobility disabilities)
- The Head Trauma Rehabilitation Department
- The Orthopedic Rehabilitation Department
- The Respiratory Rehabilitation Department
- The National Multiple Sclerosis Center
- The Eating Disorders Department
- The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Clinic
What treatments do we provide?
The Psychiatry Division is split into several distinct units:
Psychiatry A Department
This unit is dedicated to treating women who suffer from a wide variety of mental illnesses of varying degrees. A particular focus of treatment is for birth-related problems, such as severe anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Our team of psychologists addresses the needs of both patient and family, providing individual psychological therapy, family intervention, spousal therapy, and parental guidance. We help patients develop social skills through complementary healthcare, such as walking groups and art therapy.
Psychiatry B Department
This unit is an outpatient ward dedicated to treating men with a wide range of mental illnesses of varying degrees. Multidisciplinary professionals diagnose the patient’s mental, physical, and functional condition to custom-design a unique treatment program.
Psychiatry C Department
This unit provides acute treatments for men and includes both an open and a fully protected ward. Patients who are in an extremely complex state of mind are treated in the protected ward, which provides tight observation and security measures. As part of a university hospital, a range of therapies are offered for diverse psychiatric disorders.
In these departments of Sheba’s Psychiatry Division, the following types of treatments are offered:
- Biological (somatic) treatments focus primarily on drug intervention, which can be very effective in treating conditions such as anxiety, panic, obsessive compulsive disorder, mood disorders, and psychotic disorders.
- Electrocardiogram ECT treatment may be used for specific types of mood disorders.
- Psychotherapy based on conversations with the patient and their family. This highly personalized and dynamic approach aims to identify the patient’s current coping mechanisms and help strengthen the healthy mechanisms, as well as acquire new tools to cope with their problems.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is often used to treat general and specific anxiety states, as well as for facilitating change in negative thinking patterns that lead to depression.
- Specialized treatments for post-traumatic stress conditions
- Nursing Intervention strives to create individualized, systematic plans for each patient, which are then implemented to help the patient achieve his or her goals. At Sheba, we have specially trained nurses and care coordinators for this purpose.
To provide the most comprehensive care possible, all treatments are designed based on a biopsychosocial model – involving a collaborative team of psychiatrists, nurses, psychologists, occupational therapists, social workers, and complementary healthcare, such as a psychodrama clinic and art therapy.
The Eating Disorders Department
This unit is the only center of its kind in Israel. It is divided into four different sectors: full hospitalization, day care, outpatient clinics, and an information center. Patients can begin their treatment at any of these sectors and shift to a different one at any time, depending on their needs, while still receiving treatment from the same Sheba medical team.
We treat the following conditions:
- Morbid Obesity
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Bulimia Nervosa
- Binge Eating Disorder
- Compulsive Eating Disorder
At Sheba, our program goal at The Eating Disorders Department is to teach and assist patients to adapt to new, healthier eating behaviors and physical activities. To that end, we provide and integrate cognitive, behavioral, supportive, and psychodynamic treatments for each individual.
When the physical condition of the patient is life-threatening or deteriorating rapidly, or when outpatient therapy has failed, we offer inpatient care with full hospitalization. Our skilled nursing team may provide treatments with infusions, parenteral nutrition, or regular nutrition based on the individual’s needs. The intensive inpatient treatment plan is designed with a full-day schedule of group and private therapy sessions, pre-planned and supervised meals, and exercise. Following full hospitalization, the patient will be transferred to the day care unit. After discharge, patients return regularly for follow-up meetings in the outpatient clinic.
Sheba’s Outpatient Clinics include:
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Program
- Early Psychosis Clinic
- Anxiety Clinic
- Affective Disorders Clinic
- Veterans Clinic
- Services for Ultra-Religious Populations
- Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic and Memory Clinic
- Biofeedback Clinic
- Occupational Therapy
Meet Our Team
Prof. Mark Weiser, MD
Director, Psychiatric Division
Director, Department of Psychiatry C
Prof. Weiser specializes in the research of schizophrenia, especially epidemiology, cognition, and therapy; ADHD and learning disabilities; the field of psychographics. He has published extensively on these topics in professional medical literature. In addition, Prof. Weiser runs the Evaluation Center at Sheba, a unit where disabled members of the IDF are evaluated. He received his medical degree from the Hadassah School of Medicine at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
Asaf Caspi, MD
Director, Department of Psychiatry A
Dr. Caspi received his medical degree from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Revital Amiaz, MD
Senior Physician, Psychiatric Division
Dr. Amiaz specializes in mood disorders, and she is the Director of the Ofek Clinic, which deals with treating mood and anxiety disorders. She is actively engaged in research on quitting smoking, anxiety, and moods. Dr. Amiaz graduated from the Technion in Haifa, Israel.
Holistic Approach to Mental Health
Our Psychiatric Division is founded on the basic principle that mental illness encompasses and affects all parts of one’s quality of life. Accordingly, we believe deeply in integrative care based on a combination of cognitive, supportive, behavioral, and psychodynamic approaches that address each patient’s mental well-being. In addition, Sheba’s team provides comprehensive help to the families of patients who suffer with mental illness. All of our services from A-Z are provided by experienced medical professionals, conveniently under one roof.
