Philip Muskin, M.D.
Professor of Clinical Psychiatry

Chief: Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry,
Columbia University Medical Center

Dr. Muskin’s research and publications include mood disorders and AIDS, the psychodynamics of the failure of empathy towards patients with AIDS, panic disorder, treatment of anxiety and depression in medically ill patients, maladaptive denial of physical illness, personality disorders in the primary care setting, the role of religiosity in patients’ decisions regarding do-not-resuscitate status, the psychodynamics of physician-assisted suicide, and the decision making capacity of medically ill patients.

He is the editor of Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Psychiatry, published by American Psychiatric Publishing (2000), one of the editors of Psychosocial Treatment for Medical Conditions (2003), an editor of Psychological Effect of Catastrophic Disasters: Group Approaches to Treatment (2006), one of the authors of How to Use Herbs, Neutraceuticals and Yoga in Mental Health Care (2009) and an editor of The Neuropsychiatry of Headache (2013). He is the editor of the first self-exam guide on the DSM published by American Psychiatric Publishing (2013). Dr. Muskin has received many academic awards, including Outstanding Teacher of the Year at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) on three separate occasions, the Association for Academic Psychiatry Lifetime Achievement Award, the Society for Liaison Psychiatry Award for outstanding contributions to the field of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and the Irma Bland Award for Residency Teaching (APA). 

Dr. Muskin is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the Academy for Psychosomatic Medicine and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the Association for Academic Psychiatry. In 1989 he founded the Trained Liaison Comforter Program at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital; a volunteer program that provides emotional support for families of patients in intensive care units.

He served as a consultant to the Red Cross First Step program for widows, has been a consultant to the Vivian Beaumont Theater, and was a volunteer facilitator in the NYPD Stress Management Program. He is Past-President of the Association for Academic Psychiatry and the Society for Liaison Psychiatry. 

Dr. Muskin was the Program Chair for the 1999 meeting of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine. He was been a member of the Scientific Program Committee of the American Psychiatric Association from 1990 to 2006, serving as chair for the 2001 and 2002 meetings, and will chair the committee for the 2014 meeting. He was the first chair of the APA Council on Psychosomatic Medicine. Currently Dr. Muskin serves as the chair of the board of directors of the Foundation of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine.

Education and Training

Undergraduate:  Cornell University, BA, 1969
Graduate:  New School for Social Research-Graduate Faculty, MA, 1970
Medical School:  New York Medical College, M.D., 1974
Internship:  Metropolitan Hospital, Medicine, 1974 - 1975
Residency:  New York State Psychiatric Institute, Psychiatry, 1975 - 1978
Fellowship:  Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, 1978-1979
Post-Graduate:  New York State Psychiatric Institute, Therapeutics, 1978-1979
Post-Graduate:  Columbia University Psychoanalytic Center, Certificate of Psychoanalysis, 1977-1983
Board Certifications:  American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
Subspeciality Certifications:  Geriatric Psychiatry
Psychosomatic Medicine

Specialties

• Psychosomatic Medicine (Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry)
• Psychopharmacology
• Psychological Aspects of Medical Illness

Contact information

Address:
Presbyterian Hospital
Room 1624  Unit/Box:16 Center
622 West 168th St.
New York, NY   10032

Phone: 212-305-9985
Fax: 212-305-1249
prm1@Columbia.edu

Publications

1. Brown RP, Gerbarg PL, Muskin PR: How to Use Herbs, Nutrients, and Yoga in Mental Health Care,  Norton,  New York,  NY,  USA,  2010

2. Muskin PR: The request to die: role for a psychodynamic perspective on physician-assisted suicide.  JAMA  1998;279: 323-328

3. Sullivan MA, Muskin PR, Feldman SJ, Haase E: Effects of Religiosity on Patients’ Perceptions of Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) Status.  Psychosomatics  2004;45: 119-128

4. Muskin PR: Physical Signs and Symptoms, in Psychiatry, eds. Tasman A, Kay J, Liebermann J, W. B. Saunders Co. 3rd edition,   ,  2008

5. Roberts LW, Muskin PR, Warner TD, McCarty TA, Roberts BB, Fidler DC: Attitudes of Consultation-Liaison psychiatrists toward physician assisted death practices.  Psychosomatics  1997;38: 459-471