Sylvia Cartwright MD
Board-certified psychiatrist | Telehealth across California | Based in San Diego
Sylvia Cartwright MD is a board-certified psychiatrist who has practiced independently in California since 2013. She sees adults across the state by secure video from San Diego. Her practice centers on depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, OCD and adult ADHD, with particular experience in conditions that have not responded to treatment, diagnoses that remain unclear, and psychiatric care alongside serious medical illness.
Credential At A Glance
Board certified in Psychiatry, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN)
California medical license, active and unrestricted
Doctor of Medicine, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine (2009)
Residency (specialty training) in psychiatry, University of California, San Diego (2009 to 2013)
In independent practice since 2013
Published research in psychopharmacology with Stephen M. Stahl, MD, PhD (2013)
Languages: English and French
Training
Dr. Cartwright earned her medical degree at the University of California, San Diego, then completed her residency there: the four years of specialty training in psychiatry that follow medical school. She trained at UC San Diego Health and the VA San Diego Healthcare System in emergency psychiatry, inpatient psychiatry, consultation-liaison psychiatry (care for patients hospitalized with medical illness) and outpatient psychiatry.
Her training centered on depressive, anxiety and bipolar disorders, and also covered psychosis, mania and suicidal crises, with advanced training in psychopharmacology under UC San Diego faculty. At her own request, she worked in the VA clinic for treatment-resistant mood disorders, caring for patients whose depression had not responded to the usual treatments.
Before medical school, she completed the postbaccalaureate premedical program at Johns Hopkins University.
Publication
Co-authored with Stephen M. Stahl, MD, PhD:
Stahl SM, Lee-Zimmerman C, Cartwright S, Morrissette DA. Serotonergic drugs for depression and beyond. Current Drug Targets. 2013;14(5):578-585.
Clinical focus
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Depression
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Anxiety
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Bipolar disorder
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OCD
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Adult ADHD
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Diagnostic clarification when several providers have not reached a clear answer
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Medication optimization when results or day-to-day functioning are not where they should be
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Careful deprescribing: reducing or stopping medications that no longer help, gradually and safely
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Psychiatric care for people living with chronic medical illness, or before or after major medical interventions such as organ transplant or cardiovascular procedures
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An independent opinion on whether newer treatments such as ketamine or TMS make sense
How Dr. Cartwright works
Dr. Cartwright starts with the whole history: psychiatric, medical, family and personal, and the treatments already tried. Her prescribing is careful and evidence-based, and draws on pharmacogenomic testing when it can help.
Psychotherapy follows her own method, Dynamic Integrative Therapy (DIT), developed over 15 years of clinical work. DIT combines cognitive-behavioral, dialectical-behavioral, interpersonal and psychodynamic work, and places each person’s difficulties in their family, cultural and historical context, including what has been carried across generations.
She tracks progress with standardized measures and, with consent, works closely with each patient’s therapist and physicians.
Before medicine
Dr. Cartwright came to medicine after a first career in international finance, as a money-market trader at Crédit Lyonnais, a business analyst building risk-management software at American Management Systems, and an associate in J.P. Morgan’s European Equity Division. She holds a Master in Management from EDHEC Business School in France and a Diploma in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics. Originally from Martinique, she is fluent in French. That first career informs her work with executives and other professionals.
The practice
Dr. Cartwright is based in San Diego and sees adults anywhere in California by secure video.
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Psychiatric evaluation and medication management: insurance or self-pay. Dr. Cartwright is in-network with Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna, Cigna/Evernorth and Lyra Health.
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Psychotherapy (Dynamic Integrative Therapy): self-pay
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Second-opinion consultations: self-pay
Details on fees and first appointments are in the frequently asked questions.
For referring clinicians
Dr. Cartwright welcomes referrals from therapists and physicians for psychiatric evaluation, medication management, psychotherapy and second-opinion consultations. To refer, use the contact form. With the patient’s consent, she shares her assessment and plan with the referring clinician.