Stefano Pallanti M.D. Ph.D.

Who am I?

I am a M.D., Ph.D. in Neurophysiology with a specialization in Psychiatry, focusing my work on both clinical and research activities. That makes me what is called a physician-scientist.

My philosophy as a physician is that promoted by Hippocrates, i.e. to approach the medical profession with Philotechnic and Philanthropy principles.

Philanthropy principle: Commit to caring for each person as a whole and in a way suited to his/her individual characteristics, respecting their dignity in each and every phase of life. In order to ensure this, we must see the person from multiple points of view. This is why I think a multidisciplinary approach is important.

Philotechnic principle: I initiate ideas, design research procedures and lead research in this multidisciplinary environment. I believe that research and constant updating are the only ways to offer the most suitable and scientifically validated therapy and I would like to transmit this principle to my students.

My intentions of therapeutic interventions are:
To promote a new and efficient therapeutic model founded upon philanthropy principle, which is based on the human relationship and on interior experience as a fundamental element of the healing process
To construct a meeting point between conventional medicine and complementary medicine, where developing a constructive dialogue with the conviction that there are not separate and distinct types of medicine, but rather one field of Medicine whose sole interest is the human being.

I would define the clinical activity as a translational science where the physician have to enlight and combine the subjective experiences with the latest Neuroscientific achievements in order to establish the target of the treatment in a personalized manner.

The complexity and individuality of psychological disorders, has, over time, rendered the idea of being able to treat with one medicine or one psychotherapy alone, inadequate.

The modern approach to the treatment of psychological disorders foresees the integration of pharmacological therapy, selected psychotherapy based on the characteristics of the disorders, and Neuromodulation therapies. I already published integrated treatment with CBT and TMS.

The integration of therapeutic resources is today the most efficient way to treat for each clinical situation of psychological disorders, from the first phases of a disorder, to the maintenance of well-being, up to cases that have shown to be resistant to treatment.

Ascertaining the diagnosis and pursuing the achievement of “precision medicine”, consistent with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project, through attentive examinations and accurate psychometric-instrumental evaluations, with the goal of elucidating the underlying brain circuitry and networks, I suggest a personalized program of integrated treatment.

I have a broad background in Psychiatry and Neurophysiopathology, with specific training and expertise in clinical, pharmacological and neurofunctional aspects with a multidisciplinary approaches so that I can offer not only a treatment, but the most appropriate treatment for each person, scientifically validated, and thus adapted to individual characteristics and cases. I also have a background with psychodinamic psychotherapy.

Recently, I am focusing my clinical activity on three main topics.

The first is the clinical assessment, selection and treatment of patients with Neuromodulation techniques (mainly with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)). I am treating several different disorders with it, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder and related disorders, bipolar disorders, depression, schizophrenia, dementia and Parkinson disease.

The second is the new diagnosis such as ADHD in adults (my private center, Istituto di Neuroscienze, has been recognized as a regional center for adult ADHD and Autism), behavioral addictions (mainly GD) and PANS (pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders) with published research on Neuroinflammation.

Finally, for several years I am treating treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients, taking a special care of comorbid disorder in schizophrenia, such as ADHD, Anxiety, OCD that are cases of additional disabilities in schizophrenic spectrum disorder and for this purpose we created a “Clozapine Clinic” at the University of Florence.