Dr. Timothy Whalen Curran, PSYD

My wife (34f - white) went to Dr Curran for testing as he is the only one testing for Autism at Lifestance Health ( a medical company/organization near us). It's a 3-step process: (1) initial meeting to gather history and get to know the patient, (2) testing day and (3) meeting to go over the results and get a diagnosis. From the very beginning he was dismissive, cutting her off after each question before she had a chance to explain or go in to any depth at all. No questions were asked about her childhood and most questions were leading - meaning she got the impression that he had already decided that she had some mood disorder and his questions were all searching for those symptoms. 

Testing day was fine, but he is not a part of testing. There are specific, systemic errors that come into play with respect to identifying autism in adult women who have been able to hide it from themselves and others their whole life - so I won't blame him for those issues. That said, my wife had the feeling that nothing good was going to come from the final meeting and diagnosis. On the day of the diagnosis there were  many glaring issues, here are just a few:

(1) He put the report on the screen, and read it to her. Yep, there was no conversation, no dialogue, and about 5 mins to ask questions at the end for which he still interrupted her making blanket statements about "the kind of person you are". Now, my wife can read (obviously), better and faster than most. So, why did Dr Curran think this was even remotely an acceptable way to handle a diagnosis meeting? What was required was a conversation, one he wasn't willing to have. He did not "show his work"!
(2) His diagnosis was not based on the testing results. We got a second and third opinion and neither the PSYD she has been working with nor her Therapist saw anywhere in the testing results where he could have gotten the basis for the (frankly idiotic) diagnoses he gave her. Reading through the results, his logic was not even internally consistent. She got diagnosed with one thing based on small evidence, but not something else based on a higher level of evidence.
(3) With a history of addiction, he should NEVER have encouraged her to take the kind of medications that he was suggesting - and he supposedly has a Master of Addiction Counseling! We were both shocked. And these are for diagnoses that don't even show up in testing results according to other experts.

Dr Curran brings no value, or possibly a negative value to the testing process. I don't know whether it's incompetence,  dismissiveness of his patients, misogyny, lack of effort or some combination. Either way it's unacceptable. Maybe he was having a bad week, not that something silly like that should have an impact on a professional's work. But I wouldn't risk working with him if it is AT ALL an option; especially if you are a woman/identify female and are going to him for his "autism expertise", have an Alternative look about you or an alternative lifestyle.

P.S My wife signed off on this review :)