Choosing psychiatry as a profession means Happier Living psychiatrist Cassandra Klyman has been able to give others what she wants for herself: a good work/life balance and the pleasure of loving and being loved.

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“I know that misery shared is halved and happiness shared is doubled,” she says. “I like my patients to be able to experience that.”

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She has always liked collaborative creativity and finds that psychotherapy fits in well with her curiosity, and that led her into medicine. “I believe that without good mental health, it is hard to appreciate and feel gratitude for the life one is living,” she says. “Making things better makes me happy, whether in the office, at home, or doing leisure activities, whether that be painting, jewelry making, or writing nonfiction.” Despite “not being able to carry a tune,” she is also an opera lover. 

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Dr. Klyman says she didn't value the mysteries of the mind until she became a subject and then an experimenter in dream research during Medical School: “My first experience with using medication was when I introduced psychedelics into seeing how they altered REM sleep,” she says. “How ironic it is that a generation later it is now being researched again.” She continuously follows new research, looking for new ways to help her patients. 

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Dr. Klyman appreciates Happier Living founder Dr. Lawrence Genen's philosophy of offering psychodynamic therapy and medical management at an affordable rate and accepting insurance benefits. This is a reflection of the beliefs she had in her previous solo practice in Michigan and as President of the Michigan Psychiatric Society. 

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She also likes the collaborative approach Happier Living takes. “Having always taught and supervised medical and psychiatric students, along with my own clinical practice, makes me appreciate the opportunity of continuing this via staff meetings  with my colleagues in other disciplines, such as psychology and social work,” she says.

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