
Jeffrey M. Schwartz is an American psychiatrist and author whose work focuses on obsessive-compulsive disorder, neuroplasticity, and the relationship between mind and brain. He is best known for Brain Lock and The Mind and the Brain, and for helping popularize self-directed neuroplasticity in clinical psychology and neuroscience.
Jeffrey M. Schwartz is an American psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and author whose career has been shaped by an unusual convergence of medicine, philosophy, and contemplative practice. He studied at the University of Rochester and later earned his medical degree at SUNY Downstate, but his formation was never purely clinical. As a student and young doctor, he was drawn not only to neuroscience but also to poetry, moral philosophy, and mindfulness, interests that became central to his intellectual identity. After training and research that passed through New York and California, including psychiatric work connected to Cedars-Sinai, the Salk Institute, and UCLA, he established himself at the UCLA School of Medicine. The decisive turning point came when he began combining brain imaging, clinical psychiatry, and mindfulness-informed treatment in the study of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
"ABC Listen called Dr Jeffrey M. Schwartz a leading neuroscientist and an international authority on brain diseases"
— ABC Listen
"David Burns said Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz argues, persuasively, that the mind has massive causal effects on the brain"
— David Burns
"J.P. Moreland called Jeffrey M. Schwartz's approach simple, profoundly insightful, and truly life-giving"
— J.P. Moreland
"Publishers Weekly described Jeffrey M. Schwartz as a UCLA psychiatrist and expert on treating patients with OCD"
— Publishers Weekly
"Susan Kaiser Greenland said Jeffrey M. Schwartz's idea that minds can change brains is now well accepted"
— Susan Kaiser Greenland
"Leonardo DiCaprio called Jeffrey M. Schwartz's work "a testament to mind over brain."
— Leonardo DiCaprio
"Columbia University Press says Jeffrey M. Schwartz is a research psychiatrist at UCLA and a leading expert in neuroplasticity"
— Columbia University Press
"Eric Hollander called Jeffrey M. Schwartz's Brain Lock "a remarkable achievement."
— Eric Hollander