Posted on: 14th September 2022
Dr Elena Maritan trained in her MD in Medicine and Surgery at the prestigious University of Padua, in Italy. There, she also completed the specialty training in General Psychiatry, during which she specifically focused on depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, OCD, ADHD, and peripartum psychiatric disorders.
Before her specialty, she also acquired extensive experience as a General Practitioner in Italy. After graduating, she worked as a substitute in GP practices and was entrusted with a GP vacancy for two years. These experiences were instrumental for her personal and professional development. She learnt to manage difficult issues and situations, to deal with patients and relatives face to face, as well as interact with people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
The difficulties that people encounter on a daily basis, which are often overlooked, triggered her interest in the field of psychiatry. She is particularly attentive to patients’ and their families’ needs and seeks to offer a warm-hearted environment in which to address patients’ problems. Her work focuses on cross-cultural understanding, takes into account cultural specificities of patients, and pays particular attention to the multiple characteristics of the individual.
After finishing her specialty, she completed an MSc in Affective Disorders at King’s College London, where she enlarged upon her previous knowledge of mood disorders and researched the role of early life stress in depression. She regularly attended the South London and Maudsley tertiary care mental health service for patients with treatment-resistant depression, where she refined her diagnostic skills and familiarised herself with administering the most innovative therapies in the field with the aim of improving patients’ quality of life.
More recently, Dr Maritan has been working as a Consultant Psychiatrist both with the NHS and we are delighted she has chosen to join our team at the Blue Tree Clinic in private practice.
Her work focuses on psychiatric treatment tailored to individuals’ needs, through empathy, respect and kindness and in line with the latest treatments in the field. Her excellent clinical background, the result of her previous work as a General Practitioner and General Consultant Psychiatrist, is centred on listening to patients’ problems. It is her belief that patients need to find an environment where to open up in order to not leave any issues or doubts unaddressed.
She has also multiple interests outside her job: she enjoys art, plays various sports and is a passionate traveller.
She practices trekking and climbing in the summertime. She is also an enthusiastic sailor and is currently getting her sailing license.
She is an Associate Specialist member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. She is extremely warm and friendly and great with all types of adult patients from 17 years old.
Seen below on the BBC’s Mental Health Week’s coverage – diagnosing their presenter with OCD.