About Dr John Ganz

Hi, I’m John Ganz.

 

I’m a Board Certified MD psychiatrist serving the Charleston community since 2013. I consider myself to originally be from West Virginia, although I was born in Washington D.C. and moved around a lot while growing up.

 

I’ve always had a fascination with the sciences, from biology (both molecular and marine) to chemistry and physics. I loved developing a hypothesis based on existing evidence and testing it to find the truth.

 

I also find deep fulfilment in helping others.

 

I’ve always known this about myself. As a child, my family moved around a lot because of my father’s job. To help me transition to a new place, I would reach out to others and find ways to get involved in the surrounding area. This brought stability and focus when often times it was hard to fit in and start over.

 

I purposely sought out a liberal arts college to provide a well-rounded education. I didn’t want to pursue medicine in a vacuum. It was important that the humanity behind my affinity of science was present. My academics were based in biology and chemistry, while my social life consisted of the student senate, being a resident adviser, a semester in London, and environmental-based service projects focusing on ocean restoration and wildlife refuges.

 

I entered medical school knowing that my personal fascination with how things work, paired with my desire to help others would guide me to find my true calling.

 

Through this journey, I have found that helping others pursue their best self is where my passion lies.

 

During medical school, I was excited to see how people’s lives were being transformed from suffering to coping. At the same time, I felt frustrated by the limits of traditional psychiatry and how our current healthcare industry is more focused on business than wellness. However, I had a hypothesis that with a more holistic approach, these same people who were simply coping could actually thrive.

 

It was during my psychiatric residency at the Medical School of South Carolina that I was able to test and study my hypothesis. Using what I termed a whole-human approach, I developed individualized treatment plans with my clients that went beyond an isolated medication-only approach to their symptoms.

 

With the whole-human approach, I was able to more accurately diagnose problems and work with the client one-on-one to create a holistic way forward. By promoting lifestyle changes shown to improve mental health, I have been able to decrease the number of medications patients are prescribed while improving their outcomes. Through repeated testing and study, I found that this type of executive-level and holistic care led to stable, incremental, long-term improvements of the person’s overall quality of life.

 

I was inspired by the long-term results of the whole-human approach to facilitate lifelong changes for an individual and their family. This spurred me to do a specialized fellowship in children and adolescent psychiatry where I could truly hone my holistic, individualized, executive-level care method.

 

I eventually decided that starting my own private practice, Harborside Psychiatry, would enable me to fulfil my calling, life’s mission, and make a lasting impact in the lives of others.

 

My mission is to optimize the functioning of you or your loved ones in order to achieve your highest quality of life possible.

 

I look forward to working with you and your loved ones on your journey.