Shanthi Gowrinathan, MD

About Dr. Shanthi Gowrinathan

Shanthi Gowrinathan, MD, is an accomplished inpatient and outpatient psychiatrist, specializing in both Women’s Psychiatry and Psycho-oncology (Cancer Psychiatry) who works collaboratively in the care of her patients in active cancer treatment at Providence Saint John’s Health Center.

Dr. Gowrinathan integrates her recommendations with the patient’s medical teams to ensure a whole person, interdisciplinary and cohesive treatment approach.

Gifted with the strong ability to empathetically connect with her patients quickly, Dr. Gowrinathan is proficient at diagnosing and treating psychiatric disease in the context of complex medical issues such as cancer diagnosis.

Professional Skills

• Focused, individualized treatment of psychiatric conditions in the context of complex
• medical issues.
• Extensive knowledge of particular psychiatric issues facing cancer patients in general and the very specific needs of each cancer population (including but not limited to the brain tumor, melanoma, lung, neuroendocrine tumor, breast and gynecological cancer, multiple myeloma, and bone marrow transplantation populations).
• Skilled at brief psychotherapeutic interventions when the patient is in crisis and well-versed in cognitive-behavioral therapy, using these skills to help patients rebuild their lives after the losses of cancer or to find peace and closure before dying.
• Proficient and comfortable with treating a wide array of psychiatric disorders (depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, psychosis, personality disorders) to the more cancer-specific struggles of cognitive dysfunction, mood fluctuations, hot flashes, fatigue, and pain.