Dr. Zachary Schmidt, PHD

Arrogant, argumentative, and threatening. In no way would I ever feel safe receiving care from this “doctor.”

Helped me understand so much about how pain and mental well-being are connected. He set me up with so many resources and is helping me be better in my relationship with my wife and others. The first person to ever really put it all together without talking down to me.

Great doc who helped me with my pain and learn to manage stress. Helped me learn how the whole body works and how pain comes from multiple sources and that it is not just physical. Has done a great job of following up with me and my wife to make sure I am still doing well. Only complaint is the initial wait time but the treatment was well worth the wait.

Attempted to undiagnose another doctor’s diagnosis after two ten minute phone calls, before meeting and without running a full proper diagnostic (which the other doctor had done.) Didn’t know enough about the diagnosed condition to realize when the symptoms of it manifested during the calls. Went straight to the idea that I was chasing disability benefits and is apparently oblivious to the fact that if one receives proper treatment then the condition can be kept from becoming disabling in the fist place. Lied outright about VA’s processes. Oblivious to Mission Act Requirements. (Or intentionally circumventing them.) Can definitely confirm other previous reviews re: his argumentativeness. He has to be right, and your thoughts and other experts’ expertise are irrelevant. From reading the other reviews, seems like maybe he’s good for physical pain (and dogs)? Maybe this one has his niche and just needs to stay in his lane.

A true believer in comprehensive pain care. Dr. Schmidt took several sessions to convince me on the connection between chronic pain and how it takes it’s toll on my mood and desire to engage in life. He does talk about PTSD but only to help improve understanding about how I struggled with both pain and anxiety and how isolating myself from the world only made things worse. I still have some pain but continue working with Dr. Schmidt and the CARA pain team to address everything. Dr. Atencio and Dr. Toser are great as well..really the whole team. They all helped me so much! My kids have their mom and I am so happy to be able to work again.

I have been part of this Docs clinic for years. I started seeing Dr. Zac during some of my darkest days. When I see these reviews I remember how I felt when he and others in his clinic tried to help me and I got angry. Now I could have gone online then and gave him bad reviews especially cause I wanted more opioids and blamed him for not giving me more. He and his coworkers kept me on track and helped me get my life back. I always felt he had my best interest in mind and never pulled punches. He got me connected with a team of pain experts and I am now able to ride my motorcycle, hike with my wife, and vacation/hunt with my grandkids. I trust Dr. Schmidt and you should to. If you are really only wanting more pain meds and don’t want to treat your ptsd (if you have it) then you may not like his approach. I have seen his work help me greatly and want others to as well. We Vets can be rough and kick and scream when we don’t get what we want but Dr. Schmidt helped me and can help you!!

Although he seems to be knowledgeable he is very arrogant and rushes to wrong conclusions and won’t accept anyones opinion except his own. I could elaborate but will not at this time. I would not recommend this Dr.

The most arrogant and UNhelpful "doctor" I've ever been too. He litterally spent a 1/2 hour talking about his "championship" dog and how powerful he was. Not joking. And then in the end zero help. Truth is, if you have any opinion of your own with this person you're already in trouble.

Dr. Schmidt took care of my father who was struggling with pain. His group therapy was excellent. My father appreciated Dr. Schmidt’s directness and compassion when addressing his pain and ptsd. For years my dad was given medications to treat his pain that left him living like a zombie. I have my dad back now and he is doing better then he has ever been.

Dr. Schmidt is tough and has an approach that may not work for some but he did help me get off opioids and had to challenge me to look at my pain and life from a new perspective. I was not happy to be referred to his clinic, but the compassion shown by the Co-Occurring Disorders Pain Clinic helped me get back on track and realize I had a responsibility to address my mental health in order to manage my pain and suffering. Without his pushing me, I would never have been able to go back work and spend quality time with my family.

Dr. Schmidt advertises himself as a “Pain Psychologist”. Records from the NMPA and APA show this is not true or accurate. He has repeatedly shown himself to be insensitive, argumentative, and unwilling to work with many patient’s physicians or other members of their health teams.