About Dr. Peter Berndt
Family Physician Turned Psychiatrist
Peter Berndt, M.D. brings a lifetime of experience, first as a family physician and now as a psychiatrist, to his work with individuals, companies, and organizations in The Woodlands, Texas. For 18 years he was a small-town family physician, doing everything a family doctor did in those days, from office visits to house calls to delivering several hundred babies.
From Family Medicine to Psychiatry
“Over the years, I saw more and more clearly how stress affected people and their health. To always treat many of the illnesses that came about when a patient was stressed eventually made it mandatory to explore ways and means to teach patients to handle stress more effectively and thereby attempt to prevent illness.”
“Luckily, I had an associate, Jack Gear, M.D., who persuaded me to receive training in a workshop given by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. That workshop, the first of many, was a turning point because it dispelled my skepticism about medical hypnosis. I also saw that here was a way to perhaps be more effective in helping my patients relieve physical illness through psychological means.”
“I began using hypnosis for conditioning for childbirth, and many conditions that I saw as being stress-related such as migraine headaches, asthma, and pain syndromes. I was astonished by the results that could be obtained in many cases. After some years of combining family practice with psychotherapy it became obvious that I needed more training in the field of psychiatry.”
Dr. Berndt completed his psychiatric residency at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in 1982 and has been in private practice ever since. Before settling in The Woodlands, he served as a psychiatric consultant for ICE at their detention center in Denver.
Why He Does This Work
“Working in psychiatry is to me the most interesting part of medicine. To re-educate patients about more healthy behaviors and thinking patterns, to give them more control over themselves and to help liberate the healthy person within every patient is challenging but also extremely gratifying.”
“The work is endlessly interesting and rewarding, and the trust that my patients give me is the greatest gift anyone could receive.”
The Practice Today
Dr. Berndt’s practice centers on psychotherapy rather than medication, combining stress management training, clinical hypnosis, deep meditation, and help resolving past trauma. He also offers psycho-oncology services for patients facing a cancer diagnosis, including free small group sessions.
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