Justin Johnson, MD

Dr. Justin Johnson has expertise in mood and anxiety disorders, military and Veteran mental health, complex co-occurring medical and psychiatric disorders, and psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Dr. Johnson is a board-certified psychiatrist and serves as HopeWay’s Director of Veteran Services. He has expertise in mood and anxiety disorders, PTSD and TBI, men’s mental health, military and Veteran mental health, complex medical-psychiatric disorders, and psychotherapy. Previously, he treated patients at the Durham VA’s Iraq/Afghanistan Veteran clinic. He is an Assistant Consulting Professor of Psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine, where he supervises Duke trainees. In addition to HopeWay and Duke, Dr. Johnson currently serves in the U.S. Army Reserve, has deployed in support of several operations, and is interested in military medicine. He is currently the co-director of behavioral health training for the NC Governor’s Institute and the NC Department of Veteran Affairs, where he trains Veteran Support Officers for the state of North Carolina. Lastly, he continues to publish and is a regularly invited speaker on the topic of psychiatric care for the combat Veteran.

Born and raised in North Carolina, Dr. Johnson attended UNC-Chapel Hill, followed by medical school at Johns Hopkins. He completed his psychiatry residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital combined program at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Johnson served as the Chief Resident at Harvard before moving back home to North Carolina to complete a fellowship in Psychosomatic Medicine at UNC Hospitals. There he developed expertise in patients with complex medical-psychiatric disorders such as TBI. In addition, he has expertise in PTSD and is trained in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), one of the few evidence-based therapies proven to treat PTSD. He is one of a limited number of psychiatrists trained in an evidence-based psychotherapy for PTSD. He has also trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas.

Dr. Johnson’s treatment approach involves careful attention to medical and psychiatric concerns with an emphasis on holistic care. As a physician, he has the ability to prescribe medications, if necessary, but incorporates psychotherapy, exercise, and holistic approaches, when appropriate, to get patients well.

In his spare time, Dr. Johnson enjoys reading, playing bass guitar, watching Tar Heel sports and professional wrestling (aka wrasslin’), and spending time with his family.

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