Dr Zarrar Ashraf Chowdary

Zarrar practices in a holistic manner as both doctor and psychiatrist using his psychotherapeutic skills. His particular focus has been to bridge the gap between GP and specialists and values the importance of communication.

Zarrar has been managing patients with substance use and mental health disorders as well as chronic pain quite often in the background of complex trauma. He works well with other specialists including family members to develop a holistic care plan.

He obtained membership from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, England in 2006 and CCT in General Adult, Rehabilitation and Addiction psychiatry in 2009. He became a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 2012.  He received his board certification in addiction medicine from USA in 2015. Later in year 2018, he was awarded the fellowship from Royal College of Psychiatrists, England.

Substance use disorders not only include illicit but also licit drug use issue including opioids and benzodiazepines like valium/Xanax etc. There are also behavioral addictions including gambling. These conditions may require treatment with opioid replacement agents and stabilization of benzodiazepine dependence. It may need outpatient or inpatient care and Zarrar works very closely with patients in either setting with a focus on informed care plan and collective decision making to move forward in the road of recovery.

With time, Zarrar has been focusing on deprescribing as he has noted that patients have often acquired multiple medications and clinical indications may have been lost in translation. He takes a cautious and pragmatic approach as he embarks on the journey of de-prescribing in partnership with his patients. He appreciates the importance of working closely with other specialists and GPs and often takes a graduated approach.

He has been working in Monash health with their addiction medicine unit and has previously held numerous consultant psychiatrist positions in community mental health teams, inpatient settings, long term rehabilitation and justice health facilities. He is member of Faculty of Addiction Psychiatry and is also an adjunct lecturer with Monash University.

Zarrar is currently accepting new referrals to his private practice at The Melbourne clinic for both outpatient and inpatient treatments.