Austen Riggs Center

THE AUSTEN RIGGS CENTER is a therapeutic community, open psychiatric hospital, and center for education and research, promoting resilience and self-direction in adults (18+) with complex psychiatric problems.

We specialize in the long-term treatment of psychiatric disorders with intensive psychodynamic psychotherapy and a full range of psychiatric services, offered in a completely voluntary continuum of care that includes inpatient, residential, and day treatment programs. 

We offer effective treatment for people who have been diagnosed with a range of disorders including

• depressive disorders;
• bipolar disorder; 
• borderline personality disorder (BPD);
• other personality disorders;
• psychotic disorders including schizophrenia;
• post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD);
• obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD); and
• anxiety disorders.

In addition, many people come here with histories of substance use disorders or eating disorders, and as long as the person is medically stable and not actively abusing substances, our treatment can be helpful for these conditions as well.

We treat the individual, not the diagnosis. Diagnostic labels cannot capture the essence of an individual’s struggles or strengths, and they often obscure what people have in common. Many of our patients have multiple diagnoses; and many have been identified as “treatment resistant” in the past. Often they seek psychiatric treatment at Riggs because they need a different approach, and many opt to stay in our long-term residential treatment program following an initial evaluation and treatment period.