Female psychologist destroys her career by having SEX with one of her patients
Tatiana Zdyb, of London, Ontario, lost her license on Wednesday after the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario found her guilty of professional misconduct.
Zdyb had sex with a patient whom she saw from November 2017 to September 2022.
The unidentified man began therapy with her on November 14, 2017, and the pair entered into an intimate relationship around the time their sessions were coming to an end.
The pair are still together, as of March 2025, a hearing notice revealed.
She also provided a female patient with ketamine treatment through MindSetting Institute, where she is the clinical director and owner, from November 2020 to July 2022.
She had given the woman a referral to Dr. Michael Hart to get a prescription for ketamine, as she could not provide it as she doesn't hold a medical degree.
Ketamine is legal in Canada if it's used medicinally, but it is illegal recreationally.
From January to November 2021, the woman received four ketamine-assisted psychotherapy sessions, with the dose increasing each time.
After the patient did not receive the results that she wanted, Zdyb then switched her to psilocybin - better known as magic mushrooms.
The woman took the substance in gummy form after they were hand-delivered by the psychologist to her door, a hearing notice revealed.
Zdyb also shared personal health information with the woman, invited her to her home, and exchanged personal gifts with the patient, the board found.
The board also accused her of providing 'psilocybin to [the patient] without adequate knowledge of the quality and/or source of the controlled substance, nor of the safety or efficacy of using it with a vulnerable client with multiple psychiatric diagnoses.
'Ms. Zdyb lacked skill, knowledge and judgment to provide [the patient] with competent services addressing gender dysphoria and related issues.'
Zdyb also signed a contract with the the college in January 2024 that she would not refer to herself or let her patients call her doctor and to 'refrain from providing any psychedelic enhanced psychotherapy' to clients - both, of which, she failed to follow.
An uncover investigator with the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario attended a virtual session with Zdyb through Nectara for a consultation about psychedelic therapy in March 2024.
In May of that year, she provided psychedelic-related psychotherapy to the investigator and failed to correct them when they told her they choose her because she was a doctor.
She claimed to have obtained a doctorate degree from the University of Western Ontario, her LinkedIn showed.
In March 2017, she requested to be able to use the term doctor through the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario, but was denied permission. It is unclear why she was denied.
The highest level of education that the college recognized for Zdyb was a master's from the Adler School of Psychology in Illinois.
Zdyb is a big proponent for psychedelic medicine and has been studying it for 30 years, she said in op-ed for Mental Health Professionals Connector.
The drug is administered into the patient intravenously, intramuscularly, sublingually, orally, or nasally, and then they engage in talk therapy while under the influence.
Those who use ketamine will have a 2.5-hour session where they ingest 2mg of the drug and then listen to music for 20 to 45 minutes while wearing an eye mask, and then do talk therapy, she told the outlet.
The therapy is used to treat multiple psychological conditions, but is most well known for depression treatment.
Zdyb's license and certification were revoked after a hearing.
Dr. Ian Nicholson, the chair of the panel, said: 'The public places trust in psychologists to uphold the highest standards of care and integrity,' he said. 'Your actions demonstrated a fundamental and egregious betrayal of that trust.'
Her lawyer, Grant Ferguson, said the psychologist was remorseful.
'She will be ending her chosen career path and she has taken accountability for all these various faults,' he said. 'She breached the standard and warrants the end of her profession with this college,' he said.
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