Dr. Jacqueline Buchanan MD
Jacqueline Buchanan MD
Jacqueline Buchanan MD, Webster Clinic staff psychiatrist
Dr. Jacqueline Buchanan is a Boston child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist who provides integrated psychotherapy and medication management for children, teens, young adults, adults, couples, and families at Webster Clinic in Boston’s Back Bay. She studied psychology at Harvard College, concentrating in Social and Cognitive Neurosciences, then earned her medical degree at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. She went on to complete adult psychiatry residency and child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship through Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, where she continues to be actively involved in clinical teaching.
Clinically, Dr. Buchanan works with anxiety and mood disorders, trauma and PTSD, bipolar spectrum disorders, ADHD, and complex developmental and family histories across childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. She approaches consultation with an open mindset to partner with patients and families in identifying the most optimal treatment modalities moving forward. In treatment, she prioritizes patients’ emotional safety, is attuned to the therapeutic relationship, and in individual trauma-informed work, follows the lead of patients to let them guide the pace of the therapeutic work. Dr. Buchanan is invested in the wellbeing of those with underprivileged identities, including immigrant, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ communities, including gender and sexual minority patients in hospital and outpatient settings, and has a depth of experience in working with these populations with an eye towards intersectionality in her approaches.
Dr. Buchanan has completed advanced training in family and couples therapy. Drawing on psychodynamic psychotherapy alongside family systems, and trauma-informed approaches, she offers culturally responsive, LGBTQIA+ affirming, and collaborative care. She has particular passion for couple and family work with relationships of many constellations, and is especially skilled with queer women, lesbians, sapphic individuals, and other LGBTQ+ people and families who want a psychiatrist who understands both identity and intimacy. Additional areas of interest for Dr. Buchanan include helping queer families navigate pathways to parenthood and gender identity of adults and children.
At Webster Clinic, Dr. Buchanan partners closely with families, schools, and other clinicians to create continuity and stability. Patients who work with her tend to be looking for in-depth, relationship-based psychiatric care that keeps a steady focus on meaning, identity, and development while also attending carefully to diagnosis and medication when needed.
All of our staff are adept at treating LGBTQIA+ individuals and families across the lifespan. Learn more information about our services to LGBTQIA+ individuals and families
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Families and young adults may especially seek Dr. Buchanan when trauma, bipolar spectrum symptoms, or chronic anxiety and depression intersect with developmental transitions such as starting college or graduate school, moving to Boston, navigating creative careers, or rebuilding life after a breakup. Many are looking for a Boston child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist who can offer depth-oriented psychotherapy and careful medication work in one place.
Dr. Buchanan is an excellent fit for adolescents, college students, and early career adults, including queer women and lesbians who want a lesbian-affirming psychiatrist in Boston, as well as sapphic individuals and other LGBTQ+ people and families. She is particularly well suited for those who are:
Working through questions of sexual identity, attraction, or coming out and want a thoughtful space that centers queer women’s experiences
Navigating relationship stress, couples work, or polyamorous constellations where sexuality, gender, and culture all play a role
Balancing high expectations in school or work with private struggles around mood, self-criticism, or perfectionism
Recovering from developmental, family, or relational trauma and wanting a steady, long-term therapeutic relationship rather than brief, symptom-only care
Across these situations, patients often describe valuing Dr. Buchanan’s quiet steadiness, nuanced understanding of lesbian and queer women’s mental health, and her ability to hold both the practical questions about medication and the deeper questions about desire, identity, and belonging.
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Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute Fellowship, Child Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Cambridge Health Alliance / Harvard Medical School: Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Cambridge Health Alliance / Harvard Medical School: General Psychiatry
Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons: MD
Harvard College: AB in Psychology (Social and Cognitive Neurosciences)
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Burke, T.*, Buchanan, J.*, Amira, L., Yershova, K., & Posner, K. (2014). The treatment of pediatric suicidal behavior. Current treatment options in psychiatry, 1 (1), 66-83. *co-first authors
Posner, K., Buchanan, J., Amira, L., Yershova, K., Lesser, A., & Goldstein, E. (2014). Identification and screening of suicide risk. In S. Koslow, C., Nemeroff, P. Ruiz, (eds.), A Concise Guide to Understanding Suicide: Epidemiology, Pathophysiology and Prevention. Cambridge University Press.
Posner, K., Brodsky, B., Yershova, K., Buchanan, J., & Mann, J. (2014). The classification of suicidal behavior. In M. Nock (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Suicide and Self-Injury. Oxford University Press.
BEST FIT FOR
Gender and sexual diversity identity questions especially queer women
Couples and family therapy work
Perfectionism and work/school trouble
Depression, anxiety (including OCD), trauma in need of a long-term therapeutic relationship
Dr. Buchanan leads our LGBTQIA+ Pathways to Parenthood Track alongside Dr. Webster