About OUR APPROACH

---

- My PCP's reaction when I told her I was leaving the inpatient unit to complete integrative psychiatry training

"If a doctor sees a patient complaining of hopelessness, sadness, trouble sleeping, low sex drive, and lack of appetite, the doctor will diagnose depression. But 'depression' is just the name we give to be people who share those symptoms. It says nothing about the causes of those symptoms, which could be many."  

- Mark Hyman

I  was very skeptical of integrative/functional psychiatry when I first learned about it years ago. So why did I take this risk, to train in a different approach? 

Firstly : We sometimes think of mental health as separate from physical health. But mental health follows brain (organ) health, and brain health can mirror physical health! (As they say, "the leg bone is connected to the hip bone.) This means that to truly support mental health, we want to promote positive changes to support physical health - things like improving sleep quality, trying to eat more nutrient rich foods, finding joy in movement, and becoming more mindful of how screen use impacts our mental health. (Lifestyle medicine has actually become its own recognized field within medicine!) 

These lifestyle changes can seem like minor interventions, akin to the side dish of a meal—something optional, while medications are considered the main course. But I prefer to think of a health promoting lifestyle as the foundation to vibrant mental health. 

(And then when it comes to the supplements - nutrition plays a vital role in supporting mental health! While psychiatric medications can be essential for managing certain conditions, nutritional interventions can serve as a valuable supplement to enhance their effectiveness and promote overall well-being.) 

That being said, I've met many patients who are struggling with mental health despite "doing everything right" - often those patients have tried every medication (and combination of medications) under the sun, with very little improvement. I want to be able to offer patients more than just another round of a medication from a medication class that they've already tried. Furthermore, I want to make sure we aren't missing something else going on! The practice of medicine seems very established and authoritative - but there is so much we still don't know. (Treatments like antibiotics and insulin have only been around for roughly 100 years. My grandfather was alive when the structure of DNA was discovered.) And this is even more apparent in psychiatry. So when it comes to what processes are causing symptoms of mental illness and what to do about it - the field is still figuring it out. We have some truly life-changing medications.  But they don't work for every patient. Integrative psychiatry is all about embracing ongoing research and adapting to new findings quickly. And unlike some other integrative or functional medicine providers, I do not profit from my approach. I offer lab tests at cost and make no money from supplement referrals.