Integrative Psychiatry

What is integrative psychiatry?

Integrative psychiatry is a form of mental health treatment that combines conventional Western medicine with alternative approaches. Integrative psychiatry thinks of the body as a holistic system. It looks at mental health conditions as the result of interactions within that system, rather than an isolated disease.

Psychiatry often describes mental health conditions as a “chemical imbalance,” referring to the neurotransmitters responsible for regulating emotions: serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. Pharmaceutical treatment assumes that mental health symptoms come from too many or too few of these neurotransmitters, and the purpose of medication is to produce the correct amount.

However, medication is not the only way to correct a chemical imbalance, and those are not the only neurotransmitters that can contribute to mental health conditions.

Integrative psychiatry offers you a path to managing your brain chemistry, and your overall health, without exclusively relying on medication.

You will receive guidance on the environmental and lifestyle changes you need to make to control your mental health. This approach can help you prevent the signs of mental health conditions in the first place instead of reacting to them as they arise.  

What conditions does integrative psychiatry treat?

Integrative psychiatry can help you with mental health conditions that result from an imbalance in neurotransmitters, including:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Bipolar disorder
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Integrative psychiatry can also help with physical health conditions that affect your emotional health such as fibromyalgia and adrenal fatigue and is a useful add-on to Suboxone® treatment for opioid dependence.

Does integrative psychiatry treatment include pharmaceuticals?

Integrative psychiatry treatment can include conventional psychiatric medication such as antidepressants and mood stabilizers, which are especially useful in the short term. However, these medications are just one tool for managing the symptoms of mental health conditions and do not increase your overall neurotransmitter levels in the longer term.

Also, many people diagnosed as having “treatment-resistant” mental health conditions benefit from nonpharmaceutical interventions.

The Blend Institute uses a targeted integrative psychiatry approach. After evaluating your neurotransmitter levels, they work with you to determine the dietary, lifestyle, and nutritional changes that will increase your brain’s supply of neurotransmitters.

This evaluation may include the targeted use of amino acid supplements, which your body uses to create neurotransmitters naturally, a process called nutritional neuromodulation.

To explore the benefits that integrative psychiatry can have on your mental health and well-being, call The Blend Institute to set up your appointment.