Integrative or Holistic Psychiatry is an approach that considers and utilizes both conventional and complementary therapies in addressing emotional and mental challenges. I will try explaining it with the help of an anecdote about Nasreddin. Nasreddin was a Sufi wise man who taught important lessons about life through subtle humor.
One night a group of people found Nasreddin out on his hands and knees crawling around a lamppost.
“What are you looking for?” they asked him.
“I’ve lost the key to my house,” he replied.
They all got down to help him look. And after a lot of searching someone thought to ask him where he had lost the key in the first place.
“In the house,” Nasreddin answered.
“Then why are you looking under the lamppost?” he is asked.
“Because there is more light here,” Nasreddin replied.
With an integrative and holistic approach to psychiatry we look for our keys right where they were misplaced, however dark it might be. We do not search in an easier place only because there is the convenience of light.
