When it comes to mental health care, it’s important to take a holistic approach. Here at Integrative Psychiatry in Austin, our unique approach to care combines conventional psychiatry with a blend of integrative and holistic principles. Learn more about our total holistic care.
In today’s blog post, we’re diving into what holistic mental health practices include and how they can help you. Learn more, and if you’d like to schedule an appointment, contact our mental health professionals today.
Why Total Holistic Care?
The term “holistic” is derived from the Greek word “holos,” meaning “whole.” When applied to health care, this means taking into account the mind, body, and spirit of the individual in order to create a customized treatment plan that will address all aspects of their well-being.
At Integrative Psychiatry in Austin, our team takes a holistic approach to mental health care. We believe that in order to truly heal, it’s important to address all areas of our patients’ lives — not just their symptoms.
What Holistic Care Includes
So what exactly does holistic care include? And what are the services we offer in evaluating and treating mental health. Here are some of the key components:
Conventional Psychiatry: We begin with a foundation of evidence-based care, using conventional psychiatric treatments like medication and therapy.
Autoimmune encephalitis/PANS/PANDAS: One of our specialties at the clinic are working with the mental health needs of children and families who are affected by PANS/PANDAS. Dr. Qazi Javed, MD is on the Governor’s board for PANS and is actively involved in advocacy and improving community clinical care.
Psychotherapy: Psychotherapy can be of different types. We offer various forms of psychotherapy. For the types of psychotherapy that we do not offer, we can often refer to our colleagues in the community.
Hypnosis: Some people benefit from hypnosis and we believe that certain challenges require a change in unconscious self talk that a person engages in. Blood analysis: We also perform blood analysis to look for imbalances in key hormones and nutrients that may be contributing to your mental health symptoms
Genetic testing-informed care: We offer genetic testing to help us better understand your unique biology and tailor our treatments accordingly.
Nutritional manipulation: We believe that food can be medicine. Nutritional manipulation is working on optimizing your food intake with the needs of your body.
Personally optimized treatments: Once we know your nutritional status, your genetics and your history we can give personalized recommendations for the nutrients that you might be in need of.
EEG: We sometimes perform qEEG to predict response to medications.
Neuropsychological testing: Neuropsychological testing to evaluate children and their development can be particularly useful for finding solutions for a child’s difficulties. It is good to measure a child’s intelligence, how they view the world or learning difficulties for example.
Herbal medicine: We may also recommend herbal medicine to help address any imbalances. There is some evidence that is coming out for treatment in the herbal model. This herbal model can include Chinese Philosophy, Ayurvedic philosophy or the Western Herbal tradition.
Acupuncture: Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine provide a unique way of looking at and treating mental health concerns. There is active research going on, to build algorithms on when to include TCM approach in the treatment of common problems in our community.
Energetic care: We also believe that certain energetic modalities like Acupuncture, Reiki or Qi Gong all can be useful for certain individuals.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy:
We use Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy to help address existential and transformational factors needed by a person in their journey towards healing. To learn more about Ketamine healing, visit our sister practice, Blossom
Groups: From time to time we have groups that provide multi-person education and processing. We have had meditation groups and currently are offering groups for nutrition and Qi Gong.
Health coaching: Sometimes we know what to do to feel better. But it is difficult to implement those habits. Health coaching is one way in which we can implement health promoting behaviors in our life.
Education: Often times change is difficult for people because they do not realize the benefits of a certain behavior beyond a certain feeling or conviction. Sometimes adolescents for example do not want to make a change because they do not not realize how certain behaviors are in line with their life goals. We can sometimes try to effect change through education.
This is just a brief overview of the holistic care we offer at Integrative Psychiatry in Austin. If you would like to learn more, or if you’re interested in scheduling an appointment, contact us today. We would love to hear from you!
Holistic Mental Health Practices in Austin
If you’re looking for comprehensive mental health care that takes a total holistic approach, Contact Integrative Psychiatry in Austin today. We would be happy to answer any questions you have and help you get started on your journey to healing.
