Everything in nature is fluid and dynamically changing, including our mental health condition. However, in conventional psychiatry, labeling mental illness as a chronic disorder ignores the importance of change and its role in identifying underlying causes and effective interventions.
Instead, once a patient is labeled with a psychiatric diagnosis, they are often treated with medication(s) that remain for an indeterminant amount of time as if the patient's condition is as fixed, stagnant, and unchanging as their diagnosis and medication.
But is anything, anyone, or any condition truly unchanging?
In my holistic practice, I have learned to assess patients' needs and introduce interventions based on a good psychiatric history that appreciates the importance of change. Read on for additional reflections on this topic.
Have a great week!
Following the Twists and Turns of Change During Treatment
Checking biological changes for underlying causes
Recently, a patient informed me that she was starting to experience insomnia. She had successfully withdrawn from six different psychiatric medications and completely stopped her last medication a few months ago.
Since sleep is the most sensitive indicator of one's health, I saw her symptom as an early red flag that needed to be addressed immediately. Based on our conversation and a review of her past psychiatric history, it seemed to me that her insomnia was due to increased stress.
Because she had been feeling so well, the patient had recently decided to increase the number of activities and projects in her life without understanding the connection between stress levels and her mental health.
I added acai powder to her supplement regimen to decrease oxidative stress and recommended that she lower her activity level to create more relaxation in her life. The patient's sleep quickly normalized with these interventions.
Just because she was well enough to come off six medications doesn't guarantee her a state of wellness forever. In this situation, the patient didn't "relapse" or need psychotropic medications to "restabilize." What she needed was more insight in maladaptive behavior patterns that overestimated her physiological ability to handle stress.
In this week's podcast, Kellie shares her healing journey. She was able to come off Prozac and marijuana but experienced some ups and downs along the way.
Each time her health regressed, we were able to identify the reason by going over her history and asking an important question: when did her condition change?
By identifying when her condition changed, we were able to pinpoint the underlying cause, such as the time she shifted from 5-HTP to L-tryptophan, or when she changed from a liposomal to a capsule form for mitochondrial support. Once the underlying cause was corrected, her health immediately improved.
Sometimes, even a good psychiatric history is unable to determine the underlying cause, so energy testing is added to gather more data. Energy testing is an effective tool, but its effectiveness is determined by the clinician because the clinician is the instrument during testing.
In my practice, I've adapted what I learned about energy testing to help me gather data about functional states of being. It has been an indispensable tool ever since.
Using both energy testing and specific criteria for accuracy, I have been able to guide my patients from week to week during medication withdrawal despite their changing biology. Learning how to apply this tool in my practice has allowed me to follow my patients over time and adapt dosing to match their ever-changing conditions.
May you have a wonderful week!
The Holistic Psychiatrist Podcast (Ep. 18):
Successful Withdrawal from Prozac for a College Student with
depression, panic attacks, and marijuana dependence
Check out the teaser for the new episode out tomorrow!
This episode explores Kellie’s healing journey as a college student. She suffered from daily panic attacks that became worse when she increased her dosage of SSRI’s: Prozac and Zoloft. We discuss the ups and downs of her successful recovery, withdrawal from medications/marijuana, and what she learned that gave her a new direction in life. Two years after completing treatment, she shares where she is now and her future goals moving forward.
Click here for the full episode available on Wednesday.
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