The way I practice psychiatry was transformed by my experience with patients, family, and even in dealing with my own health. The common theme in all areas was the notion that mental health disorders involve more than the mind and psychiatric medications. Don’t get me wrong, all of those same rules apply in both diagnosing and treating these disorders, but there is a whole other perspective that enriches the work.

In my functional medicine approach to psychiatry, I look at your life thoroughly; from your DNA up through your relationships. Problems in any of the layers of life can cause mental health issues. With your DNA, I want to look at your version of different genes (known as Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms). This information provides hints of what is happening in you at a molecular level. I use that knowledge to better understand your particular physiology.

The next layer to assess is your saliva, blood, urine, and possibly stool. These tests let me assess your nutritional status, gut biome, hormones, and metabolites. That information is combined with the DNA findings to start constructing your treatment plan.

You will of course have a standard psychiatric evaluation and medication regimen as part of your care. All of this knowledge is used to construct a comprehensive treatment plan designed to help you achieve mental health. This approach has provided unique solutions for patients dealing with challenging mental health issues.

Talk therapy is an incredibly powerful tool, but it will not solve biological issues. For example, if you are deficient in vitamin D or magnesium, talk therapy will not resolve the related mood or anxiety symptoms. Replenishing those factors, along with possibly adding medication, will give you a solid biological foundation. After that work is done, therapy can be used properly. When addressing mental health issues, you ideally want to do the following steps that I described above:

1. Look for any diseases related to mental health symptoms.

2. Look for any vitamin or mineral deficiencies.

3. Look for genomic evidence that might support neurotransmitter abnormalities or signaling dysfunction.

4. Look at metabolites for signs of abnormal metabolism.

5. Identify psychiatric symptoms and address with psychotropic medications.

6. Offer talk therapy.

In general, the current approach to psychiatric disorders immediately jumps to steps 5 or 6, bypassing all of those other steps. Steps 3 and 4 are typically not covered by insurance and are only accessible to people who can afford to really invest in their care.

Reach out to me and I will let you know if I can help you. Either way, I will point you in the right direction.