Sep 21, 2026 · 26 min · 13 segments
Holistic psychiatry is an emerging approach to mental healthcare that focuses on the biological, psychological, spiritual, and social factors that contribute to mental health issues…
Judy TsafrirGuestJoan HermanHostDoctor, why do you think conventional psychiatry doesn't look at the whole person?
You know, like the pharmaceutical industry has a tremendous hold upon all of medicine.
And when you include spiritual approaches to helping patients, Like there's no money to be made in that.
Like there are algorithms that doctors are required to follow if a patient reports a certain symptom or has a certain laboratory finding.
And if they don't follow the algorithm, which always ends with the prescription of a particular medication or class of medications, then they're not eligible for insurance reimbursement.
Why is it not that a whole foods nutritious diet, which is so essential and foundational for treating inflammation, which is at the heart of most chronic illness, why is that not subsidized and statin medications are? Why do insurance companies pay for pharmaceuticals and they don't pay for vegetables? It all...
And what happens is we get programmed to go along believing that that's the only way to treat a problem.
Well, that's also very true because it is an enormous amount of work to take a holistic approach to your health.
You know, like Margaret Mead said, it's easier to change a man's religion than to change his diet.
And people have a hard time making dietary changes and, uh, Some people don't know how to cook.
And to do mind-body practices that calm down the autonomic nervous system, this all takes a lot of time and effort rather than taking a pharmaceutical approach.
Like many of the antidepressants have a side effect of sexual dysfunction or weight gain or sedation.
And in addition, once patients are prescribed certain classes of medications, they can have very severe withdrawal syndromes when they try to get off of them.
And it can actually be a very traumatizing experience to try to stop taking the medications.
And psychiatrists are not really trained to wean people in an appropriate fashion from these medications that cause a dependence of the nervous system.
Doctor, why do you think conventional psychiatry doesn't look at the whole person?
You know, like the pharmaceutical industry has a tremendous hold upon all of medicine.
And when you include spiritual approaches to helping patients, Like there's no money to be made in that.
Like there are algorithms that doctors are required to follow if a patient reports a certain symptom or has a certain laboratory finding.
And if they don't follow the algorithm, which always ends with the prescription of a particular medication or class of medications, then they're not eligible for insurance reimbursement.
Why is it not that a whole foods nutritious diet, which is so essential and foundational for treating inflammation, which is at the heart of most chronic illness, why is that not subsidized and statin medications are? Why do insurance companies pay for pharmaceuticals and they don't pay for vegetables? It all...
And what happens is we get programmed to go along believing that that's the only way to treat a problem.
Well, that's also very true because it is an enormous amount of work to take a holistic approach to your health.
You know, like Margaret Mead said, it's easier to change a man's religion than to change his diet.
And people have a hard time making dietary changes and, uh, Some people don't know how to cook.
And to do mind-body practices that calm down the autonomic nervous system, this all takes a lot of time and effort rather than taking a pharmaceutical approach.
Like many of the antidepressants have a side effect of sexual dysfunction or weight gain or sedation.
And in addition, once patients are prescribed certain classes of medications, they can have very severe withdrawal syndromes when they try to get off of them.
And it can actually be a very traumatizing experience to try to stop taking the medications.
And psychiatrists are not really trained to wean people in an appropriate fashion from these medications that cause a dependence of the nervous system.
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