INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE FOR DEPRESSION

A comprehensive, personalized approach to the treatment of depression that uses an individual’s unique “biochemical signature.” 

According to Greenblatt (Finally Focused, 2017), who co-authored this book with debut author Lee, the psychiatric community has a tendency to treat depression as a monolithic phenomenon, a one-size-fits-all approach that encourages a heavy reliance upon pharmacological cures. There are many different types of depression, however, and a dizzying array of potential root causes. As a consequence, the author avers, each case must be treated singularly. In fact, everyone is “biochemically unique”—a dynamic organization of hormonal, genetic, neurophysiological, and psychological factors. As an alternative to the regnant models of conventional psychiatry, Greenblatt advocates for “integrative psychiatry,” a holistic approach that considers the full panoply of depression’s causes as well as possible cures, including spiritual responses like yoga and meditation, nutritional programs, exercise, and of course, psychotherapy. The author soberly presents a mountain of data to support his position and confirm his commitment to supporting only “evidence-based medicine.” Greenblatt powerfully argues that pharmacological treatments are far less effective than typically reported and not well understood. He presents a discomfiting picture of traditional psychiatry that is financially beholden to a pharmacological industry and dogmatically attached to empirically untenable theories. “Traditional psychiatry is in crisis,” he writes. “The ideas as to what causes depression are not based on strong science, and our current treatments are not working nearly as well as they should.” Greenblatt’s expertise on the subject is irreproachable. He’s a psychiatrist who has been successfully using integrative medicine for more than 30 years and has been inducted into the Orthomolecular Medicine Hall of Fame. At each stage of his argument, he supplies a bevy of experimental support, and he lucidly, concisely explains remarkably technical subjects like epigenetics: “the study of trait variations caused by external or environmental variables…that may turn genes on or off or may change the ways in which cells ‘read’ DNA, but which do not involve any alterations to DNA sequences.” Also, the entire study radiates intellectual moderation. Greenblatt never rejects the use of drugs in treatment; he thoughtfully recommends a far more judicious use of them—and only as part of a therapeutic regimen that addresses the full medical profile of each patient. 

A scientifically scrupulous and impressively accessible introduction to integrative psychiatry.