A question from a reader - what is Integrative Mental Health?

A reader of this blog (THANK YOU!) asked me to explain the differences between a traditional and an integrative approach to mental health care.

Traditional Mental Health Care

In the traditional model, a person comes to their mental health provider with a problem. Through a combination of questions and diagnostic tools designed to better understand the symptoms being experienced, the provider makes a diagnosis, typically grounded in a framework that seeks to explain why such a problem exists.

Based on this diagnosis, the provider then prescribes a medication or recommends an intervention aimed at reducing the impact of the symptoms on the person's life. At a later point, the provider reassesses: if symptoms have not improved, the diagnosis or treatment is adjusted. This process continues until meaningful improvement is achieved.

This is what most people encounter when they see a psychiatrist or psychotherapist.

A few key features define this traditional approach:

1. The focus is on a problem.

2. There is a clear hierarchy between provider and patient.

3. The goal is symptom reduction, rather than broader transformation.

Integrative Mental Health Care

At first glance, an integrative mental health care session might appear similar. A person seeks help, and the provider may use many of the same diagnostic tools and treatment strategies. But beneath the surface, the approach is radically different.

First, the integrative provider affirms the patient’s agency. I often tell my patients, “You know yourself best. I can partner with you in your healing, but I cannot heal you.”

Second, the scope of inquiry is broader. Rather than narrowing in solely on pathology, the integrative provider explores the full landscape of a person’s life:

• How nutrient-dense is your diet?

• How much deep, restorative sleep do you get?

• How well do you know your own body?

• What has given you the greatest sense of meaning in life?

• What keeps you from pursuing those meaning-making activities?

• What herbs, supplements, or non-Western practices are part of your care?

• What are your unique strengths, capacities, and vulnerabilities?

Third, while alleviating symptoms remains important, healing isn’t always about making pain disappear. Sometimes, true healing emerges by making meaning of the suffering.

For those who have lived through trauma, this can feel both impossible and, at first, even insulting, like adding injury to injury. But my work with trauma survivors and my experience treating people with ketamine and other psychedelics has shown me something powerful:

When people are able to make meaning of their suffering, the suffering itself can transform—and sometimes even become a superpower.