"Your symptoms make sense." This is what Dr. Omid Naim tells his patients, many of whom have struggled with chronic mental or physical health issues for years. He also tells them that he thinks they can "get fully better." Dr. Naim's approach to psychiatry turns the medical model inside out by viewing illness through the lens of ecology and empowerment. He takes into consideration the contextual factors that contribute to illness such as childhood trauma, disconnection from community, and lack of meaning, while empowering and inspiring patients to achieve greater health by allowing their nervous systems to do what it is designed for: healing. In this episode, Dr. Naim and I discuss how he works with patients to reorganize their internal stories in order to initiate a journey of holistic healing.
Dr. Omid Naim is an integrative psychiatrist and Founder of HOPE Psychiatry. He is also co-founder of La Maida Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rewriting the story of what it means to be healthy through an understanding of trauma and stress via an ecological lens, and to rediscovering our human nature and our innate capacity to heal. Dr. Naim completed medical school at the USC Keck School of Medicine and went on to complete residency at UCSF and a fellowship at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona.
In this episode we cover:
Why Dr. Naim's goal is not just managing symptoms, but for patients to "get completely better."
The underlying role of early childhood trauma in illness.
The role of social factors (i.e., "social determinants of health) in disease and the importance of community.
The sickness model versus the empowerment model.
Why the "chemical imbalance" theory of mental illness lacks support.
The role of food, lifestyle, and natural remedies in supporting the body's natural healing capacity.
Why mental health symptoms go down in times of collective crisis.
The ecological approach to mental health and why context matters, from family, to community, to society.
Why health and resilience are founded on struggle and crisis.
The factors of "salutogenesis" (health promotion) versus pathogenesis.
Working with our internal stories about illness.
Working with trauma and patterns of avoiding emotion and unresolved feelings.
The role of meaning and purpose on both an individual and collective level.
The hero's journey of making meaning about of our health journey.HOPE Integrative Psychiatry: https://hopepsychiatry.com/
Learn more about La Maida Project: https://lamaidaproject.org/
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/j83tclHSGwY
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~May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease and joy. May you be free of suffering~
