UCLA Integrative Psychiatry Clinic

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Clinic Overview

Our goal is to promote wellness and patient engagement and improve overall psychiatric outcomes.  The clinic optimizes well-being and quality of life by blending conventional Western medicine strategies with integrative medicine approaches to strengthen the natural healing capacities of the individual by promoting mind-body-spirit connections.  This is a patient-centered approach using targeted interventions. Treatments are tailored to individual preferences with assessments and recommendations of changes in nutrition, lifestyle choices, and supplement use will be based on the practices recommended by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health/National Institute of Health (NCCIH/NIH). Various mind-body therapies are offered as well. Personalized assessments help track progress and provide measurable outcomes and results, enabling patients to live healthier lives and thrive.

Promoting Well-being

Well-being includes many things, but not limited to: individual happiness, fulfilment, resilience, health, autonomy, social connectedness, meaning, and purpose.  Well-being can emerge from thoughts, actions, and experiences,  some of which we have control over.  This clinic will teach skills to empower individuals to improve their own well-being, develop self-awareness, and commit themselves to self-exploration and self-development.

What is Integrative Psychiatry?

Integrative psychiatry is a holistic, patient-focused approach to health and wellness that aims to rebalance mental, emotional, functional, spiritual, social, and community functioning. “Conventional or “Western” medicine refers to the use of medications, traditional medical therapies, or surgery to treat symptoms and diseases.   Integrative psychiatry combines medications, psychotherapy, lifestyle interventions, and a range of complementary and alternative therapies to understand and treat illnesses and optimize health.

Although people often use “alternative” and “complementary” interchangeably, the terms differ: “complementary” refers to a therapy used together with conventional medicine; “alternative” refers to a therapy used in place of conventional medicine.  Our emphasis is on complementary and integrative approaches to promote wellbeing and optimize individual functioning.

Who We See

q We accept patients ages 18 and older with a primary psychiatric diagnosis.

q Diagnoses may include, but are not limited to: anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, chronic pain,  substance abuse, memory loss, adult ADHD, and stress-related disorders.

q  We also collaborate with UCLA’s Integrative Medicine Collaborative, including the East West Medicine Center, Arts Healing Program, as well as primary care and other mental health services.

About Us

Dr. Helen Lavretsky  is a Professor In-Residence of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Director of  the Late Life Mood, Stress, and Wellness Research Program, and Director of the Integrative Psychiatry Clinic at UCLA.  She is an internationally renowned expert on geriatric and caregiver depression, as well as complementary and integrative medicine and mind-body approaches to treatment and prevention of mood and cognitive disorders in older adults. She has received many prestigious research awards throughout her career, two Research Career Development awards from the  National Institute of Mental Health; and one from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.

www.ajgponline.org/article/S1064-7481(20)30439-5/fulltext

Dr. Sarah Nguyen is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and the Associate Director of the Integrative Psychiatry Clinic at UCLA.  Her research focuses on pharmacological and combination strategies using complementary and behavioral interventions for mood and cognitive disorders in adults of all ages.  She has received a Clinical Attending Teaching Award and a Kindness Award for her work with residents and patients.   

Documents:

UCLA Integrative Psychiatry Flyer

UCLA Integrative Psychiatry Brochure

Newsroom:

Professor Receives Three Research Awards for Work in Geriatric Psychiatry