What life events or challenges that you’ve experienced (could be minor, could be major) – whether you’ve experienced them directly or via someone close to you, have had any type of impact on your desire to pursue a career in psychiatry?

My maternal grandfather was an amazing, kind, and charismatic primary care physician in India. After the sudden death of grandmother, within a year, he got really depressed and committed suicide. I was around 11 years old when this happened and it was very traumatic for everyone in the family. I was especially close to him and maybe trying to heal others is a way for me to heal.

How did those events impact you emotionally/morally? How, if at all did those events impact the way you view how our current system teaches us to treat patients with mental health challenges?

Growing up in India, I had a conventional/allopathic physician (MD) grandfather who was ahead of his time and would reach out to his Non-MD colleagues when he felt the conventional medicine couldn’t help his patients. Under his guidance, I was treated successfully with his Homeopathy colleague for asthma at age 9. We also had an Ayurvedic doctor who would help with chronic cough and multiple other symptoms when conventional medicine could not help. In addition, growing up, one of my major influences was my maternal uncle who has devoted his life to spiritual practices. When I came to the USA in my early twenties, I had the privilege to work with amazing mentors such as Eugene Arnold, MD  at Ohio State University, and many others at the University of Maryland-Sheppard Pratt Psychiatry program. I feel I am blessed to have had amazing trailblazers in my life to light the torch for me. I have prescribed intensive lifestyle interventions for years. I feel completely at home with practicing healing the body and the mind in an integrative way.

When and why did you decide to actually focus on practicing Integrative Psychiatry, specifically, and how was your decision shaped by the experiences above?

Integrative psychiatry is a no brainer for me. Conventional Psychiatry is, unfortunately, very limited, at this time. I feel we as psychiatrists are amazing at understanding the impact of early experiences, genetics, and the environment in shaping who we are. Although we have powerful frameworks to understand people in psychiatry I do not think our medication treatments are yet as developed.

What methods or practices do you utilize to help individuals get/feel better?

I emphasize diet, mindfulness, exercise, medications, positive social connections, as well as empowering parents, patients and families through direct coaching, a variety of psychotherapies including cognitive behavior therapy, supportive therapy, mindfulness-based therapy, supportive therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and attachment-based trauma-informed therapy.

 As a physician, I always wear three hats to help guide my clinical decision making: a physician hat, a scholar of science hat, and a mother’s hat. This approach helps me make the best decisions for each patient and have the best patient-centered approach.

How did people react when you share this Integrative/Holistic approach with them – whether it be patients or other doctors?

Almost all of my patients understand and appreciate this approach. We are very conservative with medications. We focus a lot on other things mentioned above.