Clinic Integrates Body, Mind, Spirit in Patient Care

BODY BOOSTERS

You believe there’s a strong connection between your mind and your body.

You like to take an active role in keeping yourself healthy.

You don’t necessarily believe that “better living through chemistry” is true for every ailment.

If any of those statements rings true for you, you might be a good candidate for a different approach to medicine known as complementary or integrative medicine.

And the University of New Mexico’s Section of Integrative Medicine might be the place to start.

Since 2001, it has helped patients realize that health isn’t merely the absence of disease, but a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, says Dr. Arti Prasad, a medical doctor and the section’s founding chief of integrative medicine at UNM’s Health Sciences Center.

Prasad grew up in India, where she had plenty of experience with natural and Ayurvedic medicine, which has been practiced for 5,000 years and includes diet and herbal remedies. It emphasizes use of body, mind and spirit in disease prevention and treatment.

Yet during her second residency in the United States, Prasad found herself in the situation many physicians experience — shuffling patients through as quickly as possible.

“I realized how much more talking to and touching patients needed,” she says. “I had lost touch with that part of myself.”

Patients began asking Prasad questions about alternative approaches to medicine, and she began doing more research and attending conferences. Eventually, “I realized the best way to practice is to integrate the best of both worlds,” Prasad says.

For acute needs, such as surgery and heart attacks, Western medicine is recommended. But for chronic conditions — such as depression, stress-related disorders and other everyday problems, “Western medicine has failed,” she says.

Integrative medicine is a healing-oriented approach that takes into account the whole person — mind, body and spirit — including all aspects of lifestyle. It also emphasizes the patient/provider relationship. “I think it’s just good medicine,” Prasad says.

Doctors are finding that many patients see a conventional provider first, then — if they aren’t satisfied — seek such complementary and alternative medicine approaches as massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, herbs and homeopathy for chronic and acute problems. Many don’t tell their primary physicians they are trying the other approaches, often because they assume their doctor won’t be well informed about them.

Many times, patients look for other options because they “aren’t getting their needs met. Most of them want to be healthier,” says Mary Smith-Fassler, the Section of Integrative Medicine’s doctor of Oriental medicine who spent 20 years in the Western medical field as a registered nurse.

Prasad agrees, saying, “They’re feeling kind of frustrated.”

Patients also are seeking a different type of relationship with their provider, says Dr. Brian Shelley, a board-certified family physician and founding member of the section. People in the boomer age group are beginning to realize that how they see the world is an integral part of their health and how they should go about treatment, he says.

Like Prasad, Shelley has worked in conventional medicine but found that seeing 20 patients in half a day “just doesn’t leave much time for talking.”

Studies have shown that patients feel listened to after just two minutes, but most doctors interrupt their patients within 30 seconds, he says.

“They’re waiting for somebody to listen to them,” Prasad says.

Using all therapies

Prasad and her colleagues don’t like the term “alternative” for what they do because it implies that it is used in place of conventional medicine, when they make use of all appropriate therapies, conventional and complementary.

Integrative medicine isn’t for everyone, however, because patients are encouraged to become active participants in their health care by educating themselves, making more decisions, improving their nutrition and trying such mind-body therapies as yoga and meditation.

“We’re trying to get them to make changes,” Shelley says. “We’re coaching people rather than intervening. Patients are surprised by the choices and challenges.”

But some people would rather just sit back and say, “Fix me,” he adds.

At the Integrative Medicine Clinic, patients may receive acupuncture, Ayurvedic medicine, botanical medicine, chiropractic, curanderismo, energy medicine/homeopathy, massage therapy, mind- body medicine, American Indian traditions, nutrition, osteopathy, supplements and traditional Chinese medicine.

Some common ailments for which they may seek help include anxiety and depression, arthritis, cancer, menopause and obesity.

The UNM section, which took more than five years of work to get off the ground, is part of the national Consortium of the Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine.

A different approach

The University of New Mexico’s Integrative Medicine Clinic is at 7801 Academy NE. The phone number is 272-2700.

Patients must be referred by a primary care provider, and referrals must be made to a specific provider within the clinic. The integrative medicine providers can’t become primary care providers for referred patients and don’t assume routine medicine-prescribing or test-ordering responsibilities.

Twice a year, Dr. Brian Shelley conducts an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course designed to teach people how to recognize stress and reduce it by way of daily meditation and yoga. No experience is necessary, but the course requires a significant commitment of time and attention. The fee is $195. For information, call patient education at 272-2340.

PHOTOS: Color

PRASAD: Integrates both worlds in practice

SHELLEY: Teaches stress reduction course