Page 77 - Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Psychiatry

The CAM Psychiatrist at Work | 77

Other issues include the acceptance of CAM treatments as “best
practice” by the local medical society or governing body and
insurance coverage for CAM therapies. These matters, too, are
evolving quickly and are best answered by consultation with
local colleagues, medical organizations, and insurance
representatives.
So what does the practice of a CAM psychiatrist look like? To
provide that insight, we look into the protocols used by Hyla
Cass, M.D. Dr. Cass has published eight books on CAM
treatments, served as Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,
UCLA School of Medicine from 1979 to 2005, and has made many
media appearances to discuss integrative psychiatric
approaches.

Dr. Hyla Cass on Integrating CAM Treatments

As a conventionally-trained physician with a specialty in
psychiatry, I have incorporated nutrition and other natural
techniques into my practice for more than twenty years.
At the core of this practice is a set of beliefs that have served
my patients well:
− Treat the whole person—mind, body, spirit, and
environment.
− Look for the deepest root problems beneath the symptoms,
which includes using the best that science has to offer.
− Apply a continuum of treatments, always beginning with the
safest, most natural, and most benign.
In the early days of my career, it was my interest in a more
relational, holistic approach, coupled with an appreciation for
the mind-body connection, that led me to psychiatry. During my
residency at Cedars-Sinai/UCLA Medical Center, I eventually
found that the standard “couch and Prozac” combination of
psychoanalytic and pharmacological treatments had their
limitations.
I was drawn to a more personal approach, where therapists
were more directly caring and interactive with their patients. I