C.R.E.A.T.E.

Having had extensive experience with the mental health industry and having seeing psychiatric patients since 1998 in various settings, serving as a liaison and helping people navigate the system has become a calling. Training at Beth Israel Medical Center on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, serving as Chief of Psychiatry at St Joseph’s Hospital in Long Island for 8 years, and having a solo private practice for 18 years has given me “in the trenches”, boots to the ground experience with the best of what psychiatry can offer as well as the many pitfalls which are still present.

Midway into my career, I felt strongly that there was a gap, that we were missing something in our approach. My own time and curiosity have led me into a foundational understanding of body-mind-spirit medicine (why is this is still a fragmented idea and approach is baffling) Specifically, basic knowledge about the central organizing principle of a balanced nervous system (a blueprint we all share) should become a common goal for every individual, let alone a “patient”. It gives patient and doctor (therapist, guru, life coach, religious leader even) a common goal. This common language can ensure that suggested interventions make sense and can mitigate feelings of confusion, and blind following of their providers. 

What state? My patients, colleagues, friends and family will tell you I speak about the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). A lot. The common goal for humans since time began is a balanced ANS. The current culture uses new language to describe nothing new at all. All ancient cultures knew this goal and practiced it in their own ways.  The understanding has gotten quite a bit obscured.

ANS homeostasis is where the body is in a state of connection, balance, harmony and ease.  Without a basic understanding of ANS balance, that goal sounds very nice but remains for most people, a hollow intellectual idea. What does a balanced ANS state even feel like experientially?

Calm

Relaxed

Engaged

Alert

Taken

Everywhere

Independent of conditions outside the self, one rests in the objective center of presence, equanimity, objectivity, grace, and lightheartedness. Clear and focused, physiologically, there is an alert vitality, a restful sleep / circadian rhythm, a relative freedom from chronic symptoms, all “separate” organ systems holding hands and operating as a harmonious whole.

Importantly, story follows state. How we navigate our health, our relationships to ourselves and others, in fact every experiential facet of our life, our story, is created as an overlay to our autonomic state. Once you have a factual understanding of how the ANS develops and functions, you will come to see how that is and most importantly how to shift gears out of defense states and into ANS homeostasis. This knowledge is key to choosing what comes after - your choices of therapy, your choices in psychiatry, in general health matters, your choices in relationships and best of all your relationship with yourself.  You will have a common language and understanding of a tangible goal that makes sense with your healthcare providers instead of feeling confused and uncertain or blindly following an algorithm.