FAQs: Integrative Medicine

by Shelby Wall
integrative medicine

What is Integrative Medicine?

Integrative medicine is an umbrella term for the comprehensive, whole-person approach used at Recovery Without Walls. Instead of simply prescribing medication for conditions like addiction, chronic pain, and mental illness, our team crafts a fully individualized treatment plan for each client. Ideally, this will actively improve multiple areas of the client’s life.

Each person’s program is different, and may include:

  • Accurate diagnostic assessments
  • Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy
  • Non-pharmacological interventions like meditation, mindfulness training, nutritional guidance, acupuncture, and massage therapy
  • Advanced pharmacology tailored to the client’s needs
  • A personalized selection of scientifically backed therapies

What Integrative Programs Do You Offer?

Nurse practitioner Inna Zelikman oversees the integrative medicine services at Recovery Without Walls. Drawing from over two decades of experience, she spearheads three categories of care:

  • Integrative addiction medicine assists those dependent on opioids, alcohol, benzodiazepines, stimulants (prescription or illicit), sedatives, and other substances.
  • Integrative mental health programming is designed for those with complex and developmental trauma, chronic stress, marital problems, and diagnoses like anxiety and depression.
  • Integrative medicine for pain management helps people struggling with all types of pain, including chronic pain induced by cancer, past injuries, or neuropathic causes.

Each client will receive an individualized program of care to address their unique areas of concern. Those with multiple conditions will receive simultaneous treatment for all diagnoses. Recovery Without Walls supports those with co-occurring disorders, such as:

  • Individuals with chronic pain who became dependent on prescription opioids
  • People who began drinking excessively after surviving a traumatic event
  • Those who have become depressed due to persistent, untreated pain

If clients are experiencing multiple conditions, integrative medicine is often the recommended approach.

What is the Difference Between Integrative Medicine and Traditional Rehab?

Traditional recovery programming consists of two tenets: medication and therapy. While these methods may alleviate some symptoms associated with addiction, chronic pain, or mental illness, they do not change the underlying factors fueling disordered emotions, thoughts, or behaviors.

Integrative medicine works differently. Practitioners seek to understand and improve all areas of the client’s life, including their:

  • Physical health
  • Emotional well-being
  • Social support (relationships)
  • Diet and nutrition
  • Spiritual strength
  • Financial stability
  • Professional advancement

Assessing these areas tends to reveal risk factors that contribute to addiction, mental illness, and chronic pain. For example, people with substance use disorders typically have nutritionally deficient diets. They will lack the energy needed to focus on the work of recovery. This issue might go unaddressed at a traditional treatment center but is easily identified in an integrative program.

Are There Other Names for Integrative Medicine?

Yes. You may have heard the terms below, which generally have the same meaning.

  • Functional medicine
  • Alternative medicine
  • Holistic approach
  • Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)
  • Traditional medicine
  • Mind-body approach

Is Integrative Medicine Evidence-Based?​

Yes. The integrative model focuses on a person’s overall health and healing, which contribute to the alleviation of certain symptoms. Dietary and supplemental recommendations have long been offered for conditions like hypertension and diabetes. Similarly, lifestyle changes are required for diagnoses of mental illness, chronic pain, and substance use disorder.

Which Modalities Does Recovery Without Walls Use?

  • Psychotherapy
  • Psychopharmacology (integrative psychiatry)
  • Acupuncture
  • Vitamins and supplements
  • Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy
  • Bodywork and breathwork
  • Meditation and mindfulness
  • Nutritional support
  • Massage therapy
  • Exercise
  • Long-term planning

Integrative Addiction Medicine Doctors in the Bay Area

Recovery Without Walls offers integrative treatment to those in the Bay Area and beyond. We invite you to contact our office for more information about holistic programming for addiction, mental health conditions, and chronic pain.

To learn more about ketamine therapy for treatment-resistant depression, please contact us today.

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