Psychiatry can get a bad reputation as psychiatrists we are relegated to the role of pill pushers. I know many of us do work that way, with a quick conversation and then out comes the prescription pads. On some level, that has been dictated by the insurance industry, which will only compensate a short medication management visit and not compensate at all if medications are not part of the picture. I would like to try and put a more human face to psychiatry and change our role from drug pushers to actual health care providers.

To me, humanizing psychiatry includes recognizing that everything that happens to us since we came into this world leaves a mark. Our responses can be adaptive, maladaptive, or just survivalist. Our developing neurobiology is affected by life experiences and marred by trauma. If we experience too much trauma—or sometimes just enough trauma with limited resiliency at a very early age—we are prone to have the fight or flight switch turned perpetually on. This can prove to be draining both physically, emotionally, and spiritually, as well as having a negative impact on our relationships.

Oftentimes I’m surprised at how clients minimize their trauma—assuming it’s only trauma if it’s overt and in your face. In my practice, I learned that the more covert trauma is, the more invalidating and damaging it can be. For example, covert trauma includes the almost passive but chronic negative messages experienced in childhood. Children raised in hypercritical households, where they were constantly told they weren’t good enough, tend to develop a negative repetitive tape in their heads. Over time, this tape can become their truth, affecting how they perceive themselves and influencing many of the choices they make in the future.

Clients raised in homes where there was neglect can develop attachment issues and poor self-esteem, which in turn affects how they see themselves and the choices they make. From childhood and into adolescence, there are many significant experiences that, based on our interpretation and innate resilience, we integrate into who we are and how we respond to the world around us. Feelings of shame, guilt, emptiness, and inadequacy often stem from symptoms of PTSD. Learned helplessness can lead to depression; chronic insecurity can lead to general anxiety and panic; being ridiculed or put down can lead to somatoform disorders and eating disorders; and the allure to self-medicate is a slippery slope.

Defensive Character Development


We all come into this world as distinct individuals. Learning to identify and accept our personal strengths and weaknesses can reduce suffering and encourage us not to struggle with things that are out of our control. We all live in a difficult, stressful world. Because we are social creatures and tend not to live in isolation, we can experience damaging relationships from lovers, parents, employers, and friends. We unconsciously attract and try to reenact some of the difficult experiences from our past in hopes of achieving a better outcome. Breaking a pattern of behaviors can be challenging, and depending on how many times we re-experience these things—and what the outcomes are—we may react with either satisfaction or frustration that perpetuates the cycle.

As part of learning to embrace our humanity, it is important to identify our reactions as part of the human response spectrum, rather than feeling that we have a disease—that we are sick and there is something wrong with us. Putting a humane name to the reactions and emotions is more helpful than a diagnosis or pathological label. If we think about diagnoses like PTSD, substance abuse, eating disorders, personality disorders, depression, or anxiety, most stem from a neurobehavioral attempt to compensate for something that doesn’t feel right, usually stemming from childhood. We tend to develop defenses as a protective mechanism, and while they serve a purpose for a time, we become so accustomed to them that even when they are no longer useful, we find it difficult to let them go. When defense mechanisms become neural pathways repeated over decades, they become so embedded in who we are that it feels impossible to break free. As we age and no longer need them, they can instead become damaging and limit our ability to connect or have healthy relationships, so we then need to unlearn them—which can be very difficult and counter to our identity.

Seeking alternative ways to break unconscious patterns also led me to explore energy medicine because it provided another avenue for intervention aside from psychosocial and pharmacological approaches. If we can intervene on the spiritual and energetic level—or perhaps start a conversation about other possibilities—it gives us more hope and a broader spectrum on which to initiate change. Another reason I became a student of alternative modalities was my personal trauma. A few years ago, my younger sister and her boyfriend (who had always been a healthy non-smoker) were diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, and she died after a horrible six-month struggle. As a result, my family fell apart in grief. The next year, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, underwent a double mastectomy, and had chemo. During the course of all these events—first with my sister and then on my own—I spent more and more time learning about alternative healing modalities. Some examples include:

  • NFB (neurofeedback)

  • Chakra energy

  • Acupuncture

  • Traditional Chinese Medicine

  • Energy medicine

  • Energy psychology

  • Yoga, meditation, exercise, and nutrition

  • Guided visual imagery

I’ll take a few moments here to define some of the more esoteric ones:

Traditional Chinese Medicine: Our life force travels through our bodies in pathways known as meridians, which interconnect with organs and organ systems. The goal is to promote health through preventative measures and to create harmony within our bodies, understanding that each human body is different. Emotional difficulties can create blockages in our physical energy flow and compromise our chi.

Chakra System: Rooted in ancient yogic traditions, the chakra system describes energy centers in the body, each associated with an organ and nervous system. There are seven centers in the body, starting with the pelvis (the root chakra), followed by the sacral chakra, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, and the crown just above the head. These energy centers are said to influence our physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being.

Energy Medicine: This modality works on the premise that living in active partnership with your body’s energy system is key. It involves harnessing energy to create a healthy body, mind, and spirit and acknowledges that both conscious and unconscious thought processes can lead to compromised energy, which we experience as dis-ease, potentially leading to a cascade of physical ailments.

Energy Psychology: This approach works with the body’s energy system to create balance. For instance, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) involves tapping on specific areas of the body that correspond to organ systems to help release emotions such as anger. For example, tapping along the liver meridian may help release anger—the emotion often associated with the liver.

Circling back to the idea of humanizing psychiatry, I see it as an integrated approach to mental, emotional, and physical wellness. In our society, we receive many damaging messages—messages of greed, jealousy, and judgment, both for ourselves and others. Often, we are not taught to embrace some of the simpler aspects of life: that it’s okay to be uncomfortable or sad at times, that self-love is a good thing, and that some narcissism is healthy as long as it’s inclusive (not only seeing the beauty in oneself but in everyone).

We are not taught emotional freedom, mindfulness, silliness, happiness, laughter, that mistakes are healthy, or that embarrassment is normal. We are not taught that everyone gets jealous, regardless of gender or identity differences. Learning to forgive others—and ourselves—can be an uphill battle at times.

When I am with clients or colleagues, I feel passionate about trying to humanize psychiatry. I aim to steer the conversation away from focusing solely on what is wrong and how to fix it, and toward understanding that we are skin and bone, love and shame, forgiveness and anger—all here, just trying to figure out life every day. I try to remove the fear, guilt, and discomfort from discussing what we really want and the actions we take to feel better, even if they inadvertently cause more harm. Ultimately, opening a dialogue enables us to re-examine who we truly are, what we want, and how we can move forward to achieve our goals.