Photo by Jeff Newton

SPECIALTY: ADULT AND CHILD PSYCHIATRY & PSYCHOANALYSIS

Was there a particular moment that
inspired you to pursue psychiatry?
When I was 16, my whole family was uprooted overnight during the Ugandan exodus. My parents, my family – we were all fragmented and totally disrupted. Even through the experience, how did it affect my inquiring and curious mind? How do people get through that?

What kind of services do you provide?
I love the fact that I’m both medically trained and I’m fortunate to be practicing ancient Eastern medicine, which is like 6,000 years old. Psychiatry is only 200 years old. Besides being a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, I’m also trained in ayurvedic medicine. Ayurvedic medicine focuses on the mind, body and spirit. I’m also a certified yoga teacher and practice vipassana meditation. I’m also a psychiatrist at Southwest Behavioral Services, where I take care of clients and teach medical students.

How do your patients benefit fromayurvedic medicine versus traditional psychiatry?
A lot of people [want more from] other practices besides just getting medication, because eventually everything gets outgrown. [We] have an unconscious need to connect with ourselves very deeply. Psychiatrists connect with the emotions, but this [combination] allows you to connect spiritually and physically as well.

What does a typical appointment entail?
I give a psychiatric and ayurvedic consultation combined. Psychiatric is: Find out what’s going on; if there’s any trauma; what are you feeling currently? Ayurvedic consultation is a diagnosis to find out what balance there is, because eventually, healing is about balance. With a combination of these, I can determine what kind of treatment a patient needs, whether it’s therapy, herbal treatment, detoxification, yoga or meditation.

What has the response been like to your approach?
Excellent. People love this kind of treatment because it addresses everything. In an integrated approach, people are cared for in one place.

How do your peers and colleagues react to your practices?
Initially people are afraid of change, and I can see that people are a little concerned about how this works. But more and more psychiatrists are looking at integrated medicine as the wave of the future. You need leaders in the community who are willing to make changes. Like Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see.”


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