INTEGRAL PSYCHIATRY
(reported by Baron Short, M.D.)
The Integral Psychiatry Domain will be a center
point of the first truly comprehensive approach to psychiatry. By
definition, psychiatry is a branch of medicine that deals with the
diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental and emotional disorders.
Integral Psychiatry will include the conventional mode of psychiatry,
while transcending it by integrating research and knowledge from
many other disciplines, including sociobiology, evolutionary psychiatry,
existential psychology, transpersonal psychiatry, philosophy/epistemology,
cultural psychiatry, eco-psychology to name a few. This bold and
ambitious venture will be collaborative effort of psychiatrists,
psychologists, and those interested in a more comprehensive approach
to psychiatric care. The core team of integral psychiatry recently
met with Ken Wilber for a weekend of discussions exploring the current
issues and future directions of Integral Psychiatry.
The Integral Psychiatry Domain will feature the latest articles
and dialogues addressing psychiatric issues from an integral perspective.
There will be associated forums to discuss these issues. We hope
to facilitate several steps for the mental health practitioner;
to inform, transform, and incorporate the integral approach into
one’s practice. We hope to offer Integral Psychiatry seminars
in the future to accelerate this process by offering members access
to some of the leading integral theorists and psychiatrists, such
as Ken Wilber and Roger Walsh.
As Integral Psychiatry develops we will produce full textbooks
on this exciting material. We hope to influence the DSM (Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) taxonomy of psychopathology
by offering new classifications, based on our integration and consilience
of diverse research methods and information. Testable hypotheses
will emerge in clinical research, as well as in clinical practice,
as a confirmation of an integral approach to legitimately include
and transcend our current bio-medical paradigm in psychiatry.
Integral Psychiatry is still in its infancy, and we invite you
to become intimately involved in its construction. Please join us
in this potentially revolutionary development in psychiatry.
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