Episode 16: Whole Health Is Mental Health
Episode 16: Whole Health Is Mental Health
Justin Bethoney joins me for Episode 15 to discuss how lifestyle factors such as, diet, exercise, sleep and stress management combine and contribute to our overall mental health and emotional wellness. Justin offers tools and suggestions on how to create more balance in your life and how that impacts depression, anxiety, addiction and overall functioning.
ABOUT JUSTIN BETHONEY
Justin is a licensed psychiatric nurse practitioner treating children and adults with mental illness symptoms. He maintains a private practice in the South Bay, but also sees patients from the greater Los Angeles area via a secure telemedicine platform.
After completing the nurse practitioner program at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions in 2011, Justin began his career treating children and adults with mental illness in the Boston area. From there, Justin moved on to work in a variety of unique clinics. From a weight loss camp, to a homeless clinic, to residential centers for individuals with intellectual disability and Autism, to inpatient unit for adolescents, to outpatient practices in both affluent and under-served areas, Justin broadened his clinical perspective by treating individuals of all walks of life.
In treating patients as a psychiatric prescriber for the past several years, Justin has seen the merits of psychiatric medications, but also witnessed their limitations. In response, over the past several years, Justin dedicated himself to learning more about the connections between the mind and body. Justin's approach to mental illness is adapted from functional medicine, which views the patient as a unique individual. It searches for underlying physical and emotional imbalances that contribute to illness.
Justin's treatment begins with an in depth assessment. He believes symptoms, such as depressed mood, anxiety, and poor mental function, are signals that something is amiss. In identifying and addressing imbalances in the body and mind, Justin seeks to reverse mental health symptoms and poor cognitive functioning. The initial goal is to reduce or eliminate symptoms, which may or may not include psychiatric medications. The overall goal is help patients return to their highest potential in life.