Integrative Behavioral Health SIG

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Focuses on the value of mind-body interventions. Our mission is two-fold; to promote the adoption of evidence-based, empirically supported holistic therapies into the treatment of depression, anxiety, and trauma; secondly, to apply these holistic therapies toward the treatment of medical conditions. These modalities include but are not limited to, yoga, acupuncture, aromatherapy, meditation, neurofeedback, and the expressive arts. The group is interested in sharing the broad spectrum of alternative modalities, past, present, and future, in the hopes of giving greater accessibility to resources and tools, which meet the growing needs of both practitioner and patient communities. We also want to encourage and promote a higher caliber of research into promising areas, where the evidence-based theories are limited, but qualitative experience is readily available and ignored, due to a deficit of quantitative peer-reviewed studies.

If you’re interested in joining this SIG, please log in to your member account and choose Groups from the green menu bar at the top of your screen. Have a question about the member platform? Please contact ADAA. Please view the ADAA SIG guidelines.


SIG Chair:

SIG Vice-Chair:

Board Liaison:

  • Sheila Rauch, PhD, ABPP - Emory University School of Medicine

2021-2022 Annual Report

In the year 2021-2022, we have had a change of chairs and had a good deal of downtime in the process. As a result, the New Chair is Laura Rhodes-Levin, LMFT and Vice-Chair Cynthia Edelstein, LMFT and Registered Art Therapist. In this new year, we are energized to realize many of the in-depth discussions we have about the refocused mission statement, and its potential to reach more people. Within the revised mission statement, we are adding more modalities, both evidence-based and practice-based, which treat anxiety, depression and the physical ailments broadly associated with them. It has been communicated to us that the number one call received by the association, is that of providing a more holistic approach. It is our goal to provide answers to this obvious need. Speaking to this goal, we will be providing content to both the professional and public domains, and supporting them in embracing this pressing public need.


Psychosocial Approaches to Medical Disorders (Mind to Body)

Evidence based psychotherapies can have much to offer individuals with medical disorders. In some cases (like the functional GI disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome) psychotherapy can be curative. In many other medical disorders, psychotherapy can help with coping, improving health related quality of life, managing pain, insomnia, fatigue, and adverse effects of medical treatments, and combating the secondary depression, anxiety and even PTSD that can come from living with a complex medical illness. Click on the linked content below to learn more about specific treatments.

Complementary Approaches to Mental Health (Body to Mind)

Evidence based psychotherapies can often be complemented and enhanced by treatment approaches that may be more traditional or natural. Many are based on folk systems that are hundreds or even thousands of years old. While modern scientific thinking may take issue with the traditional explanations of how these interventions work, there is no question that randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that some of these approaches do work for depression, anxiety, PTSD, pain management and other challenges, while others have yet to be sufficiently supported. 

  • Acupuncture
  • Aromatherapy
  • Mindfulness Meditation
  • Stress & Relaxation Techniques
  • Yoga (1) (2)
  • Herbal Remedies
  • CBD
  • Medical Marijuana (1) (2)
  • Biofeedback and Neurofeedback
  • Hypnosis
  • Probiotics
  • Energy Focused Therapies/Tapping