Integrative Mental Health LLC

Omar Canosa, MD

7 MacCulloch Ave, Third Floor Morristown, NJ 07960

(973) 520-8848

Welcome to Integrative Mental Health, the practice home of Omar Canosa, MD.

Dr. Canosa is board certified in both adult and child/adolescent psychiatry. In addition, he is intensively trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) through BehavioralTech (Seattle, WA), and has received training in medical acupuncture through UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.  Dr. Canosa practices within an integrative framework that combines treatment of illness symptoms with a focus on establishing and enhancing wellness, in the service of helping his clients build a life worth living.

 

The Evolution of Modern Mental Health Care

The steady advance of medical science has been one of humanity's greatest achievements. The last century, alone, has seen our knowledge of disease, and how to fight it, expand beyond the wildest dreams of even the most visionary founders of modern medicine.

This progress has not come without cost, however. The answers to our pressing medical questions have often been sought through the lens of a microscope. More and more, the science of medicine has turned its attention to the parts that compose us, and--with ever tightening focus--to the parts that compose our parts. This shrinking field of view has given modern medicine the benefit of precision, while at the same time depriving it of the whole-person context which best informs a healing art. 

The field of mental health care has also suffered this tendency towards fragmentation. Over its history, the science of mind has focused on various aspects of our mental experience--from unconscious emotion, to observable behavior, to conscious thought. Entire movements have arisen, around these different views of the human mind, and their debates have often been bitter and prolonged. 

But this is changing. 

In both medicine and psychology, there is an evolving understanding that human beings are too complex to be described as sums of their parts, and that the human experience is too subtle and profound to be explained in terms of basic mental operations. The emerging view is that every person is a whole being--composed of parts, but much more than their sum--existing within a social context which both affects, and is affected by, each person. This holistic, systems-based view has paved the way towards preventive medicine approaches, and it is informing a movement in mental health treatment, as well.

Integrative Mental Health 

Integrative mental health brings together the advances of contemporary psychological science, with the wisdom of healing traditions from around the world. The integrative approach is pragmatic, using any and all techniques that can help to improve wellbeing, while also being disciplined, adhering to guiding principles.

Integrative mental health care: 

  • Is client-centered and holistic, viewing the whole person as both the instrument and beneficiary of achieving greater wellbeing
  • Views Mind/Body systems as interrelated, with the quality of their relationship contributing to the state of overall health
  • Maintains a focus on health, rather than disease, confident in the potential within each person to envision a life they wish to live, and to strive towards it
  • Emphasizes the relationship between client and clinician, creating a safe space within which to work on treatment goals
  • Incorporates complementary/alternative healing approaches, such as acupuncture and mindfulness training, when evidence supports their use
  • Addresses all aspects of the Human experience: biological, psychological, cultural, economic and spiritual

These principles serve as the foundation upon which to build individualized, whole-person mental health treatment that not only seeks to address existing symptoms, but also to build resilience and promote the highest degree of wellbeing possible.