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“Dr. Tank and I share a passion for serving our patients from a holistic, mind-body perspective, and when our schedules permit, we often go off to seminars, conferences and workshops to deepen our understanding of all aspects of health and healing.”

The doctors agree that a significant majority of patients present health issues that link emotional and physical con-cerns. “That’s true of practically every patient we see,” notes Dr. Tank. “The man recovering from a heart attack, for example, may become so depressed that he is simply inviting a reoccurrence of the cardiac event.”

“Although I’m a psychiatrist,” adds Dr. Gupta, “my

interests extend beyond mental health issues. I faithfully check vital signs on every patient that comes to me—their blood pressure, weight, diet, sleep and exercise patterns and habits—and when I find abnormalities I often refer them to appropriate specialists for extended care.

“It’s of great value to the patient, and to me as a practitio-ner, to partner with a talented primary care physician such as Dr. Tank to broaden what we can offer a patient. I think of her as a gatekeeper, assessing and providing for a patient’s broad health care needs in the most comprehensive and holistic way. Dr. Tank and I have many common interests. We work as a team, with on-going, in-depth conversations about treatment plans.”

G u P t A P S Y C H I A t R Y

Doctors Share Patients, Knowledge, Ideas, Solutions

“A significant majority of

patients present health issues

that link emotional and physical

concerns.”

Dr. Gupta grew up, literally, in a mind-body environ-ment. Her father is still practicing in Florida as a

gastroenterologist, and her mother is also still practicing, as a psychiatrist. “Their best friends used to call them the Nuts and Guts doctors,” she says with a laugh.

Her first inclination was to follow her father into his spe-cialty area, but over time the field of psychiatry and mental health became more appealing. She seasoned her pull into

medicine by attending Nova Southeastern university Col-lege of osteopathic medicine, in Florida, emerging as an os-teopathic physician “with holistic interests and tendencies. The term osteopathic physician is still an unknown to many of my patients,” she says. “I explain that osteopaths attend four years of medical school training just like medical doc-tors, and are ‘real,’ licensed doctors in all the states and dozens of foreign countries, both for medicine and surgery.

“And it’s true that osteopaths emphasize the impor-tance of the musculoskeletal system, holistic medicine, proper nutrition, and environmental factors in main-taining good health. osteopaths are known for using a hands-on approach to medicine and frequently ma-nipulate or palpate as part of diagnosis and treatment. osteopaths are very comfortable with the idea of mind-body medicine.”

After her Nova training, Dr. Gupta completed her four-year residency in psychiatry at the baptist medical Center at Wake Forest university in Winston-Salem, NC.

CHooSInG HER PAtHDr. Gupta has an eclectic practice. “Actually, I love it

all. I love working with adolescents and adults no matter the nature of their health issues. I work with such chal-lenging problems as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia to scores of people who are challenged by events in their every-day lives. I really do empathize with patients who are dealing with such every-day issues as anxiety, ques-tions of self-image, depression and perhaps health chal-lenges. every one of us has a period in our lives when we are challenged and need support and guidance.”

for more information, contact:

GUPTA PSYCHIATRY8�0� Creedmoor Road

Raleigh, nC �7���telephone: (9�9) 870-8�09 www.guptapsychiatry.com

Dr. tank and Dr. Gupta: colleagues and friends.

the MinD-BODy COnneCtiOn

“t here are times when a patient of mine who is in an emotionally fragile place may benefit from working with an expert such as Raleigh psychiatrist Dr. Mona Gupta,” notes Dr. Bhavna Vaidya-

Tank, a family practice physician who established the Family Wellness Clinic in Clayton about a decade ago.

Adds Dr. Gupta, “Referring patients from one specialty provider to another, as needed, is a fundamental and vital part of what we do—and it’s true that I highly value the special relationship I have with Dr. Tank. In many instances, I refer patients to her for the wide range of services and expertise she can provide.

Originally published in Health & Healing in the Triangle, Vol. 17, no. 3, health & healing, inc., Chapel hill, nC, publishers. Reprinted with permission.

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“SHE’S AMAzInG”“Every time I refer someone to Dr. Gupta I tell them

she’s amazing,” says Dr. Tank. “I tell them ‘she is not going to make you feel as if there’s something wrong with you. In fact, she is very caring, she wants to help you and I want to help you, and together we can make wonderful progress.’

“Along with medications, there are many other po-tentially life-changing choices: meditation, yoga, exercise, healthy diet, restorative sleep, and time with an expert such as Dr. Gupta who can help with behavior modification—because medications are only part of a remedy for many health issues.

“Dr. Gupta is a people-person with a holistic mind-set. Perhaps, for example, you take your Mom to the doctor because she’s sick, and the doctor treats her for hyperten-sion and for her elevated cholesterol. But you know your Mom; you know that she sits around and mopes. She won’t tell her doctor that. You know she doesn’t exercise because she is simply in a low-energy place. There are so many as-pects to a person that a doctor is not likely to know unless the patient is forthcoming, but people are often reluctant to share this kind of information. Dr. Gupta and I share this aspiration: we want to know everything a patient considers relevant to their health and is willing to share.”

MInD-BoDY woRkTrue to her early exposure from her mother and father,

(see box, “The Mind-Body Connection”) Dr. Gupta attracts many patients who have issues and problems that include both mind and body concerns. “Clearly your mind is connected to your body,” she says, “and if you have muscle tension, it may well be the cause of high levels of anxiety. If we release and ease the anxiety, the muscles will release, as well.”

A recent patient offers a striking example of the mind-body connection, tapping into Dr. Gupta’s interests and training both in gastroenterology and psychiatry.

“A woman in her late twenties came to me suffering with severe GI disturbances, including diarrhea, indi-gestion, burning sensations and bloating. She had seen several gastroenterologists, had an endoscopy exam, a colonoscopy, and other thorough workups. The findings were all negative. The tests indicated that her GI system was in perfect working order. She was told she had ir-ritable bowel syndrome, and there wasn’t much that could be done for it.

“She came to see me out of frustration and feelings of depression. I was interested in what was going on in her body, of course, but what I really wanted to find out was what was going on in her life. She had a baby, and clearly, it seemed certain, there were hormonal issues. She wasn’t sleeping well, and there were other factors.

“It also became clear that her poor sleep pattern was related principally to child care, an issue that needed to be addressed. Having the child had caused major changes in her life, and she was clearly still adjusting to the demands of being a mother.

“I did give her mild medications to help with her sleep, and I remembered what I learned a long time ago from a family friend, also a gastroenterologist. He told me that the gut is lined with serotonin receptors, which establishes the link between the gut and depression and anxiety. Serotonin plays a role in mood, anger, aggression, body temperature, sleep and metabolism.”

In this case, this patient’s physical problems responded positively to medical treatment of her anxiety and depres-sion. And as her sleep improved, her symptoms abated. h&h

Doctors Share Patients, Knowledge, Ideas, Solutions

f A M I L Y w E L L n E S S C L I n I C - C L A Y t o n - B H A V n A V A I D Y A - t A n k , M D

Some years ago, the federal government created a rigorous program called a Patient-Centered medical

Home, providing guidelines to strengthen the delivery of primary care services.

Dr. Tank’s practice, the Family Wellness Center in Clayton, has held this exemplary designation for some time. And, she notes, the PCmH guidelines encourage

practices to locate psychologists, psychiatric social work-ers, and even psychiatrists within their practice, to pro-vide better access to psychiatric services.

“our referral relationship with Dr. Gupta directly re-sponds to this federal high quality requirement,” notes Dr. Tank.

“The simple fact is that a majority of patients with mental health issues access the health care system through primary care physicians. most patients want their primary care physician to be involved in the man-

agement of their psychiatric care.”The federal guidelines note that “The medical home is

best described as a model or philosophy of primary care that is patient-centered, comprehensive, team-based, coor-dinated, accessible, and focused on quality and safety.

“It has become a widely accepted model for how pri-mary care should be organized and delivered throughout the health care system, and is a philosophy of health care delivery that encourages providers and care teams to meet patients where they are, from the simplest to the most complex conditions.

“It is a place where patients are treated with respect, dignity, and compassion, and enable strong and trust-ing relationships with providers and staff. Above all, the medical home is not a final destination; instead, it is a model for achieving primary care excellence so that care is received in the right place, at the right time, and in the manner that best suits a patient’s needs.”

in-OffiCe CaRe“w hile I often work closely with Dr. Gupta for patients who may need that level of psychiatric

support, we also frequently have patients in the office who are coping with emotional is-sues,” notes Dr. Tank. “everybody goes through these periods in their lives when they are, to say the least, unsettled. And there is a great deal we can do to help. Some of these patients need medica-tion, and we also have an extensive range of supplements that are often very helpful. They can in many instances make a significant difference in a person’s ability to function well.

“And then there is the human aspect of picking up on these issues and responding to them in a useful way. ms. Jones, let us say, has a really hard time affording her medication so we’re going to give her samples. Another patient may be late because they are having transportation problems. our goal is to really know our patients, and respond to them where they are in life right now.

“by way of example, I recently saw a young woman for a simple uTI. We try to see people who are sick on the same day they call. She came in, and I looked at her chart and noticed that she had come in for a uTI infection three times in the past several months.

“What’s going on—are you oK?” I asked. And in fact, she was very depressed. She was moving through an abusive relationship with a married man, which was like an emotional shipwreck. She needed therapy and she needed medication. It was clear she had been depressed for some time. We did some genetic testing, to determine the medication that would be best for her, and subse-quently I referred her to Dr. Gupta. She is in a good place in that she knows she needs help and she is open to receiving it. I plan to see her often, and make sure she is progressing in a good way.”

Dr. Tank, a native of bahrain, a small island country in the red Sea, received a full academic scholarship to attend Kasturba medical College, and graduated with honors before completing her residency at the university of Pittsburgh medical Center—where she earned the Patient Advocate and Patient Care Award for engendering a focus on wellness that included functional medicine treatments for pain management and lifestyle and behavioral modifications such as smoking ces-sation programs and weight loss programs.

for more information about services at the Clinic, contact:

Bhavna Vaidya-Tank, MD FAMILY WELLNESS CLINIC

�07� Highway �� west, #��0 Clayton, nC �7��0

telephone: (9�9) ���-�7�� info@claytonclinic.com www.claytonclinic.com

CReating a Patient- CenteReD MeDiCal hOMe

Originally published in Health & Healing in the Triangle, Vol. 17, no. 3, health & healing, inc., Chapel hill, nC, publishers. Reprinted with permission.