Integrative Psychiatry: Evidence, Mechanisms, and Clinical Application of Complementary and Lifestyle Approaches in Mental Health

Mental disorders remain a major source of global disease burden, and despite substantial advances in contemporary psychiatry, many patients experience inadequate treatment response, adverse effects, or difficulties with long-term adherence to conventional interventions. Consequently, the use of complementary and integrative approaches to mental health care has grown considerably, driven by a perception of better tolerability and safety and patient preferences for holistic, person-centered, and culturally congruent models of care. At the same time, important concerns remain regarding the safety, efficacy, quality, and regulation of many complementary therapies, highlighting the need for rigorous scientific evaluation.Integrative psychiatry refers to the integration of conventional psychiatric care with complementary, traditional, lifestyle, and mind-body interventions based on scientific evidence, clinical expertise, and patient values. Research in this emerging field is often fragmented across disciplinary boundaries, with limited publication opportunities that adequately accommodate both psychiatric and complementary medicine perspectives.This Research Topic aims to provide a dedicated forum for high-quality scholarship in integrative psychiatry, foster interdisciplinary dialogue, and advance the development, evaluation, and implementation of evidence-based integrative approaches for the prevention and treatment of mental disorders.The goal of integrative psychiatry is to combine the best of conventional and complementary therapies for patients with mental disorders based on research evidence, clinical expertise, and patient values, while recognizing the potential risks and adverse effects associated with each approach.Research in integrative psychiatry remains dispersed across psychiatry, psychology, complementary medicine, and public health journals, which can limit interdisciplinary dialogue and slow the development of a coherent evidence base. This Research Topic will help address this gap by fostering discussion and promoting the implementation of evidence-based integrative interventions. It aims to advance rigorous evaluation of complementary and integrative therapies, including their efficacy, safety, mechanisms of action, quality assurance, regulatory considerations, and clinical implementation.The scope of this Research Topic includes research on traditional, complementary, and integrative therapies for the prevention and treatment of mental disorders and psychiatric symptoms. These include traditional medicines such as Chinese medicine (including Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture) and Ayurveda, herbal medicine, naturopathy, aromatherapy, massage therapy, mind-body therapies such as yoga, qigong, Tai Chi, and mindfulness meditation, and lifestyle interventions including diet and exercise.Studies combining complementary therapies with conventional medicine will be eligible, whereas studies focused exclusively on conventional medicine will not be considered.The Research Topic will focus on the effectiveness and safety of these therapies, as well as mechanisms of action, health services research, implementation science, patient preferences and decision-making, pharmacovigilance, regulation and quality control, cultural and traditional medicine perspectives, and cost-effectiveness analyses.Original studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, narrative and scoping reviews, clinical practice and methodological papers, implementation studies, and perspective or opinion articles will be considered. Topic editors: Yoann Birling, Yao Gao, Jian Wang, Kui Wang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/83937/integrative-psychiatry-evidence-mechanisms-and-clinical-application-of-complementary-and-lifestyle-approaches-in-mental-health