“What Matters to You?” The Profound Effect of Purpose with Dr. Benjamin Kligler

In this episode, Dr. Melinda Ring talks with Dr. Benjamin Kligler, a leader in integrative medicine and Executive Director of the Office of Patient Centered Care & Cultural Transformation at the Veterans Health Administration (VA) who is responsible for advancing the Whole Health Model of care at the VA. They explore how Whole Health shifts the focus of care from “What’s the matter with you?” to “What matters to you?” They also dive into the importance of research in integrative medicine, such as an observational study Kligler conducted that showed veterans using Whole Health experienced significantly greater reductions in opioid use compared to those receiving conventional care. Find out how tools such as Whole Health can impact health and wellbeing for patients and empower clinicians, too. 

[00:01:53] Dr. Kligler explains how his interest in integrative medicine began with a college course in ethnobotany and evolved when he began combining conventional medicine with holistic approaches when treating patients as a Family Medicine physician.

[00:05:17]  As part of his approach to medicine, Kligler tries to help patients being in charge of their health. He cites Dr. Andrew Weil’s book “Spontaneous Healing: How to Discover and Enhance: Your Body's Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself” as a major influence on his approach that emphasizes intrinsic healing capacities and personalized care.

[00:10:51] Research became an important part of his career once he realized that it is "language of conventional medicine" and an important avenue for generating new knowledge to further conversations and validate integrative approaches.

[00:16:09] The Whole Health Model has been very successful in the past decade at the VA and some highlights include using Whole Health to help veterans reduce opioid dependency by incorporating complementary therapies like acupuncture and health coaching into their care.

[00:25:35]  Dr. Kligler shares an inspiring story of a veteran, who is also a pastor, who was suffering with chronic pain and was able to reduce his pain and reliance on opioids through the Whole Health Model. The patient was also able to reconnect with his purpose in life, which he says is an important end goal because people who report a low sense of purpose have 2.5 times the risk of an early death compared to people with a high sense of purpose at age 50. 

[00:29:23] Dr. Ring says she asks doctors and nurse practitioners training in integrative medicine to compare the whole health inventory to a standard patient intake form and reflect on the difference between the two from the perspective of a patient. Dr. Kligler adds that adopting tools such as the inventory from the Whole Health approach transforms the physician-patient dynamic by fostering a collaborative partnership. This approach helps clinicians move away from viewing patients as individuals who need to be “fixed,” especially when many of the challenges patients face don’t have straightforward solutions. He says this approach could curb physician burn out, too.

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