Conference journalist
Ramaswamy Viswanathan, MD, Drmedscs, is the outgoing president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA); Professor with titles and interim presidents of psychiatry, and director of CL Psychiatry and CL Psychiatry FellowShip at the New York State University (SUNY) DOWNSTATE Health Sciences University. It is also certified in psychiatry, internal medicine, consultation-liaison, geriatric, dependence and forensic psychiatry.
Viswanathan stopped in the APA Annual Meeting Press School in 2025 to speak to Psychiatric time On his presidential theme and his reflections on the prevention of premature death.
Psychiatric time: You have been part of the APA leadership for some time now, whether as a trustee of minority groups and underrepresented to the APA board of directors, chairman of the regulation committee and as a long-standing representative at the APA assembly. What was the most rewarding aspect of your presidency?
Ramaswamy Viswanathan, MD, DrMedSc: It was very rewarding to educate people about the importance of incorporating the lifestyle in all kinds of treatments they do and also applying it to themselves. This provided me with a platform to propagate it and implement it, and it was incredibly satisfactory because many people contacted thank me. Many people have said that they had specifically come to the meeting because of this. In addition, I gave international conferences, and even people from other countries have written to me recently. Barely 3 days ago, I received an email from someone from South Korea. They were so touched by the conference that I gave in Japan that it broadcast the message in South Korea. He incorporated the psychiatry of lifestyle in his practice, and he also trains groups to send the message to other clinics in different parts of South Korea. I also obtained answers from Papua New Guinea and the United Kingdom, developed countries and developing countries. It’s good to have such a big impact.
Pt: Can you tell me about how you have selected your concentration of lifestyle psychiatry for this year’s meeting? What other subjects were in the running? Why didn’t you choose them?
Viswanathan: I have always been interested in prevention, from my childhood, because I lost my father at the age of 2, he was only 42 years old and he died of a sudden heart attack. And 2 of his brothers also died at an early age of a heart attack. I have therefore always been interested in physical activity and nutrition as a means of preventing premature death. Then, while I was starting to practice and learn more, I was also interested in other aspects of lifestyle, such as sleep, social connectivity, stress management and avoidance of risky substances. I was initially interested in prevention, and I think that the way of life is a major way to solve this problem, because a large part of our burden of illness, both in this country and in the rest of the world, is attributable to things that can be modified by the lifestyle.
Pt: As a CL psychiatrist, what is the interaction between mental and physics health and how can lifestyle psychiatry improve results?
Viswanathan: I’m glad you asked for that! I believe that all doctors should be interested in both physical health and mental health – all of the person. They are not just the lack of illness. I also believe in positive health, and this is the reason why the theme of this year’s meeting is a positive mental and physical health and optimal performance. As a CL psychiatrist, we are always interested in the mind and body and interactions. Fortunately for us, many lifestyle factors improve both physical health and mental health. And it’s not just by improving the circulation of the brain. There are specific ways from which many lifestyle factors have an impact on the brain.
Pt: You have shared that your vision is to “advance science and practice without unnecessary intrusions by third parties”. Can you talk about it?
Viswanathan: Unfortunately, our payment system has been developed by thinking of certain procedures. The insurance industry has mainly developed it for expensive surgical interventions, but now all kinds of medical treatments are covered. But the fact is that these insurance companies are targeted in the short term and interested in the megadonts. For any reason, many people are simply interested in containing costs. There are a lot of studies to show that for each dollar spent on mental health intervention, the yield is $ 6. People’s productivity is improving and can return to the labor market, but the insurance company does not see this short -term advantage. We must therefore really modify the payment system so that it has taken it into account.
Pt: This is the 40th anniversary of the psychiatric era. Can you tell me about the change you would like to see in the field in the next 40 years?
Viswanathan: It’s interesting. I want people to focus not only on the treatment of symptoms, but on improving the overall health of individuals, both mental and physical. There are also very serious disorders such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia and dementia. These exact such a formidable toll, and we do not have a sufficient understanding of the mechanisms. I would like us to make progress in understanding so that these conditions are easily diagnosed very early, or that the predisposition is diagnosed very early, then we can implement interventions to prevent the development of disorders.
Pt: THANKS!