Case Discussion: The Fine Art of Letting Go

When psychotherapy/CBT, or treatment-as-usual is good enough yet does not go beyond symptom reduction of recurrent major depressive disorder.

In this presentation titled, The Fine Art Of Letting Go, clinical psychologist Shrimathi Swaminathan asks a strangely radical question: What if considering the whole person and incorporating Lifestyle Medicine based interventions could improve our efficacy as psychologists and behaviour change agents to help secure real life thriving?

Shri will share her journey of clinical work for over 4 years with a client who battled chronic, recurrent episodes of depression. We will see how Lifestyle Medicine based interventions were incorporated with psychotherapy to enhance outcomes for this client.

The session will highlight the key LM pillars targeted along with psychotherapy – Social Connectedness, Stress Management and Exercise and outline a novel, movement based intervention programmed that was trialled. Self-report questionnaires at baseline and end show clear improvements while the client successfully beats a decade-old depressive cloud and thrives, without medication and ultimately, therapy.

The presentation will also feature key points on LM integration with psychology practice to highlight that lifestyle behaviours are not adjunct to psychotherapy or background but can be powerful therapeutic tools. We hope to ignite your passion to boldly step outside narrow clinical practice constraints to walk an evidence-based journey with your clients and patients for powerful and effective outcomes.

Recording of this talk after the event is available only for SGLM members.

About the Speaker:

Shrimathi Swaminathan Clinical Psychologist and Sport & Performance Psychologist

Shrimathi Swaminathan (Shri) is a Clinical Psychologist and Sport & Performance Psychologist with over 30 years of experience supporting people with varied backgrounds, nationalities and ages from children to the elderly. She provides psychological and neuropsychological assessments and uses an integrative psychotherapy approach to help diagnose and address a wide range of mental health issues in diverse settings — from personal mental health challenges, to high performance. As an endurance athlete herself, she understands first-hand the physical, mental, and emotional demands of high performance. Her foundation is in clinical psychology, with an ever-evolving expertise in sport and performance psychology and the complementary field of lifestyle medicine applying evidence-based strategies in sleep, nutrition, movement, stress, and recovery to prevent illness and optimize resilience.

Her work spans both clinical practice and high performance:

• Supporting Children, families, and adults with ADHD, behavioural and personality disorders, and complex or chronic mental health conditions, through assessment and psychotherapy.

• Supporting high performers and athletes, helping them overcome psychological barriers, move beyond the fear of failure, and achieve sustained high performance.

• Providing collaborative and integrative care, drawing on lifestyle medicine, technology, and new support systems to address mental health difficulties, chronic health issues and performance challenges.

She has developed special programmes that bring together clinical psychology and performance psychology in unique ways

• DAS-H Run for Mental Health — a running group that combines CBT, mindfulness, and movement for powerful impact on mental health.

• TripleE — a specialized, intensive programme designed to help individuals transcend fear of failure and overcome psychological barriers to achieve high performance.