Summit Pointe Podcast

Whole-Person Care For Adult Mental Health

• Dr. Sajid Hussain

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Want a clearer path to real recovery, not just a new prescription? We sit down with Dr. Sajid Hussain to unpack how comprehensive, evidence-based adult psychiatric care helps people stabilize and rebuild their lives. From depression and anxiety to bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD, autism spectrum disorder, and substance use, we walk through the practical steps that move recovery from hope to habit.

Episode Resources
Summit Pointe Adult Psychiatric Services
Careers at Summit Pointe

Summit Pointe Podcast 92 is a Livemic Communications production. 

Summit Pointe, the Behavioral Health Authority in Calhoun County, Michigan, is pioneering Community Mental Health Services by developing innovative ideas and community partnerships that lead to high-quality care and a healthy community.

Richard Piet:

I'm Richard Piet. This is the Summit Pointe Podcast, the official podcast from Summit Pointe in Calhoun County, Michigan, around Battle Creek, and the surrounding area of Summit Pointe, the Behavioral Health Authority in Calhoun County, Michigan. Today we're going to talk about adult psychiatric services, that which encompasses that description. At Summit Pointe, Dr. Sajid Hussein is joining us now to talk about that.

Dr. Sajid Hussain:

Hello, Doctor. Hello, hi, Richard. How are you today?

Richard Piet:

Very well. Thank you for this opportunity. When we talk about adult psychiatric services, what does that really mean?

Dr. Sajid Hussain:

So actually, at Summit Pointe, just to let other people know what I do, I am the general psychiatrist, child psychiatrist. I'm also board certified in sleep medicine and a couple of other speciality of psychiatry. Obviously, I see patients of all ages, but mainly 60-70% I see adults. So here at Summit Pointe, and also I have worked at other community mental health centers. So I would like to say that Summit Pointe as an organization is very creative and they try to help out our patients from all different directions as I compare it with the four counties in Upper Michigan, Market, Escanaba area, as I compare to Iron River, Menamni area. So bottom line is that Summit Pointe has a lot of programs which I do not see in other places. Plus, they are very good programs. So for adult mental health services, I believe that in general, uh, what we offer is the obviously psychiatric evaluations, which are done by psychiatrist, MD, DO, medical doctor, or doctor of osteopathy. Then you also have psychological testing, which is done by a psychologist, PhD, or doctor of philosophy. So Summit Pointe provide a very comprehensive services to adults with diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, different anxiety disorder like generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. And we also see patients with autism spectrum disorder and substance use disorder. So we have a very diverse patient population and we try to help them. Bottom line is that we can provide case management services. There are a certain number of patients who need a little bit more guidance regarding their care, like if they are not able to manage their money, if they are not able to manage their residence properly. So they need a case manager who can guide them and also make sure that they attend programs like ARC, ARC, or there are a few other programs Summit Pointe provide to keep them occupied or their time occupied with different services and continue to learn and practice coping skills, social skills, interpersonal skills, relaxation technique, along with the medication management. And that's what we provide here.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, this is, as you said, quite comprehensive. If you just think a moment about that list that you just cited, is it common for folks to say, well, I'll see a mental health professional, someone such as yourself, and I'll be all set? It's more involved than that, isn't it?

Dr. Sajid Hussain:

I know. I think I think a lot of people, what you just said, they believe that mental health treatment is just seeing a psychiatrist and medicine, which is totally incorrect. And the reason I say that is this is my slogan that we cannot fix your problems only with medications. We need to talk about a comprehensive treatment plan, which include substance abuse counseling, if you have substance abuse issues or opioid issues or any hard drugs issue, we need to address if you are going through the divorce or you're going through some tough time regarding loss of your job or loss of a loved one, then obviously not just medication, but we also need to consider one-on-one counseling and case management. So I guess I try to educate a lot of people, and Dr. Gandhi and I, we both do the same type of job to make sure that these patients understand what we have to offer them and what are the we call as nowadays evidence-based medicine or evidence-based treatment. So evidence says, research says that if we combine case management therapy along with medication, we can get a better outcome. So I can give you one simple example about a diagnosis of major depressive disorder, recurrent type, or first episode. If we only do medication, patients do get better 50 to 60 percent, not more than that. But if we combine therapy, which is cognitive behavioral therapy, or if somebody has substance abuse issues like motivational enhancement therapy, or there are so many different types of therapies, interpersonal psychotherapy, then the outcome becomes 90 to 95 percent. So when the outcome is such a high 90 to 95 percent, why we should not recommend all treatment modalities rather than one or the other? I think going back to your point, like, hey, doctor, I'm here for you, you're gonna fix me. No, that is not a good notion. That is not a good way to look at mental health treatment. You need to look at a bigger picture of the treatment. And obviously, if you look at the psychiatric diagnosis and psychiatric symptoms and behavior model, we have a big model we call as biopsychosocial model. So biopsychosocial model is the biological changes in your brain and your body, your gut, your whole body, and then psychological impression about your trauma or your difficulties that you go through, and your behavioral, how you cope with the stress. So basically, a psychiatrist looks from the biopsychosocial perspective and try to help if there are neurotransmitter changes like low dopamine, low serotonin, low non-epinephrine, we give medicines which can bring it back to the balance. And also, like in schizophrenia and bipolar, there is too much dopamine or non-epinephrine or serotonin, we balance it out. So basically, we balance it out by not just medication, which is biological treatment. We also try to do the psychological and psychosocial treatment. So I think I'm saying exactly the same thing, but the perspective is we call as a biopsychosocial model, which helps everything.

Richard Piet:

Well, you've certainly articulated there are different pieces that have to be all part of the consideration when coming up with a comprehensive treatment plan. You have to understand these things. There has to be some attention given to the notion of root causes and trying to address those, right? But you know, the thing that impressed me the most as you were talking about that was this is exciting because now there are some tremendous approaches to what you're talking about that are bringing people their lives back.

Dr. Sajid Hussain:

Absolutely. I get a lot of people who bring thanks card and they say, Doctor, thank you for helping my child or my teenager, and thank you for helping my husband or my wife. And, you know, obviously, these are the people who kind of uh, you know, try to go through or go after all the treatment modalities that we recommend and are very open-minded because somebody is close-minded and kind of uh thinking that my medication is gonna help only, that's not a good approach. That's not a good thought process. So you need to be open-minded and you need to look at what I said right in the beginning, evidence-based treatment and also comprehensive treatment.

Richard Piet:

What if somebody isn't open-minded? That's it's a signal that it's intimidating, it's scary, all these things. But do you find a way to try and help them become open-minded? This is part of what you do, right?

Dr. Sajid Hussain:

Absolutely. I think you're absolutely right. We all try to do different strategies we apply. And there are certain diagnoses like ADHD, or uh, sometimes we have diagnoses of like primary insomnia. And there is no need to see a therapist for that kind of a situation, and we can just handle with the help of medicine, but still we educate them that we need to go, like you use the word root cause. So we talk about the root cause analysis, and we talk about like, hey, let's take a look. If you have this chronic primary insomnia, what are the precipitating factors, perpetuating factors, predisposing factors, which kind of uh cause the sleep issue? And if we look at all of them and try to go to the root cause, maybe we can help you better just by giving you ambient or tracedone, because that is more important on a long-term treatment rather than on a short-term treatment.

Richard Piet:

Well, we're back to the point. It's about understanding what the situation is and responding accordingly, which is a big part of the process. This must be rewarding to you personally, true.

Dr. Sajid Hussain:

People who uh, you know, had been in and out of psychiatric hospital or has been in out of county jail for some behavioral outburst and or substance abuse or any other domestic violence, once they are properly treated, once they are stabilized with the help of a comprehensive treatment plan, they do a lot better. And we feel like we are really guiding them and they are listening and they are following uh following up on the treatment plan and they are successful and we want them to be successful.

Richard Piet:

You uh pointed out some situations in which you might become acquainted with someone whom you're helping, jail or some other kind of situation. Is that the typical way you become acquainted with someone? Or are there even times when someone walks into first step and they end up seeing you?

Dr. Sajid Hussain:

Sometimes they walk up and they are going through some crisis. They have been to the emergency room and they were referred to first step. And sometimes we do have cancellations, sometimes we do have some slots which are left open for first step patients who walk in. And yes, I recall seeing some patients who are discharged from the county jail or discharged from the hospital or just visited the emergency room and they ran out of certain types of medications and they need help. So, yeah, we do see them right away. And actually, I am the first person, to be honest with you, sometimes who is the first contact, apart from the first step, as the medical team who will be looking at their history and trying to kind of uh formulate a treatment plan and tell them, hey, this is what I'm doing, is kind of a mini psychiatric evaluation in 30 minutes. And this is what I am seeing. These are the issues that I see, and these are the things you need to address with the help of case manager and therapist, and it works out if they are really in need of medication that was helping, and they just moved out of from uh Kentucky or Kansas or California and they are running out of medicine, you're right. They get the help right away and they feel welcome and they can get connected very easily with us.

Richard Piet:

You know, before we go, I I want to ask if someone's listening to this and they're reticent to come forward, but yet they know they have some behavioral health issues they're trying to sort out. What would you say to them that might be productive as it relates to that?

Dr. Sajid Hussain:

So I like to say that we all are human beings, we all have our fears and phobias regarding medical treatment or psychiatric treatment. And sometimes we have our own biases, we call as implicit biases as human and or explicit biases. Like sometimes we are really very, very kind of a prejudiced about treatment, not single person. And we think that I know my mom or my dad told me that I need to fix my problem by changing my behavior. I'm not gonna go for mental health. I mean, sometimes some people say it like your parents does not mean that is the correct information because some people have the personality to kind of a deal with it rather or like they the old saying is pull yourself with a bootstrap and move on.

Richard Piet:

Yeah.

Dr. Sajid Hussain:

I mean, that mentality does not work for everybody. So I will say that we are all humans, we all are vulnerable, we all are susceptible to different types of physical illnesses, medical illnesses, and we need to look at all treatment modalities with open-mindedness and make sure that we get the right treatment.

Richard Piet:

All right. Well, congratulations on the good work you're doing with your team and those at Summit Pointe in psychiatric services, and we appreciate knowing about it. Thank you. Thank you. You have a good day. Dr. Sajit Hussein here on the Summit Pointe podcast. Working at Summit Pointe means you're not just part of a team, you're joining a mission. We make a meaningful difference every day in the lives of those we serve. If you're looking for a workplace where your voice is valued, your growth is supported, and your work has purpose, you've found the right place. Check out the Careers page on the Summit Pointe website. The link is in the show notes.