Grace Hills

Chawkat

IR-2nd period

4 February 2019

Phone Interview with Ms. Eleonora Gafton, nutritionist/herbalist

Hills: ​Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today. I want to start out by asking:

What techniques within nutrition and herbal medicine are currently used to treat anxiety

disorders, such as PTSD?

Gafton: When we work with herbs, it really depends on the kind that we are working with, it is

really important to match up their energies. Nerve tonic herbs are used frequently, for instance

chamomile, passion flower. It is really important when you look at the person to then look at how

to support them.

Hills: So I know that many communities do not have access to a balanced diet, so are there any

herbal medicines that are especially beneficial to certain areas with limited resources?

Gafton: When you are talking about balanced diet, what is your understanding of a balanced

diet?

Hills: I know that many impoverished communities do not have access to the necessary

nutrients or many herbal medicines, so is there any particular herbal medicines that are

especially useful to these places where there is a lack of resources?

Gafton: Even though they do not have a lot of resources, it would be important to get the proper

ingredients, fresh fruit and vegetables, and we would look at their diet to make sure that there

were no trigger foods, such as eliminating hydrogenated fats. Also we would make sure there

were no stimulants, like excess caffeine coming from different sodas and soft drinks, so we

would look at all of these factors before we look at what kind of herbs we should refer. First we

want to take out the triggers.

Hills: So I’m understanding that herbal medicine is very individualized and that we can decide

how to treat patients based on their symptoms and what they are lacking in their diet. So, what

are some physical manifestations of PTSD that change among the individual, and how can they

be treated using herbal medicine?

Gafton: So that’s quite a complex question because symptoms can manifest in different ways,

so we would look in their history, you know are they coming from a dysfunctional family, were

they victim of an assault, were they in combat. It’s a very complex situation that you are looking

at, and just allowing the client to express themselves and creating a comfortable and safe space

for them to really express themselves starts creating a healing process. So we really look at the

person to really assess the situation before we ever go to herbs, but herbs like chamomile and

passion flower, that support the body, we would look at the categories of nerve tonics and look

at the degree of how PTSD is manifesting and then look at the root cause to understand how to

treat it.

Hills: Your list of herbal medicines makes me wonder how has herbal medicine evolved over

time, and are their any types of plants that are proven to have a greater efficacy today?
Gafton: So currently, we are looking at the evolution. What our ancestors used before

pharmaceutical companies came on board because they were able to reproduce synthetically

herbs that naturally occur so then they started developing drugs. But now we are learning that

these drugs have side effects because they are created with synthetic materials. However it

takes time for a herb to really show results because it is not as gentle and it takes time, and

clients need to really believe in the body's ability to cure itself with the right nutrients.

Hills: I thought what you said about the synthetic production of herbal medicines was really

interesting so I was wondering, what you think the future of mind body medicine entails as it

pertains to nutrition?

Gafton: Well there is the biofeedback, you know that's an alternative practice for clients with

PTSD, deep breathing, we also create a mind shift by asking them to create some mantas

which really works for them and engage on a daily basis and keep breathing. It is very result

driven. Also allowing them to express themselves and just giving them a piece of paper and

crayons allows the to draw what is triggering them and explaining the symptoms of what they

feel and then being able to talk about it is very healing. SO there is a lot more focus on

integrative medicines, however it takes time to work with a skilled practitioner who takes the tie

to listen to that client. It’s not 5 to 10 to 15 minutes, because in 15 minutes you can't accomplish

a whole lot. And that's why they rely on drugs. And that’s why there is a new field of mind body

medicine specialists. There are a lot of different kinds of modalities, acupuncture is another

really useful tool and shoes a lot of improvementS there are a lot if alternative and integrative

modalities so when you are studying it is important to incorporate more than just one modality.
Hills: I think it is amazing that we can conien different mind body medicine techniques in order to

create a superior treatment for the patient.

Gafton: And you always need to look at the body as a whole, it’s like we are not separating like,

the person has PTSD so I’m going to focus on the PTSD. Instead you need to look at the other

systems in the body to see if their are any triggers that cause ti. Because PTSD is a cause of an

event, so we would find the root cause, which involves a lot of listening to the client so that we

are connecting to see which area needs intervention. Lieka are they lacking exercise, or are

they not sleeping. Are they constipated, or do they have daily bowel movements. Because if

they are constipated then they have lots of toxins in the body that could cause PTSD symptoms.

SO looking at the whole body and all the systems in the body creates results. So it’s not like I’m

just gonna look only at the PTSD part.

Hills: Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it.

Gafton: Of course, so if you have any other questions you have my email you can just call me

and I would be delighted to help you out to better understand complementary medicines.

Hills: Thank you, bye.

 I think the interview went fairly well. I learned a lot about how nutrition and herbs can

be used to improve the state of the body, and thus the mind. I think it is interesting how

herbal medicine and nutrition are closely related to mental disorders such as PTSD, and

how these mental disorders can be treated using proper nutrition. Ms. Gafton also gave me

a new perspective on mind body medicine. Instead of singularly looking at PTSD as the

issue, she said that it was important to look at the person as a whole in order to figure out

how to best treat the individual because the PTSD can not be treated effectively unless the

medical professional is able to find the trigger of the PTSD. For my next interview I would try

to build a conversation with the interviewee, instead of just asking questions that I had

previously written down. I think I should have used the previously recorded questions to

prompt new topics and continued conversations about each individual topic because I think

I moved to quickly and may have missed some valuable information. ​I thought it was difficult

at times to think of questions because I wanted to craft questions that the advisor could answer

and was highly educated on. I also had to create questions in a way to get the most information

possible, while being very clear in what I was looking to learn. I thought that the preparation that

we did before the interview, including watching videos on how to conduct interviews etc. was

beneficial in teaching me how to ask good questions.