James H. Schrenker, M.D., CMD
I graduated from Indiana University in 1989 with honors in biochemistry. During my undergraduate years I did original research in neurotransmitters associated with anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, as well as many other mental illnesses. I graduated from Indiana University School of Medicine in 1993 and attended East Tennessee State University for residency, graduating in 1996. I have been an attending physician and medical director at NHC Healthcare since 1993. I was a physician with Holston Medical Group from 1996-2007. While with HMG I served on their board of directors for five years. I have also served as medical director of John Deere Health prior to their merger with United Healthcare.
I have had extensive experience with all aspects of healthcare, from administration to delivery of care. I have done research for pharmaceutical companies. As a family physician I have delivered babies and taken care of patients in the hospital, nursing home, and hospice. I have a well-rounded background in medicine.
Having seen the best and worst in medicine, I started IHC in 2006 with the understanding that a holistic integrative approach was best. In patients' views this is a very popular and accepted direction for medicine. Traditional medicine has yet to embrace the holistic approach on a large scale, but the top medical institutions use many of the same modalities we do.
To me it is quite obvious: those people who have elected to regain control of their lives, take responsibility for their situation and ultimately accept love and forgive, get better. So why don’t we, as physicians, enable this? Instead, we enable people to continue to live dysfunctional lives by prescribing medications that tell their bodies and minds to shut up.
People go to the doctor with the notion that if they take batter care of their health, or if they begin to address their physical complaints, their life will somehow be better. The patients that show up at IHC are no different. They soon realize something very different, almost foreign to most doctors' offices. Your physical health is a reflection of your inner balance, or lack thereof.
Almost everyone hears this on their first visit. I believe it is true. In order to bring about better health, you must start with inner peace. Then you must choose happiness. You must follow this by giving your body only the best food and water. Next you need to stretch and exercise this physical machine. Finally, you begin to see real change—lasting improvements.
So how do you begin this epic journey? With honesty and love. Be honest with yourself—what you have done to this point sure hasn’t worked! Love yourself enough to stand up for your beliefs
I try to approach IHC with balance, but I also try to be logical. When dealing with spirituality, that part sometimes is hard. My life and IHC are based on two big assumptions. There is a God, and he loves everyone without conditions. The clinic and my life follow the teachings of many great masters, with Jesus Christ being the most influential for me personally. So based upon this, let's take another look at IHC’s unique holistic approach.
Not only do we believe in the balance of mind-body-spirit, but we believe your body is capable of healing itself. In order for this healing to take place you have to allow the healing love of God in. Sometimes, allowing His love results in a transition to spirit, nevertheless resulting in once again being purified and whole. Why would God put us on this Earth to have to get care through our healthcare system? Why would our health depend on the insurance card in your pocket, or the doctor you see? Simple—it doesn’t. Jesus throughout his teachings describes us as empowered, capable of carrying out physical, mental and spiritual feats we can’t imagine. Meek as Moses—that’s us, that is our human destiny. The trouble is, we don’t use meek the same way it was used in biblical times. Difficult to define, meek is the knowing you are empowered by God, capable of direct communication with him—able to receive messages and be provided for in every way in order to carry out what you discussed with Him.
From a health standpoint, this is our cure. Our bodies were designed by the Great Designer—capable of healing themselves, capable also of communicating to the individual what is needed for healing to take place. This is elaborated in my book Everyday Lessons in Health: The Emotional Basis of Disease. Briefly, your body's health issues are merely a reflection of inner dis-ease. Address this dis-ease and the disease can go away.
There is not a pharmaceutical made that is capable of better, quicker or more complete recovery from any illness than your body is. As I have said, “pharmaceuticals allow us to get sicker slower” and “drugs allow us to continue to live a dysfunctional life”. Think about it, how brain-washed are we to think drugs will fix our heart better than organic food, exercise, love and forgiveness? It is a great racket, telling everyone they need this procedure or that pill in order to be healthy. There is no profit in getting better.
Still skeptical? There are “blue zones” where people are thriving at 90–105 years of age. Don’t mind the fact they do this without a Harvard trained medical team or drugs. They are just eating real food, getting strenuous physical activity; and are grounded in the love of family and friends, and rooted in a mutually rewarding relationship with God.
IHC tries to return to a simpler approach. First, we need the most accurate and specific diagnosis: we must define the lesson. For this we use the latest technology available, but not exclusively.
Medicine has become the religion of health. We humans love to place artificial obstacles between ourselves and God, so why wouldn’t we do the same with another God-given right—our health?
James H. Schrenker, MD, CMD
This page last updated 21 Nov 2011