Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Tyler Mostul is unlike most in that he has an unique perspective and aims to focus more on therapy, holistic approaches as opposed to pharmaceuticals. When warranted Tyler Mostul PMHNP has the expertise to prescribe pharmaceuticals and does so, thoughtfully.
His original interest in psychiatry grew out of his experience volunteering for a year with the homeless in Los Angeles, California. After he graduated with his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a minor in Theology, he developed an interest in learning how a person comes to be in a place where they did not have a house to live in. At that time, this was not a situation that he or anyone close to him had ever had to deal with. He figured there was no better way to learn than to LISTEN to those who found themselves experiencing homelessness directly.
During his time in L.A., he was present in the lives of those who were some of the most oppressed in our society. He witnessed these people grossly mistreated by police, paramedics, and other social service providers. He listened to horror stories of what people go through to survive. He realized that mental health and substance abuse are two of the largest personal barriers to people improving their lives, and he saw firsthand that the way society at large chooses to deal with these things does not work very well. In fact, the places people are told to go for help often cause more harm than good. This awakened a passion inside of him to attempt to help people deal with their problems in a way that causes them the least amount of distress as possible.
This experience and others for him solidified the belief that there are always significant psychological, social, and environmental factors that contribute to a person’s mental health. Whether a person lacks enough money to pay for their basic needs or has plenty of money, there will always be significant psychological, social, and/or environmental factors involved. This concept heavily influences his practice today.
Psychiatry attempts to say that a person’s mental health struggles are due to there being something wrong with their brain. First of all, this is a theory that even psychiatry acknowledges is a theory and not fact, yet many mental health providers promote this theory as fact. The theory that mental health challenges are caused by there being something wrong with the brain never made sense to Tyler as he saw there were endless things going on in a person’s life that could easily explain why a person would be depressed, anxious, or addicted to something. Not only is there no brain scan, blood test, genetic test, or other objective test mental health professionals use to diagnose mental health conditions, Later he learned that the evidence does not support the brain-based theory of psychological distress either.
Tyler Mostul PMHNP does not see depression, anxiety, mania, addiction, hearing voices, or seeing visions as some kind of brain disease or as “insane.” Instead he sees them as sane ways of relating to and coping with a person’s often insane world. Acknowledging this has the potential to provide some relief as we open up to being more gentle and compassionate with ourselves. Discovering new ways of relating to our insane world also has this potential. He hopes to explore these possibilities with his clients.
Tyler Mostul PMHNP is accepting new patients. Call Pohala for an appointment today (503) 572-4196
