Is there a board certification in integrative psychiatry?
No. Here is what does exist, and how to check it.
In short
No board certifies integrative psychiatry. The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology certifies five psychiatry subspecialties, and this is not one of them. A separate board certifies integrative medicine, and several companies sell certificates that borrow board vocabulary without being boards.
The credential that matters is the ordinary one: an active medical licence and board certification in psychiatry. Everything else sits on top of that and is optional.
What ABPN actually certifies
The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology is the ABMS member board for psychiatry. Its subspecialty certifications are:
- Addiction psychiatry
- Child and adolescent psychiatry
- Consultation-liaison psychiatry, formerly psychosomatic medicine
- Forensic psychiatry
- Geriatric psychiatry
Pain medicine and sleep medicine are available to psychiatrists through co-sponsoring boards. Integrative psychiatry appears nowhere on that list.1 Verified 2026-08-30
This is the single most useful fact on this page. Any phrase of the form “board certified in integrative psychiatry” describes something that does not exist as stated.
What ABOIM is, and how it differs from an ABMS board
The American Board of Integrative Medicine certifies in integrative medicine, across all of medicine rather than within psychiatry. Two features are worth understanding before reading it as equivalent to a psychiatry board.
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Certifying organisation | The American Board of Physician Specialties, which is a separate organisation from the American Board of Medical Specialties.2 Hospital credentialing bodies and insurers treat the two differently, and the distinction is rarely explained on practice websites. |
| Fellowship requirement | Since 1 December 2016, every candidate must have completed an approved integrative medicine fellowship. The earlier pathway based on practice experience and continuing education closed on that date.3 |
| Psychiatry specifically | The published eligibility page does not enumerate which primary specialties qualify, and psychiatry is not named on it.3 A psychiatrist holding ABOIM certification is certified in integrative medicine, and the certification says nothing about psychiatric practice. |
Verified 2026-08-30
ABIHM: a credential that is still advertised after the board stopped certifying
The American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine certified physicians from 2000 until it ceased sponsoring its examination after its annual conference in November 2013. ABOIM took over as the certifying body and began examining in 2014.4 Active ABIHM certification was later worth 200 points toward the experience-based ABOIM pathway that itself closed in December 2016.3 Verified 2026-08-30
Clinicians who passed the ABIHM examination before it ended earned it, and saying so is not a criticism of them. The point for anyone evaluating a clinician today is narrower: no active board stands behind those letters, and the certification has not been maintainable for over a decade. Practitioner profiles still display “ABIHM” among current credentials, and automated summaries of the field repeat it as though it were live.
Fellowships: which ones are graduate medical education
| Kind | What it is | What it confers |
|---|---|---|
| ACGME-accredited fellowship | Graduate medical education, completed after residency, in an accredited programme. | Eligibility for board subspecialty certification. This is the pathway that produces the five ABPN subspecialties above. |
| University integrative medicine fellowship | Academic programmes, several of which are ABOIM-approved. The University of Arizona also runs a psychiatry-specific integrative curriculum. | ABOIM examination eligibility. Real academic training, and separate from ACGME subspecialty accreditation. |
| Commercial “fellowship” | A paid continuing-education course, typically online, sold directly to clinicians. | A certificate of completion. No licensure, no board standing, and no ACGME accreditation, whatever the word “fellowship” suggests. |
Certificates that use board vocabulary
Several organisations sell designations whose names resemble board certifications. The clearest way to evaluate one is to read what the seller says about it in its own terms.
Psychiatry Redefined offers a “Certified Functional Psychiatry Provider (CFPP)” designation on completion of its fellowship programme. Its own certification page states:5
“Psychiatry Redefined is neither a regulatory nor licensing organization and therefore not sanctioned to certify, license, or otherwise bestow the legal authorization to practice as a psychiatrist, nurse or nurse practitioner (NP), physician’s assistant (PA), psychologist, naturopathic doctor, nutritionist, physician, or other mental health professional.”
“Certification from the Fellowship trainings certifies a candidate’s completion of said Fellowship training ONLY.”
Verified 2026-08-30 That disclaimer is accurate, and it is the correct description of what the designation is. It sits beneath FAQ headings that read “Will I be certified in Functional Psychiatry upon completion of a Fellowship?” and “Why is certification in Functional Psychiatry important?”, so a reader can encounter the certification framing without reaching the disclaimer. A certificate of course completion is a reasonable thing to hold. It is a different thing from a board certification, and the vocabulary invites the two to be confused.
Directories are not credentials
Two of the practitioner directories that rank for integrative psychiatry searches are operated by the same companies that sell the training. Listing follows from completing a paid programme, so the directory records purchase of a course rather than an independent assessment of competence. Neither directory explains this to someone searching it for a clinician.
Can a nurse practitioner be an integrative psychiatrist?
A psychiatrist is a physician who completed medical school and psychiatry residency. A psychiatric nurse practitioner completed nursing training and prescribes within the scope their state permits. Both can practise in an integrative way, and neither can hold board certification in integrative psychiatry, because none exists.
Marketing for commercial integrative and functional psychiatry programmes is frequently aimed at nurse practitioners. The certificate that results carries the same standing regardless of the holder’s profession, which is to say the standing of a completed course.
How to check a clinician’s credentials yourself
Four checks, none of which require anyone’s cooperation, in the order worth doing them:
- State medical licence. Every state medical board publishes a free lookup showing licence status and any disciplinary action. This is the check that matters most and the one people skip.
- Board certification. ABPN publishes a public verification service for psychiatry certification. ABMS publishes one covering its member boards. A physician certified in psychiatry appears in both.
- Ask what the integrative credential is. The useful question is which organisation granted it, and whether that organisation is a licensing or certifying body. The answer is often written on the seller’s own website.
- Check the date. Certifications expire and boards close. A credential from an organisation that no longer certifies is a historical fact rather than a current standing.
The practitioner evaluation page covers the non-credential questions, including how a practice is paid.
References
- American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Taking a Subspecialty Exam. abpn.org Verified 2026-08-30.
- American Board of Physician Specialties. What Is the ABOIM? abpsus.org Verified 2026-08-30.
- American Board of Physician Specialties. ABOIM Eligibility Requirements. abpsus.org Verified 2026-08-30.
- Holistic Primary Care. For Integrative Doctors, a New Turn On the Road to Specialty Recognition. holisticprimarycare.net Verified 2026-08-30.
- Psychiatry Redefined. Integrative Psychiatry Certification. psychiatryredefined.org Verified 2026-08-30.