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Sanja Toljan
Episode · #219

PSIHOLOGIJA USPJEHA Sanja Toljan

Guest Sanja ToljanHosted by Tanja PuretaMay 3, 2026
About this episode
What you'll hear in this conversation

Dr. Sanja Toljan began her medical career as an anesthesiologist, a fast-paced role focused on protecting patients from acute stress during surgery. Today, she applies that same protective philosophy to a different challenge: chronic stress, which she argues is fundamentally a hormonal imbalance. As the owner and director of Poliklinika Orlando and an author of three books on hormones, Dr. Toljan bridges traditional medical practice with a holistic understanding of the body. Her perspective suggests that 'when you say 'I'm stressed,' it's like saying 'I have a hormonal disorder',' urging us to reconsider the root causes of modern ailments. This conversation explores how medicine can evolve to treat the whole person, not just symptoms, and what that means for both patients and practitioners.

Insights from the conversation
What to take from this episode
01
Dr. Sanja Toljan spent years as an anesthesiologist, a role she describes as a 'guardian angel' for patients enduring acute stress during surgery. This deep understanding of protecting the entire body from extreme physiological challenge is precisely what she now applies to chronic stress, seeing it as an extension of the same protective care. The acute and the chronic are two sides of the same coin when you focus on the body's integrated systems.
02
"When you say 'I'm stressed,' it's like saying 'I have a hormonal disorder'," Dr. Toljan argues. This reframes stress not as a purely psychological state, but as a direct hormonal imbalance that affects overall well-being. A mental state is always a physical state, and the body will tell you first.
03
The field of Psychoneuroendocrinoimmunology (PNEI) connects the brain, hormones, and immunity as an inseparable trilogy. This scientific understanding of the body's integrated systems is not yet standard in medical practice, but it offers a proven pathway to understanding and addressing modern ailments where conventional medicine often falls short. The next frontier of medicine isn't a new drug; it's connecting the dots we already have.
04
Dr. Toljan is co-leading a project with academician Vida Demarin to create a PNEI textbook for general practitioners, aiming to teach young doctors how to apply this holistic approach. This initiative addresses patients who are 'wrongly adapted to the wrong time,' offering solutions beyond classic medication. The goal isn't just to treat symptoms, but to re-educate the system itself.
05
A recent survey by the Croatian Medical Chamber revealed that two-thirds of Croatian doctors are in burnout. Dr. Toljan suggests that the corporate approach to medicine has alienated both doctors and patients, and that practicing a more holistic, PNEI-based medicine could help doctors reconnect with their original purpose and find greater satisfaction in their work. When the system fails its healers, it's time to question the system's definition of healing.
06
Dr. Toljan describes her medical approach as "how to make a person happy, how to make them healthy, not how to medicalize them." This shifts the focus from merely managing illness to actively fostering health and overall well-being. The ultimate purpose of medicine isn't to diagnose; it's to empower.
07
Hormonal imbalance is widespread, not because we live easy lives, but because we are "born to fight, to adapt to life, to make something of our lives." Dr. Toljan sees the beauty of this medicine in teaching patients how to 'educate' their hormones to work well. Your body isn't breaking; it's adapting, and you can learn to guide that adaptation.
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