Authors
Runyan, ChristineUMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Family Medicine and Community HealthCenter for Integrated Primary Care
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2018-06-01Keywords
Behavioral MedicineHealth Psychology
Health Services Administration
Integrative Medicine
Mental and Social Health
Primary Care
Psychiatry and Psychology
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst recently published an article entitled "It's Time to Treat Physical and Mental Health With Equal Intent" (Compton-Phillips and Mohta, 2018). The article describes a survey of the NEJM Catalyst Insights Council, a qualified group (n=565) of U.S. executives, clinical leaders, and clinicians who are directly involved in health care delivery. Ninety nine percent of council members responded that mental health should not only be integrated into ambulatory medical care settings but also embrace a "shared concept of mutual responsibility" (p. 11). As a long-time clinician, educator, and advocate for integrated care, Runyan was so pleased to see this dogmatic statement in a New England Journal of Medicine publication. Labeling disease as either physical or emotional has never served the individual well and may further exacerbate existing stigma and reluctance to seek the most appropriate services. Runyan argues it is time to use intentional language to avoid deconstructing physical and mental health in our discourse or be complicit when others dichotomize measurement and funding. Runyan challenges leaders and aspiring leaders in the field of integrated care to use language and advocate for measures that blur, if not dissolve, this unhelpful and artificial dichotomy.Source
Fam Syst Health. 2018 Jun;36(2):261-262. doi: 10.1037/fsh0000364. Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1037/fsh0000364Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/26799PubMed ID
29902046Related Resources
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1037/fsh0000364