Mental Health Professionals in Medical Settings: A Primer

JoEllen Patterson, C.J. Peek, Richard L. Heinrich, Richard J. Bischoff, and Joseph Scherger

Praise for Mental Health Professionals in Medical Settings:

“The authors, trained in health psychology, psychiatry, family medicine, and marriage and family therapy, build a persuasive case for their holistic, biopsychosocial approach to the traditionally fragmented fields of primary care and mental health care.”
—Family Therapy

Reviews:

“The authors, trained in health psychology, psychiatry, family medicine, and marriage and family therapy, build a persuasive case for their holistic, biopsychosocial approach to the traditionally fragmented fields of primary care and mental health care.” —Family Therapy

 

Overview – Table of Contents

ONE OF THE MOST significant events in the history of health care is the development of separate and parallel systems for mental health and medical care. Patients, however, want health care that is better coordinated, more personalized, more accessible, more timely, and less cumbersome to receive. These patient-wants reinforce what we know about patient needs for better integrated care and more collaborative health care, as shown by the following data:

• 50% of mental health care is delivered by primary care physicians.
• 67% of all psychopharmacological drugs are prescribed by primary care physicians.
• 50-70% of all primary care visits are for psychosocial concerns.

This book illustrates the importance of taking an integrated approach to health care and outlines the skills that a mental health professional needs for working in a medical setting. The authors, trained in health psychology, psychiatry, family medicine, and marriage and family therapy, build a persuasive case for their holistic, biopsychosocial approach to the traditionally fragmented fields of primary care and mental health care.

This is a primer for mental health professionals working in a medical setting. Part I discusses health care settings. Chapters 1 and 2 describe the specific cultures of primary care, specialty care, and mental health care, and Chapter 3 discusses ways to balance the clinical, operational, and financial perspectives of health care. Part II provides information on how to build collaborative medical care, including getting started (Chapter 4), expanding the therapist's identity and role in medical clinics (Chapter 5), working within the medical system's organizational framework (Chapter 6), working with the common problems that patients present in primary care (Chapter 7), and ways to promote healthy behavior change (Chapter 8). The book concludes by highlighting some of the opportunities that exist for therapists who want to be part of this important shift in how health care is provided.

Both students and practicing mental health practitioners will find a well-researched, practical model for comprehensive, well-coordinated, and quality care that all patients deserve.

Advance Acclaim for Mental Health Professionals in Medical Settings:

'The authors of Mental Health Professionals in Medical Settings have put together a thoughtful treatise on how to pratically establish mental health care in medical settings. In this work they have systematically applied their experience and research from a wide variety of mental health and medical disciplines..the authors have added a valuable text to the growing literature on the integration of mental health care into medical settings. For the mental health provider who wants to begin developing these relationships, this text will be a worthwhile primer."
     --David F. Gitlin, M.D., Director of Medical Psychiatry at Brigham and Women's/Faulkner Hospital, Boston.

'Students, experienced clinicians or teachers interested in understanding the role of a mental health professional in a medical setting will find this book invaluable. The authors combine many decades of experience as clinicians, teachers and creative thinkers to produce this excellent synthesis. In a concise, well-written and organized format they capture the evolution that we psychotherapists undergo in learning to work as members of interdisciplinary teams in new professional cultures. Their description of treatment approaches for mental health problems and behavioral change issues provides practical guidance to help the newcomer feel grounded in helping patients and colleagues. The authors have done a superb job. I wish this book were here for me when I entered this field.'
      - Larry Mauksch, M.Ed.
Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine, University of Washington
Co-Chair, Collaborative Family HealthCare Association

'This book is a must-read for every mental health professional who wants to participate in the delivery of health care. It demystifies the medical setting, and clarifies how we can join with other health professionals to mend the mind-body split. Too often, mental health care contributes to the fragmentation of the health care system. This book tells us the how-to's of how to collaborate and contribute to an integrated practice. It provides tools for mental health professionals to learn to think biopsychosocially and practice collaboratively. This is one of the few books, and perhaps the only text, that includes cost/effectiveness and financial accountability as one of the factors in good clinical care. Cost and reimbursement is often the elephant in the room-unacknowledged but driving the process. Giving clinicians skills to understand and attend to financial issues alone is worth the price of the book!'
      - Susan H. McDaniel, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychiatry (Psychology) and Family Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center
Director, Wynne Center for Family Research

'Mental Health Professionals in Medical Settings: A Primer is a sensible, coherent, and savvy resource designed to meet the needs of mental health professionals new to medical settings. The authors are nationally recognized leaders in their respective fields and share their hard-won insights with clarity and compassion: no scapegoating, just wisdom. This text will be a benchmark in the collaborative care movement that will be referenced by mental health professionals as well as medical providers exploring the boundaries of what must some day become common territory for all of us. This sensible text provides one more guidepost on the road toward integrated health services.'
      - Macaran A. Baird, M.D., M.S.
Professor of Family Medicine, Mayo School of Medicine
Medical Director, Mayo Management Services

About the Authors

JoEllen Patterson, Ph.D., is a faculty member in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at the University of San Diego and the Director of Behavioral Sciences for the Sharp Health Care Family Medicine Residency. In addition, she is collaborating with the Department of Family Medicine at the University of California at San Diego on the integration of mental health interns and family medicine residents at the UCSD family medicine clinics.
C.J. Peek, Ph.D., L.P., is a psychologist who consults in the areas of health care collaboration, communication, clinical communication, and interprofessional relationships. Formerly of the HealthPartners Medical Group and Clinics in Minneapolis, MN, Dr. Peek founded and helped lead its primary care/mental health integration projects from their start in the mid-eighties through 2001.
Richard L. Heinrich, M.D., is Medical Director of Hospice of the Lakes, and Assistant Medical Director of the Division of Behavioral Health at the HealthPartners Medical Group and Clinics in Minneapolis, MN, where he practices geropsychiatry. With Dr. Peek, he has co-led HealthPartners' primary care/mental health integration projects since 1991.
Richard J. Bischoff, Ph.D., is Director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Joseph Scherger, M.D., M.P.H., is a family physician with a long history of collaboration with mental health providers, both in training and practice. He is currently Dean of the College of Medicine at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

ISBN: 0-393-70338-X
June, 2002
Hardcover, 240 pages