What is behavioral health?
Behavioral health generally refers to mental health and substance use disorders, life stressors and crises, and stress-related physical symptoms. Behavioral health care refers to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of those conditions.
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What experts are saying about behavioral health
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) one in five adults in the U.S. have a clinically significant mental health or substance use disorder. Furthermore, the prevalence and severity of mental health conditions among children and teens has increased sharply. Yet, many people fail to receive treatment due in part to the long-standing shortage of behavioral health providers.
A potential solution for closing this gap, particularly for those with the low- to moderate- conditions, is behavioral health integration, according
to a 2020 RAND study conducted in collaboration with the AMA.
What is behavioral health integration?
Behavioral health integration (BHI) is the result of primary care teams (or teams in other care settings) and behavioral clinicians working together with patients to provide patient-centered care using a systematic approach. Different approaches or models may be taken to integrate behavioral health into primary care (such as family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology) or other specialty care (such as cardiology or gastroenterology).
MENTAL HEALTH
What is mental health? Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also
helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices.