[NYAPRS Enews] National Trend To Integrate Physical And MH Gaining Momentum

[Matt Canuteson]

Clinics, Doctors Increasingly Treating Mind And Body Together; Trend Is Evident In Austin, Georgetown And Other Parts Of The Nation

By Mary Ann Roser American-Statesman September 09, 2008 

About two years ago, Patricia Darden's doctor noticed that her health problems were changing her emotions, she told hundreds of people at a statewide conference Monday in Austin. She had become withdrawn. Dr. Richard Peavey suspected depression. 

But instead of sending Darden somewhere new for treatment, Peavey referred her to a colleague down the hall at People's Community Clinic in Austin. Megan Zesati, a social worker who directs the clinic's Integrated Behavioral Health Program, began treatment for depression. 

"It made it real comfortable for me ... not being passed along like a bag of chips," Darden, 53, told the doctors, therapists and others gathered for the conference, "Integrated Health: Connecting Body and Mind," which continues today at the Hyatt Regency Austin. 

When Darden didn't feel like leaving the house, Zesati counseled her over the phone. 

Providing coordinated mental and physical health services to patients is a growing trend in American medicine, said Laurie Alexander, project leader of the Integrated Health Care Initiative at the University of Texas' Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, which is sponsoring the conference. It is being done in the private sector as well as in some public health settings, where low-income patients get depression screenings along with a blood pressure check, Alexander said. 

There is a compelling reason to link the mind and body, said Dr. Benjamin Druss, the Rosalynn Carter chairman in mental health at Emory University. People with major mental illnesses die 25 to 30 years younger than the general population, Druss said. "This is really a public health crisis." 

About half of depressed adults don't get treatment, said Dr. Jürgen Unützer, a professor and vice chairman of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington. 

There are barriers to integrating mental health services with regular medical care, according to a Hogg Foundation report released at the conference. Providers don't always get paid for providing services, there are not enough workers to provide the care, and doctors don't always have enough time to collaborate, the report said. 

Since the People's Community Clinic started its program two years ago - with money from the St. David's Community Health Foundation and the Hogg Foundation - 71 percent of patients in the program have seen their symptoms of depression or anxiety reduced by at least half within 10 weeks, the clinic's Web site says. 

"I feel we are meeting people where they need to be met," Zesati said. 

Six of the 14 community health clinics overseen by the Travis County Healthcare District provide behavioral health services through a program that has been evolving over the past six years, said David Vliet, CEO of the community health centers. Within the past two years, two psychiatrists were added to the clinic system to provide consultation and therapy to patients, Vliet said. "We were ahead of the curve" nationally, he said. 

Of 2,335 depressed patients who received mental health services, 59.3 percent significantly improved, according to data provided by Vliet's office. That exceeds the national goal of 50 percent, his office said. 

In Georgetown, the Lone Star Circle of Care has a psychiatrist on staff, Dr. Lucius Ripley, who said he sometimes goes in the treatment room with the primary care doctor so they can agree on medications for the patient and so Ripley can assist in spotting mood and anxiety disorders. 

Thirty-seven scientific studies have shown that integrated health programs work by reducing depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders, Unützer said. Such programs also save costs in the long run, the Hogg Foundation reported, because people who are mentally healthy tend to have better physical health. 

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/09/09/0909healthtrend.html

 

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