By Dennis Miller, BHC Senior Writer

You may or may not have noticed yet, but there’s a profound paradigm shift going on in health care, and it may soon have dramatic effects on the practice of behavioral healthcare. That shift has its roots in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 1948 definition of health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” And although it’s been over 60 years since that declaration, only now do forces seem to be gathering steam to at long last complete the healthcare paradigm shift from a model that treats illnesses to one that promotes overall wellness – in body and mind.

Today on Behavioral Health Central, we bring you a new white paper from leading mental health researcher Ron Manderscheid, Ph.D. and associates on what’s driving this massive paradigm shift and the impact it’s having and is likely to have on behavioral healthcare. Dr. Manderscheid, Director of Mental Health and Substance Use Programs for SRA International and recently appointed Executive Director of the National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Directors, says the shift is happening now at the top policy-making levels of healthcare, and will soon be felt at the direct care level across America. “This article reports the initial stages of a massive paradigm shift in mental health from a focus on disease to a joint focus on health and disease,” he explains. “Currently, the paradigm shift is reverberating through national health reform and the Fortune 500 community. I expect that it will arrive in local communities and drug stores very soon.”

While the change has actually been underway in an incremental fashion over the past few decades — an evolution Dr. Manderscheid charts in the article — forces now in play appear ready to change its status from intriguing theory to the dominant healthcare paradigm. These forces include the healthcare reform bill now inching closer to passage on Capitol Hill, and the recognition within the healthcare sector itself that a more integrated care approach is long overdue. Behind the shift is the ever-increasing body of research conclusively proving the intrinsic connections between mental health and physical wellness. “A healthy outlook can reduce the intensity and duration of illnesses, creating the so-called mind-body interaction,” Dr. Manderscheid writes. “The reverse is also true. On average, public mental health clients (people served through state mental health care systems) die 25 years younger than other Americans. Other research shows that depression and its associated symptoms are major risk factors for the development of coronary heart disease and death after an initial myocardial infarction because of noncompliance in medical therapy and rehabilitation, adverse health behaviors, metabolic changes involving biomarkers linked to atherosclerosis and cardiac function, and factors associated with well-being.”

In the paper, Dr. Manderscheid and his associates argue that for health care reform to succeed, both on the federal policy level and in local care settings, it must adopt this more integrated view of mental and physical wellness and translate it into concrete changes to our overall care delivery model. “The major focus of health reform should be to promote wellness and well-being,” he writes. “Linked approaches can improve overall health, delay onset of chronic diseases, and enable personal success in family, community, and work.”

To read this important white paper from one of the nation’s leading advocates for better integrated healthcare, click here.

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