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PsyCare Combines Mental and Physical Treatment
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A clinic that serves patients from across the Mahoning and Ohio valleys is making strides in combining treatment for the physiological and behavioral components associated with chronic illness, an approach that practitioners say has long been neglected in modern medicine.
“Historically, the mental health community and the medical community didn’t talk to each other a whole lot in terms of coordinated care,” says Dr. Douglas Darnall, CEO of PsyCare Inc., a behavioral health clinic with nine locations. “It became a very expensive, ineffective way of treating people.”
To fill this void, PsyCare has opened its first family practice office in Calcutta that treats both the physical and emotional needs of patients, Darnall reports. “Everybody has recognized for years that when you’re dealing with chronic physical problems, there very often is a mental health component,” he observes.
Diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease and many other afflictions carry with them serious mental stressors that impact entire families, Darnall says. “It affects the whole family, whether it’s a heart attack, stroke or Type II diabetes.”
Providing patients and their families with counseling services helps to assemble a strong support network that is beneficial for everyone, he continues.
Calcutta Family Care was established by PsyCare to address these issues at a single location, says Sara Pease, a family nurse practitioner and director of the Calcutta office.
“About 70% of our chronic illness patients have some underlying depression,” Pease reports. “When you have a chronic illness, you have to live differently than everybody else does. It sets you apart, and in time it starts to wear on you.”
The Calcutta office provides services for patients ranging from pediatric medicine to geriatrics. “We’re doing preventive care, sick visits, walk-in visits, vaccines for children, and on-site physicals,” Pease says.
Patients can also be referred to PsyCare’s behavior health professionals if necessary, Pease says. “We take care of the whole person.”
PsyCare’s efforts to develop this comprehensive approach to health care coincide with state and federal initiatives that also recognize the relationship between mental and physical illness, says Jill McFarland, Health Home director for PsyCare.
Health Home is a Medicaid-funded program designed to provide services to those patients who have serious mental issues as well as chronic physical problems, McFarland says.
“It’s unique for the state of Ohio in that it’s moving from traditional case management,” she says. “We’ll be able to assist individuals with their visits with medical professionals and they’ll be able to receive psychiatric and mental health services from other clinicians.”
The goal is to bring both mental and physical well being to the Medicaid-eligible population, McFarland says. “We’re implementing this into our existing structure. It’s a very comprehensive approach.”
Behavioral problems often impede the ability for patients to adhere to a medical regimen, causing difficulties in managing their medical needs, says Jennifer Lamanna, a health psychologist at PsyCare.
“I do everything typically that a psychologist does in evaluating mood, anxieties, stressors, and taking into account the health of the family,” she says. “It’s designed for individuals with chronic medical problems.”
One of the most common roadblocks to maintaining good physical health is the lack of adherence to medical regimens, Lamanna says. “We help patients to work with stressors that interfere with their ability to manage their medical problems successfully,” she says.
Relaxation strategies and therapies to manage chronic pain, anxiety management and intervention to help patients sleep and rest are some of the practices used to treat behavioral patterns that can inhibit good health, Lamanna says. “If they have problems taking their medication, we’re helping them to work through that.”
It’s critical that practitioners take the time to understand their patients and refrain from lecturing about the choices they make in life, Pease adds.
“The key is to find out what they value,” she says. “Then, home in on that, and that’s how you get them to change. You have to find out that they feel is important and make that a priority.”
Obesity is a major problem among the Mahoning Valley’s population, Darnall notes.
“There are a lot of lifestyle issues that affect mental and physical health,” and these are more prevalent among lower-income families. “Ohio and other states are really trying to focus on at-risk patients,” he says.
Ultimately, treating both the mental and physical elements of a problem stands to reduce health-care costs over the long term, and programs such as Health Home are likely to enhance the prospects of a healthier population, he continues.
“In a lot of ways, this is common sense,” Darnall says, noting that results from similar programs in California appear promising. “My big hope is that the government stays with the program long enough to find out if there are long-term benefits.”
Editor's Note: First published in the November edition of The Business Journal.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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