Primary Care Psychology

Abstract

The interface between professional psychology and primary care medicine has begun to burgeon. This specialty area has challenged psychologists to rethink their roles, functions, and modalities of professional practice. Primary care psychology, as a model for integrating psychology and medicine, is at the forefront of the health care reform movement, rooted in the interest to deliver more efficient and effective health care. As specialty areas, in light of patient needs, primary care medicine and primary care psychology are interdependent and intertwined. The primary care medicine model is distinctively characterized as being a patient-centered approach. Primary care physicians (PCPs) confront problems on a daily basis for which 8 of the top 10 leading gauges of health are essentially behavioral in nature. Moreover, mental health problems are highly prevalent in primary care. The missing link has been the lack of primary care psychology to attend to these ongoing challenges and to shore up the breadth of services provided by the PCP. This chapter provides a historical overview of primary care medicine and psychology and reviews critical tasks confronting psychologists in attempting to meet this important challenge. Five common behavioral health problems and five medical problems seen in primary care settings are reviewed with a focus on clinical manifestation and prevalence, assessment and diagnostic issues, potential treatments, and points of collaboration between primary care psychologists and PCPs. Future directions are also addressed. Keywords: primary care psychology; interprofessional collaboration; integrated health care; biopsychosocial model