Review of Handbook of cognitive-behavioural approaches in primary care.

Abstract

Handbook of Cognitive-Behavioural Approaches in Primary Care, by Robert A. DiTomasso, Barbara A. Golden, & Harry J. Morris (Eds.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company, 2011, 753 pages (ISBN 978-082610383-3, US $95.00 Hardcover) Reviewed by JEAN GRENIER DOI: 10.1037/O.0027784 Primary health care reform has been a major point of interest from various perspectives (clinical, healtii care, health policies, etc.) in many countries over the past 12 years. One of the premises of primary health care reforms across the world is the recognition that physical and mental healtii problems are more often than not intertwined and interact in complex and sometimes unknown ways. Left ignored, or addressed in silos, this complex mind- body connection or interaction often leads to physical and mental health problems that increasingly need to be addressed bodi from a physical as well as a mental health perspective. For this reason, there has been rising awareness that primary care physicians can benefit from collaborating with other health professionals such as psychologists, psychotherapists, mental health counsellors, and behavioural educators, and share the burden of healtii problems seen in primary care. Interprofessional collaboration and clinical best practices are two other major points of interest in primary care reforms. Interprofessional collaboration has been generally shown to improve some clinical outcomes and increase satisfaction with care for both patients and providers. It is hoped that the longer term impact of such collaboration amongst various health professionals with different expertise and scopes of practice will include not only better healtii outcomes for patients but also reduce costs to the healdi care system and society as a whole. As for best practices, one aim of reform is to increase population access to empirically supported treatments in primary care. This being said, early career as well as seasoned clinicians and scholars are not always sure as to how all of these knowledge bases get transferred and articulated efficiently in day-to-day practice. The Handbook of Cognitive-Behavioural Approaches in Primary Care takes these theoretical concepts, empirically supported knowledge bases, experiences in clinical healdi psychology and behavioural medicine, and the realities of primary care medical settings, and uses the solid judgment and accumulated wisdom of various author-contributors to help readers understand just how all of those elements can be efficiently integrated and articulated not only in day-to-day practice, but as part of a healdi practitioner's practice philosophy and professional identity. This volume is impressively comprehensive and covers a broad spectrum of theory, research, and practice issues related to the growing awareness of the mind-body connection in primary care. Its broad micro-to-macro spectrum spans from the individual patient level all the way up to professional and health care systems level, and up again to the level of societal access to empirically supported interventions in primary care and primary mental health care. As a psychologist and clinician-investigator, I teach and conduct research in a university-affiliated hospital and also provide psychological services in a Family Health Team in primary care. I wish to underline to potential readers that this book is very well written and comprehensive enough to stand on its own as an invaluable volume to health care practitioners who wish to develop a combination of broad as well as in-depth understanding of all of the pertinent issues related to the integration of medical and mental healdi care services and, more specifically, how empirically supported cognitive-behavioural approaches can be applied and tailored to a variety of presenting problems in the primary care setting. …