Director National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
In the United States, diseases are often treated in isolation, after they arise. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is shifting away from our current predominant focus on individual diseases to take a more holistic, integrated perspective where health involves the whole person, and is the product of multiple interconnected factors spanning biological, behavioral, social, and environmental domains. Whole person health also emphasizes the bi-directional health-disease continuum, as well as positive health processes such as health restoration and resilience that involve the whole person. In this presentation, I will discuss how placing mental in the context of the whole person can address some of the disconnects that patients can experience in our health care system that often addresses “co-occurring conditions” one at a time, and focus on disease rather than health. I will also emphasize the need to deepen our scientific understanding of the interconnections across domains of human health and build the evidence base for a comprehensive, personalized intervention strategy that can impact overall, long-term health.
Learning Objectives:
After participating in this session, attendees should be able to understand health, including mental health, as an integrated whole with a trajectory along a bi-directional continuum.
.jpg "Helene M. Langevin, MD (she/her/hers) photo")
