What is a Doctor of Behavioral Health, and why are they important?

If you’ve ever worked with me even a little bit, you know that I am very passionate about the brain-body connection and practice from the biopsychosocial model which brings together all aspects of our lives (our physical health, our thoughts and feelings, and our social connections). Recently I decided to take my passion even further and have started my journey back into education which will end with a Doctorate in Behavioral Health. When I was first considering going back to school, I looked into a number of different programs; what drew me to the DBH degree was that it is the only degree that truly focuses on bringing together medical and mental health care. Maybe you’re wondering why this is important, considering many people have a primary care doctor managing their physical health and a therapist seeing to their mental health; after all, they’re still getting all of their health needs met. But are they actually? Because of the limitations of our current healthcare system, even the best, most educated, and most well meaning providers (both medical and mental health) are generally not able to address both aspects of mental and medical health. This fragmented care is frustrating for patients at best, and is harmful at worst. This article from NAMI briefly explains what integrated care is and all the benefits of it: https://www.nami.org/medical/why-we-need-mental-health-care-integration/

The reasons for the breakdown in whole health care is partly due to lack of education, as most therapist training programs have little to no instruction in medications and physical health conditions, and most prescriber training programs have little to no instruction in mental health. Additionally, collaboration between health care providers is often difficult due to factors like geography/location, timing, and inability to access medical records. And then, insurance limits the time providers are able to spend with patients so they don’t get to address the whole person even if they are trained in both mental and physical health. While I feel confident that my therapist training and my years of experience already provide me with a solid foundation for treating patients, a therapist with a Doctor of Behavioral Health is also equipped with the knowledge of the complex interplay between physical and mental health as well as the ability to understand the nuances of the healthcare system. All of this results in patients who feel better able to understand their health (all of it!) and therefore more confident in advocating for themselves when needed.