Behavioral Medicine Intervention With Depressed Patients in a Community Health Center Setting

The application of behavioral medicine programs in community health settings is important to explore, as that application empowers the patient to apply self-care modalities that can be utilized in the long-term, for depression as well as for many other stress-related illnesses. Behavioral and Mind/Body techniques, such as the Relaxation Response, have been reported to be useful therapeutically (often as an adjunct to medical treatment) in numerous conditions that are caused or exacerbated by stress including: mild to moderate depression/anxiety; anxiety; headache; back/neck pain; myocardial ischemia; premature ventricular contractions in stable ischemic heart disease or hypertension; osteoarthritis; stress symptoms; improved outcomes after cardiac and other surgery; pain relief and anxiety reduction in femoral arteriography and other invasive medical procedures; premenstrual syndrome; infertility; psychosomatic complaints; chronic pain; insomnia; musculoskeletal disorders; wound healing; rheumatoid arthritis; fibromyalgia and disease and treatment related symptoms of cancer. In our recent review of the literature, we suggest that the Relaxation Response may be an appropriate and relevant therapeutic state to counteract several stress-related disease processes.