Cardiovascular disease in patient-centered medical homes: The trident approach

Abstract

“Depression’s Toll on the Heart” And “Psychologists in Medical Schools,” Were featured articles on the covers of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) popular Monitor and American Psychologist publications, respectively, in Spring of 2014. The role behavioral and psychological factors play in the development of medical disorders, such as coronary problems, and subsequently the role psychologists and other behavioral health professionals can have in the treatment of these conditions is gaining increased interest. Moreover, this topic reaches far beyond just the medical and psychological fields, it has become mainstream, and its presence can be felt on social media. During the writing of this chapter, even groups on Facebook were sharing an article regarding research on the relationship between behavioral factors and chronic conditions. Speaking to the number of deaths related to chronic diseases, the authors discussed how reducing six risk factors could prevent 37 million deaths in the USA (Kontis et al. 2014). The six risk factors include tobacco use, harmful alcohol use, high salt intake, high blood pressure (HBP), high blood sugar, and obesity. Reducing these would prevent millions of deaths from cardiovascular diseases (CVD), chronic respiratory disease, cancers, and diabetes