Behavioral Medicine
Behavioral medicine and health psychology take into consideration the chronic and complex factors that result in and sustain the behaviors that are limiting your health. For example, a simple intervention for many cardiovascular issues is to quit smoking. Making the goal is the easy part, but it is a very difficult and complex goal to achieve. At Dr. Psyche Health, we will design a complex treatment plan to help you target your health risk factors and encourage a variety of behavioral changes, such as quitting smoking, lowering alcohol consumption, reducing intake of fatty foods and overall caloric intake, increasing regular physical activity and improving medication adherence.
Behavioral change is hard. People tend to continue on their current path with very few major changes. Bad habits are hard to break, even though we really want to.
The medical field traditionally focuses on direct solutions to presenting problems, usually through medication or surgery. However, if you have not found a way to break the chronic cycle that got you to the point of needing medical treatment in the first place, the cycle continues. Imagining having a broken arm, but your only treatment is painkillers. This may help in the moment, but does not fix the root problem.
Recognizing the limitations and risks of invasive medical procedures, Behavioral Medicine has become more popular as both an alternative treatment and effective add-on component to medical treatment. Many chronic medical problems that our society faces today have behavioral origins, so a comprehensive treatment plan should include behavioral remedies.
Behavioral change is also hard from the perspective of community. You may find that sometimes your motivation to change and hard work can be restrained by the people around you and the general message you receive from society. Hard feelings and resistance emerge from these experiences, and therapy - a space with no blame, no judgement, and only encouragement, understanding and hope - can help you cope with these barriers to meaningful change. However, therapy does not mean that you are the only responsible agent for change. We will discuss ways to engage your immediate social environment and discover your empowerment.