Behavioral medicine

Behavioral medicine is an interdisciplinary field combining both medicine and psychology and is concerned with the integration of knowledge in the biological, behavioral, psychological, and social sciences relevant to health and illness. These sciences include epidemiology, anthropology, sociology, psychology, physiology, pharmacology, nutrition, neuroanatomy, endocrinology, and immunology. The term is often used interchangeably, but incorrectly, with health psychology.. The practice of behavioral medicine encompasses health psychology, but also includes applied psychophysiological therapies such as biofeedback, hypnosis, and bio-behavioral therapy of physical disorders, aspects of occupational therapy, rehabilitation medicine, and physiatry, as well as preventive medicine. In contrast, health psychology represents a stronger emphasis specifically on psychology's role in both behavioral medicine and behavioral health.

Behavioral medicine is especially relevant in the United States, where many of the health problems are primarily viewed as behavioral in nature, as opposed to medical. For example, smoking, leading a sedentary lifestyle, and alcohol abuse or other substance abuse are all factors in the leading causes of death in the United States. Practitioners of behavioral medicine include appropriately qualified nurses, social workers, psychologists, and physicians (including medical students and residents), and these professionals often act as behavioral change agents, even in their medical roles.

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