{"id":120259,"date":"2025-07-31T10:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T15:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/?p=120259"},"modified":"2025-08-04T10:40:42","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T15:40:42","slug":"melding-mental-health-with-medicine-illinoiscom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/from-the-magazine\/melding-mental-health-with-medicine-illinoiscom\/","title":{"rendered":"Melding Mental Health With Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"

All human beings eventually learn that life\u2019s challenges\u2014whether the loss of a loved one, job instability, or the end of a meaningful relationship\u2014take an undeniable toll on mental well-being. But the effects don\u2019t stop there. Research shows a strong connection between psychological distress and physical health, particularly cardiovascular disease. A 2024 study out of Boston\u2019s Massachusetts General Hospital, for example, found that depression and anxiety increase the risk for a major cardiovascular event, such as a heart attack or stroke, by about 35%. A 2023 study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University likewise concluded that people who self-report feeling depressed or having poor mental health days have higher rates of heart attacks, strokes, and risk factors for heart disease compared to their peers who lack mental health issues.<\/p>\n

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The same mind-body connection that researchers have discovered in the heart can manifest in myriad ways across the entire anatomy, according to board-certified emergency medicine physician John Lucas, DO, founding dean and chief academic officer of the Illinois College of Osteopathic Medicine (IllinoisCOM) at The Chicago School. When it welcomes its first class of students, IllinoisCOM will therefore make mental health a major focus of its culture and curriculum, Dr. Lucas says. Not in spite of being a medical school, but because of it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMore than 50% of people who seek mental health care for the first time do so with their primary care doctor, yet a lot of primary care doctors have inadequate preparation in the behavioral healthcare arena,\u201d Dr. Lucas observes. A 2021 study published in the Journal of Primary Care & Community Health states that, in fact, the percentage of patients seeking mental health care who receive it from their PCP is close to 60%. \u201cWhat I want for everybody who graduates from our medical school, regardless of what specialty they go into, is to have a greater awareness of the profound interconnectedness of their patients\u2019 mental health care with their physical outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

To improve outcomes not only for patients who need mental health care, but also for the communities in which they reside\u2014where a lack of mental health care can manifest in the form of public health concerns like unemployment, poverty, substance abuse, homelessness, family dysfunction, and crime, just to name a few\u2014the nation desperately needs to deepen its bench of mental health care providers, echoes Monica Kinde, Ph.D., senior associate dean of preclinical affairs at the IllinoisCOM.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatients these days have to be very self-directed when it comes to seeking healthcare, including mental health care. And very frequently, the primary person\u2014and sometimes the only person\u2014a patient will touch is their primary care provider,\u201d Dr. Kinde says. \u201cFor that reason, it\u2019s really important that we train more primary care providers who are ready and willing to talk about mental health, to intercept patients who have mental and behavioral health challenges, and to effectively refer those patients to the appropriate providers and manage treatment in the primary care setting when necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A Country in Crisis<\/h2>\n

Mental health care is more important today than it\u2019s ever been. Just consider the following facts:<\/p>\n