Physical and Mental Health Interactions: An Integral Approach to a Bidirectional Relationship

Dear Colleagues,

The relationship between physical and mental health is complex and inextricably linked. Uncovering the potential pathways that provide evidence for bidirectional causality and understanding the common risk factors that shape individual vulnerability and/or resilience could increase recognition of the importance of integrated care.

As healthcare providers, we have treated people with long-term physical conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who are frequently diagnosed with comorbid common mental disorders, like anxiety and depression. The need for constant symptom management and the lifestyle adjustments required can lead to psychological stress and reduced quality of life. On the other hand, mental health issues affect the ability to participate in healthy behaviors, resulting in problems with physical health and likely influencing treatment and recovery. This is more obvious in people with severe mental disorders who, partly due to physical ill health, have higher rates of morbidity and premature mortality compared with the general population.

Behavioral medicine implemented in consultation-liaison psychiatry combines knowledge and skills from biological, behavioral, psychological, and social sciences for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of medical conditions through behavioral change and psychological factors management. Health psychology, via the biopsychosocial approach, focuses on how biological, psychological, and social factors influence health and disease, integrating knowledge from different disciplines to realize how people remain healthy, why they become ill, and how they respond, cope, and recover from the disease.

This Special Issue explores the diverse aspects of physical and mental health interactions, identifying how physical health conditions affect mental well-being and vice versa, and highlights the importance of an integrated approach to address these interactions for improved overall health outcomes.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to gather research articles, reviews, and/or meta-analyses on psychological problems in patients with physical health conditions and physical illness in patients with mental disorders, including other studies related to health psychology, behavioral medicine, and consultation-liaison psychiatry.

Dr. Athanassios Tselebis
Dr. Argyro Pachi
Dr. Ioannis Ilias
Guest Editors

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• mental health
• physical health
• psychiatric disorders
• physical illness
• physical and mental health comorbidity
• behavioral medicine
• psychological well-being
• health behaviors
• health psychology
• consultation-liaison psychiatry