Behavioral Medicine and Related Disciplines

Excerpt

Dekker et al. provide an update of the definition and scope of behavioral medicine [1], as it has been outlined in the Charter of the International Society of Behavioral Medicine more than 25 years ago. It is remarkable how well the current definition stood the test of time; it was adopted by the more than 20 member societies of ISBM and has prompted numerous research and implementation efforts in the field of behavioral medicine. The authors (previous, current, and upcoming president of ISBM) elaborate on the various components of the definition and come up with a slightly changed, updated version that will certainly hold for another 25 years. I believe that the updated definition has the potential to inform how we deal with various challenges that the field of behavioral medicine will face in the future, specifically (1) how behavioral medicine finds its own niche within various scientific fields, (2) how multiple disciplines may work together to achieve one common goal (i.e., to better the lives of those who are somatically ill and to help to maintain a healthy life of those who are not ill), (3) how the basic principles of mind-body integration are addressed in a time of advancing biological knowledge, and (4) how behavioral medicine findings are being implemented into clinical care. For the sake of space, I would like to briefly address the first of these challenges, since the latter three challenges would each deserve their own treatise. In my commentary, I posit that behavioral medicine may serve as an umbrella term, encompassing a variety of fields that are closely related, much as our society encompasses many societies that are covering slightly different but related fields. …