title: Behavioral medicine: toward a comprehensive psychosomatic approach.
abstract: Behavioral medicine is the practice of a comprehensive approach to the patient. It integrates the biological, personal, and environmental-social dimensions in evaluation and treatment. An operational method of implementing this practice is the Patient Evaluation Grid (PEG), in which three dimensions of the patient (biological, personal, environmental) are intersected by three time contexts (current, recent, background) to form a nine-square grid. An examination of information contained in the PEG and their interaction results in a three-dimensional diagnosis and a three-dimensional management plan. The psychiatrist is the only professional with formal training in all the areas of the PEG to interpret, integrate, and prioritize the information that leads to diagnoses and treatment plans. In this role of the psychiatrist as integrator/co-ordinator of evaluation and treatment, he/she must collaborate with other professionals to provide the best available care for the patient.
mesh_terms: D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D001676:Biofeedback, Psychology; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D012931:Social Environment