Treating psychological problems in medical settings: Primary care as the de facto mental health system and the role of hypnosis

Psychological comorbidity with medical illness is associated with poor health status, complicated medical management, and increased utilization and greater costs of medical services. Hypnosis practitioners in specialty psychological or psychiatric treatment settings infrequently treat such patients, since there is a greater likelihood of patients' psychological problems being treated solely in primary medical care. Referring patients from primary care to the mental health system will most likely not result in patients initiating psychological or hypnotic treatment. At the same time, integrated provision of medical and psychological treatment in the medical office has demonstrated much higher rates of initiation of treatment and improved medical outcomes. Although hypnosis has been found to be an empirically effective treatment for many medical problems, when hypnosis practitioners do not practice in these medical sites then patients do not have access to effective hypnotic interventions for cotreatment of medical problems.