Treatment Model
What You Can Expect from Treatment
Our therapy-based treatments are typically short-term and are tailored to the patient’s individual needs.
Initial Evaluation
Treatment typically begins with an initial evaluation with your doctor over one or two visits. Once the evaluation is completed, the patient and provider will discuss treatment goals and a plan for achieving these goals.
The length of treatment varies but typically lasts from 8 to 16 weekly sessions. Providers in Behavioral Medicine regularly coordinate care with other Mass General providers involved in the patient’s care.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the primary treatments applied within the BMED Program. CBT focuses on helping the individual develop personal coping strategies with the goal of solving current problems and changing unhealthy patterns of thought, behavior, and emotion. While it was originally developed for the treatment of depression, CBT has proven highly effective for treatment of mental health conditions across many medical diagnoses.
The BMED Program has extensive experience in applying CBT to medical conditions such as HIV, diabetes (types 1 & 2), cancer, epilepsy, pain, and sleep problems. Our faculty also conduct clinical research aimed at developing new treatments and expanding our understanding of how to improve the way current treatments are applied.
A Collaborative Approach to Care
The BMED Program works closely with other medical departments within Mass General including (but not limited to):
Primary Care
Diabetes Center
Weight Center
Cancer Center
Infectious Diseases Division
Division of Gastroenterology
Sleep Medicine
Behavioral Medicine Clinical Goals
The BMED Program specializes in providing CBT-based interventions that are typically short-term, skills-based and tailored.
Short- and long-term goals for BMED could include:
- Further develop the identity and infrastructure of the BMED Program’s clinical services.
- Build upon the current collaborations with MGH medical practices.
- Build upon the existing diversity of our of clinicians as a core strategy to improve our cultural competencies working with minority clients (racial, ethnic, sexual, gender minorities and range of cultural and religious backgrounds)
- Increase the number of clinical collaborations with other medical services at MGH to meet the demand for Behavioral Medicine clinical care.
