What does it mean for you to be healthy?

In casual conversation, with friends, family, and neighbors, the notion of health is often boiled down to a simple duality:

I’m feeling well or I’m ill.

I’m healthy or I’m sick.

Historically speaking, mental health, in particular, has long been addressed in this all or nothing fashion: either someone is “normal” or is “disordered,” and is swiftly categorized as such.

But this perspective is harmful.

In fact, this simplistic framing — one that silos “disordered” people from the rest of society — only complicates the challenges of health and healthcare themselves. It routinely sends “normal” people off to primary care…

…and “disordered” people off to therapy.

Over time, that duality has constructed a thick wall between two worlds: the worlds of the categorically well and the unwell.

And what does that mean for patients?

Too often it means that, if an abnormality is noticed during primary care, and a patient is sent to therapy…

…communication through the wall between those worlds becomes strained, irregular, or absent altogether. This is especially true when there isn’t much understanding of medical specialties by generalists.

In other such cases, the barrier wall is strengthened by a lack of specialists available to address a patient’s unique needs. And now, the generalist wonders, ‘Do I prescribe medicine while I wait?’

All of this uncertainty, this poor communication, continues to silo mind away from body — and, potentially, to further complicate an already challenging circumstance for the patient involved.

Thankfully, integrated care reconnects mind and body and dissolves these barriers.

Integrated care allows psychotherapists and psychiatrists to join forces in a primary care office. It provides primary care doctors with access to the tools and knowledge needed to treat mild disorders as they emerge.

In short, integrated care breaks down the silos and walls that separate patients from the treatment and communication that could genuinely and safely change their lives.

And that same philosophy lies at the core of Belong Health.

At Belong Health, integrated care helps us think of health itself as relative, existing on a spectrum, and naturally fluid. Something like this:

Not this: