Lifestyle Psychiatry
Through the Lens of Behavioral Medicine
Lifestyle Medicine Series

Lifestyle medicine is a practice which adopts evidence-based lifestyle interventions as a primary modality to prevent, treat, and reverse chronic diseases. The six main pillars of this specialty include physical activity, nutrition, stress resilience, cessation or risk reduction of substance use, quality sleep, and connectivity. Lifestyle Psychiatry: Through the Lens of Behavioral Medicine is grounded in the same pillars, drawing upon theories, methods, and empirical findings from health psychology and behavioral medicine.

Lifestyle psychiatry is a rapidly emerging area within healthcare informed by rigorous research within the social and biological sciences, public health, and medicine. A volume in the Lifestyle Medicine series, this book uses a comprehensive biopsychosocial approach to prevent and treat psychiatric disorders and promote mental and physical well-being through evidence-based lifestyle interventions.

Features:

• Draws upon theories, methods, and empirical findings from health psychology and behavioral medicine
• Provides evidence-based research on the bi-directionality of mental and physical health
• Addresses fundamental neuroscience concepts and applies them to practical aspects of lifestyle practices, mental health, and brain health

Appropriate for clinicians, primary care physicians, and those practicing in specialized areas, the information in this book provides users with practical tools to help explain, prevent, and treat psychiatric disorders and associated maladaptive health behaviors in patients.

Table of Contents

Lifestyle Psychiatry: Through the Lens of Behavioral Medicine

Part I. Theoretical frameworks

1. Introduction

2. Transdiagnostic processes

3. Socioeconomic determinants of health

4. Personality and Emotional Adjustment in Health Risk and Resilience

5. Trauma Considerations

6. Emotion regulation approaches

7. Cognitive and behavioral approaches

8. Positive psychology approaches

9. Burnout: Risk Factors and Associations

Part II: Biopsychosocial processes; Basic Concepts and Disease Implications

10. Neurobiology

11. Neuroendocrine and Immune Pathways

12. Health Neuroscience

13. Mental health and cellular aging through the lifespan

14. Alzheimer’s Disease & Related Dementias

15. Biopsychosocial perspective on sleep

16. Exercise for mental health

Part III. Risk and protective lifestyle factors for mental health and psychological well-being

17. Sleep-related disorders

18. Physical activity

19. Nutrition in Lifestyle Psychiatry

20. Stress, diet, & metabolic processes

21. Social Connections in Health and Well-Being

22. Substance Use Approaches

23. Brain Health

Part IV. Physical and Mental Health Conditions

24. Cardiovascular Disease

25. Cardiometabolic Disease

26. Cancer Prevention and Management

27. Depressive and Anxiety related conditions

28. Bipolar Disorders

29. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

30. Eating disorders

31. Psychotic Disorders

Part V: Specific Populations

32. Pediatric Mental and Physical Health

33. Healthy Aging: A Lifestyle Approach to Cognitive Health

34. Women’s Mental and Physical Health

35. Physical and Mental Health at Work

36. The Health of Sexually-Diverse and Gender-Diverse Populations

37. Historically Marginalized Ethnic and Racial Communities

Gia Merlo is a clinical professor of nursing and Senior Advisor on Wellness, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and a fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. Merlo recently published a textbook Lifestyle Nursing (Taylor & Francis/CRC Press, August 2022) that expands Lifestyle Medicine (an evidence-based approach in preventing, treating, and oftentimes, reversing chronic diseases) to Nursing. Her first book, Principles of Medical Professionalism (Oxford University Press, 2021), stresses the importance of physician wellness, the need to address the social determinants of health, as well as the need to address chronic diseases with prevention. Merlo is the Associate Editor of the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. She is a contributing author of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) curriculum Lifestyle Medicine 101 and of the board review course, Foundations to Lifestyle Medicine. Merlo's current book projects include Medical Professionalism: Theory, Education, and Practice (Oxford University Press, expected 2023), and Lifestyle Psychiatry: Through the Lens of Behavioral Medicine (Taylor & Francis/CRC Press, expected 2023). Merlo is a part of the Psychiatry Faculty Group Practice at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and sees patients at NYULangone Health Psychiatry, 1 Park Avenue, New York, NY. She completed her Master of Education in Health Professions at Johns Hopkins University School of Education in August 2022 and is currently an Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins helping students in the program complete their capstone projects. Merlo has served on the board of directors of many nonprofits over the years and is currently on the board of directors of Plant-Powered Metro of New York (PPMNY) and the advisory board of the Global Positive Health Institute (GPHI). She is chair of the Mental and Behavioral Health Member Interest Group