Finally, diabetes remains highly prevalent in the United States and worldwide, and depression is now a widely recognized comorbidity of diabetes. Many behavioral specialists are not trained to address the complexities of diabetes management experienced by patients who also have mental health comorbidities. To this end, the American Diabetes Association and the American Psychological Association established a partnership to build the ADA-APA Mental Health Provider Diabetes Education Program to prepare mental health providers with the knowledge and tools and treat diabetes-related psychosocial factors. Let us join them in supporting this important step toward developing diabetes-mental health collaborative health care delivery models.
Dr. Golden is the Hugh P. McCormick Family Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism and executive vice-chair of the department of medicine at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.
References
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2. Shojania KG et al. JAMA. 2006;296(4):427-40.
3. Katon WJ et al. N Eng J Med. 2010;363(27):2611-20.