Behavioral Medicine Programs
Ibemed has also developed multiple behavioral medicine programs that treat the psychosocial factors adversely affecting patient health. Programs are designed to meet the unique needs of the patient population treated by each healthcare system. Programs utilize efficient group-focused and evidence-based modules that are effective for the patient population treated.
Diabetes Program
Diabetes is a disease that affects over 25 million people in the U.S. More than double that number have prediabetes. Diabetes is also interconnected with depression, with 28% of diabetic patients having depression. Ibemed's diabetes program is focused on improving the quality of life of patients with diabetes through a focus on living a healthy lifestyle. Decreasing stress, eating healthy, and exercise are the foundations of diabetes care and are the central components of this program. Through a focus on positively changing thoughts and behaviors, patients learn to improve their diabetes control and their overall physical and emotional health.
Heart Health Program
One in three people in the United States has high blood pressure and high LDL cholesterol, the most common causes of cardiovascular disease. Fortunately, there is a lot that patients can do to improve their heart health. Many of the main risk factors in heart disease are things that patients are in control of. These risk factors include psychological stress, poor nutrition, and lack of exercise. Living a healthy lifestyle is the best way to combat these risk factors. Living a healthy lifestyle includes decreasing stress, improving nutrition, and increasing exercise. The heart health program is designed to increase healthy living while combating heart disease risk factors.
Chronic Pain Program
Chronic pain encompasses the physical sensation of pain combined with suffering. As pain becomes chronic: stress, negative thoughts, negative emotions, and unhealthy behaviors become interconnected with the pain experience. As a result, chronic pain can take control of a patient's life and make it much worse. Ibemed's chronic pain program shifts the patient's central focus away from the pain, toward the patient's life. Through a focus on the lifestyle factors that patients are in control of, patients learn to decrease stress, improve nutrition, and increase exercise as they improve their health and quality of life.
Fibromyalgia Program
Fibromyalgia is a form of chronic widespread pain and tenderness that affects around 2% of the population in the U.S. More than one third of individuals with fibromyalgia have anxiety and/or depression. Fibromyalgia is a disease that is not well understood. It is different from the acute (short term) pain that most people are used to dealing with. As a result, patients with fibromyalgia may feel misunderstood, adding to the suffering they already experience. Fortunately, there is a lot that patients can do to improve their fibromyalgia and their lives. Through a focus on living a healthy lifestyle by decreasing stress, improving nutrition, and increasing exercise, patients can begin taking steps toward an improved quality of life.
Grand (Seniors) Program
Ibemed's grand program is designed to improve the quality of life of seniors. The goal of this program is to decrease the negative lifestyle factors that speed up the aging process. Even though aging is a natural process that happens to everyone who is fortunate, there are many lifestyle factors that make individuals age faster. These lifestyle factors include increased stress, eating unhealthy, and a lack of exercise. Additionally, one of the stressors worked on in this program is the completion of an advance directive. Through a focus on decreasing stress, healthy eating, and increasing exercise, seniors learn to live healthier more satisfying lives.
Preparation for Surgery Program
The preparation for surgery program is designed to decrease patient stress before, during, and after surgery. Decreasing stress helps patients heal faster after surgery and it improves how patients feel both physically and emotionally. This program teaches patients to decrease their stress through cognitive, educational, and biofeedback strategies.
Wellness Program
Ibemed's wellness program focuses on preventing disease by increasing the positive lifestyle factors that are central to maintaining and improving health. These lifestyle factors include decreasing stress, improving nutrition, and increasing exercise. By focusing on these factors, patients can improve their body's natural defenses against disease.
Depression Program
Depression is a disorder that affects one in ten people and it is currently the leading cause of disability in the United States. Multiple factors including life events, genes, and the different systems of the body (nervous, immune, endocrine) all interact in the development and maintenance of depression. The Ibemed depression program uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to decrease the negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that can dominate a depressed individual’s life. Improving thoughts, emotions, and behaviors leads to less stress and improved mood. CBT, in combination with increased exercise and improved nutrition, provides a powerful way to confront and combat both the external (life) and internal (body) causes of depression.
Smoking Cessation Program
Smoking is the largest preventable cause of disease and death in the world. Smoking is responsible for one in five deaths in the United States and smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than non-smokers. Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, and lung disease. Smoking also increases the risk of many other diseases. However, for smokers, smoking comes with its benefits. Smoking can help smokers decrease stress and relax. Through Ibemed’s smoking cessation program, smokers learn to decrease their stress without smoking. They also learn to work through the thought process connected to their smoking. These strategies, combined with exercise and nutrition help smokers successfully quit smoking and live a healthier lifestyle.