ABSTRACT
In attempts to address some of the challenges of the fragmentation between the mind and the body, efforts throughout healthcare's history have aimed to better align clinical, operational, and financial structures to support whole-person health care. This chapter explores history and describes new and exciting ways the mental health world has slowly converged with the medical world, with a special emphasis on the integration of mental health with primary care. It discusses the development of primary care and what role this setting has played throughout history in taking care of people. The chapter discusses the four seminal moments that highlight the shift toward primary care as a critical function for addressing all facets of health, including mental health, within the larger medical enterprise. As challenging as it is to navigate the multiple logistics of trying to integrate behavioral health in primary care, overcoming different cultures of care and training backgrounds is not the most formidable barrier.
