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Physical and Mental Health Interactions: An Integral Approach to a...
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Physical and Mental Health Interactions: An Integral Approach to a Bidirectional Relationship

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 1580

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Athanassios Tselebis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Psychiatric Department, Sotiria Thoracic Diseases Hospital of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
Interests: clinical psychology; primary mental health care; community psychology; health psychology; psychometrics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Argyro Pachi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Psychiatric Department, “Sotiria” Thoracic Diseases Hospital of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
Interests: psychiatry; primary mental health care; psychopharmacology; consultation-liaison psychiatry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ioannis Ilias

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Endocrinology, Hippocration General Hospital of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
Interests: circadian rhythms; stress; adrenals; thyroid; cortisol; diabetes; metabolism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The relationship between physical and mental health is complex and inextricably linked. Uncovering the potential pathways that provide evidence for bidirectional causality and understanding the common risk factors that shape individual vulnerability and/or resilience could increase recognition of the importance of integrated care.

As healthcare providers, we have treated people with long-term physical conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who are frequently diagnosed with comorbid common mental disorders, like anxiety and depression. The need for constant symptom management and the lifestyle adjustments required can lead to psychological stress and reduced quality of life. On the other hand, mental health issues affect the ability to participate in healthy behaviors, resulting in problems with physical health and likely influencing treatment and recovery. This is more obvious in people with severe mental disorders who, partly due to physical ill health, have higher rates of morbidity and premature mortality compared with the general population.

Behavioral medicine implemented in consultation-liaison psychiatry combines knowledge and skills from biological, behavioral, psychological, and social sciences for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of medical conditions through behavioral change and psychological factors management. Health psychology, via the biopsychosocial approach, focuses on how biological, psychological, and social factors influence health and disease, integrating knowledge from different disciplines to realize how people remain healthy, why they become ill, and how they respond, cope, and recover from the disease.

This Special Issue explores the diverse aspects of physical and mental health interactions, identifying how physical health conditions affect mental well-being and vice versa, and highlights the importance of an integrated approach to address these interactions for improved overall health outcomes.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to gather research articles, reviews, and/or meta-analyses on psychological problems in patients with physical health conditions and physical illness in patients with mental disorders, including other studies related to health psychology, behavioral medicine, and consultation-liaison psychiatry.

Dr. Athanassios Tselebis
Dr. Argyro Pachi
Dr. Ioannis Ilias
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • mental health
  • physical health
  • psychiatric disorders
  • physical illness
  • physical and mental health comorbidity
  • behavioral medicine
  • psychological well-being
  • health behaviors
  • health psychology
  • consultation-liaison psychiatry

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 945 KiB  
Article
Mediating Role of Negative Affectivity in the Association Between Lifetime Trauma and Gastrointestinal Symptoms
by Boukje Y. S. Nass, Pauline Dibbets and C. Rob Markus
Healthcare 2025, 13(7), 755; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13070755 - 28 Mar 2025
Viewed by 317
Abstract
Background/Objectives: It is increasingly recognized that traumatic life experiences render individuals more vulnerable to gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and chronic bowel conditions like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In this study, we examined whether this effect is mediated by negative [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: It is increasingly recognized that traumatic life experiences render individuals more vulnerable to gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and chronic bowel conditions like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In this study, we examined whether this effect is mediated by negative affectivity. Methods: A total of 281 participants recruited in the Netherlands, including 94 with IBD, 95 with IBS and 92 controls, were assessed for lifetime trauma, trait anxiety, depression, and GI (IBD/IBS) disease activity. Results: The results confirmed that negative affectivity fully mediated the association between trauma and GI symptomatology, with trauma and depression explaining 38–40% (IBD|IBS) of the variance in disease activity and trauma and anxiety explaining 31–33% (IBD|IBS) of the variance in disease activity. Upon correction for condition (patient/controls), the predictive capacity increased even further, with trauma and depression now accounting for 43–44% (IBD|IBS) and trauma and anxiety for 40% (IBD and IBS) of the GI symptom heterogeneity. Conclusions: The results are in line with studies linking trauma to negative affectivity and negative affectivity to a more aggressive GI disease course. More generally, they show that the somatic and affective consequences of trauma should not be considered in isolation but must be treated as a covariant whole. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physical and Mental Health Interactions: An Integral Approach to a Bidirectional Relationship)
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Review

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29 pages, 1007 KiB  
Review
Bidirectional Relationship Between Nutrition and Mental Health and Its Impact on the Health of Canadian Immigrants: An Integrative Review
by Naika Dubois and Isabelle Giroux
Healthcare 2025, 13(8), 850; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13080850 - 8 Apr 2025
Viewed by 442
Abstract
Background: Immigration is a key factor contributing to population growth in Canada, a trend that is expected to continue. Immigrants generally arrive with better health than the Canadian-born population, but this advantage often diminishes over time, partially due to dietary acculturation. Emerging [...] Read more.
Background: Immigration is a key factor contributing to population growth in Canada, a trend that is expected to continue. Immigrants generally arrive with better health than the Canadian-born population, but this advantage often diminishes over time, partially due to dietary acculturation. Emerging evidence points to a bidirectional link between nutrition and mental health. Objective: To explore the bidirectional relationship between nutrition and mental health and its impact on the health of Canadian immigrants, with a specific focus on immigrants’ mental health and the healthy immigrant effect. Methods: For this integrative review, two comprehensive literature searches were conducted in the databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science from inception to July 2024. The review adhered to Whittemore and Knafl’s integrative methodology, with the Mixed Methods Assessment Tool used to assess the quality of the studies. Results: A total of 42 and 34 scientific articles were included from the first and second literature searches, respectively. Four main themes emerged from the literature: (1) food insecurity and mental health, (2) obesity and mental health, (3) diet quality and mental health, and (4) the gut microbiome and mental health. These themes were explored in the context of Canadian immigrants’ health. Conclusions: The health of immigrants to Canada is likely shaped by complex, bidirectional interactions among various determinants of health, influencing both physical and mental well-being. As newcomers are expected to form an increasing proportion of the Canadian population, further research is needed to understand how the interaction between nutrition and mental health can help promote and safeguard the health of Canadian immigrants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physical and Mental Health Interactions: An Integral Approach to a Bidirectional Relationship)
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