Behavioral Medicine Clinic
Expert support for patients coping with complex health conditions.
At the Behavioral Medicine Clinic (BMED), we’re here to support your whole health—not just your medical condition. We understand that living with a chronic or complex health condition can affect many areas of your life. Our team helps you cope, adjust, and build healthier habits so you can feel more in control of your care.
We provide care for patients facing transplant surgery, GI/Metabolic and bariatric surgery, Psycho-oncology at Hollings Cancer Center, cardiovascular diseases, pulmonary diseases, and chronic pain. While we primarily serve adults, we also provide select services for children and teens when needed.
Services we provide
The Division of Bio-behavioral medicine provides empirically-based individual and group psychological interventions along with medication management to patients with a variety of medical conditions. We offer individual and group therapy to facilitate improvement of mood and well-being secondary to physical illness, improvements in health behaviors, and reduction of physical symptom experience while improving quality of life. Therapy session typically last 30-60 minutes and patients are seen anywhere from weekly to monthly depending on individual needs. Some patients benefit from working with our psychiatry team for concurrent medication management. We work with patients both in-person and via telemedicine (video).
Tertiary care clinics and most commonly seen medical conditions by our Division are listed below:
Divisions: Cardiology, Hepatology, Nephrology, Pulmonary and Critical Care
Conduct pre-surgical psychosocial evaluations for heart, liver, lung, kidney, & living donor (kidney and liver) candidates
Newly developed expedited transplant evaluation options for acutely ill transplant candidates- namely acute alcohol hepatitis related liver failure
Provide evidence-based individual and group therapeutic services for patients both pre- and post-transplant including psychotherapies and pharmacotherapies
Group therapy options include:
- Transplant and Staying Sober: Liver transplant recipients with history of alcohol or other substance use disorder
- Transplant Therapy Group (2/monthly): Open to any transplant candidate or recipient across organ groups.
Treatment focuses on adjustment to chronic health conditions, health behavior change and adherence behaviors, management of co-morbid psychiatric conditions
Behavioral medicine representation on all 4 weekly solid organ transplant selection committees along with select attendance at various operational. Watchlist, and quality control monthly meetings
- Conduct pre-surgical psychosocial evaluations for adolescent and adult patients seeking metabolic and bariatric surgeries (MBS)
- Provide evidence-based therapeutic services for patients both pre- and post-MBS including psychotherapies and pharmacotherapies
- Treatment focuses on treating co-occurring psychiatric conditions, successful adjustment to MBS, optimizing adherence and health behavior change
- Integrated behavioral medicine clinic focused on brief, solution-focused interventions at follow-up clinic
- Provide pre-surgical evaluations for patients being considered for neurostimulation (including spinal cord stimulators), intrathecal pain pumps, and other spinal surgeries.
- Provide pain psychology consultation services for providers in Interventional Pain Management
- Provide Comprehensive Pain Management Program for select patient group within GI surgery including opioid management
- Opioid medication evaluation, monitoring and outpatient detoxification
- Behavioral and psychological approaches to pain management
- Provide evidence-based behavioral and psychological services experiencing chronic pain due to wide range of etiologies including fibromyalgia, orthopedic pain, complex regional pain syndrome, pancreatitis, headache, etc.
- Resilience and Reconditioning (R&R) Program at MUSC, a 2-hour weekly outpatient group that incorporates Physical Therapy and Pain Psychology to provide the most up-to-date strategies to help manage chronic pain for the long term.
- Integrated behavioral medicine screening and intervention services within the pediatric and adult sickle cell disease programs
- Outpatient therapeutic services, including psychological intervention and pharmacotherapies, for adult and pediatric patients with sickle cell disease
- Coordination of psychiatric medication management, as needed
Provide co-located and integrated psychotherapeutic and pharmacotherapies at Hollings Cancer Center
- Provide evidence-based therapeutic services for patients diagnosed with cancer and their families. Referrals come from all disease sites.
Conduct pre-procedure evaluations for patients being considered for bone marrow transplant (BMT)
- Participation in an integrated post-BMT clinic to provide ongoing psychological support
Maintain the Distress Screening program for Hollings Cancer Center, necessary for accreditation
Leads monthly breast cancer support group
Inpatient behavioral medicine services for pre- and post-BMT patients and Malignant Hematology patients
- Integrated behavioral medicine services within the MUSC Cystic Fibrosis Center for adult and pediatric patients
- Integrated behavioral medicine services within the MUSC nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) Program
- Outpatient therapeutic services including psychological intervention and pharmacotherapies for patients with a wide range of pulmonary and advanced lung diseases
Outpatient therapeutic services including psychotherapies and pharmacotherapies for patients with a wide range of cardiovascular conditions, including adult congenital heart disease, arrhythmias and implantable cardioverter defibrillators, patients with mechanical cardiac support
- Specialized consultation and a range of treatment options for patients experiencing gastroenterological (GI) conditions ranging from ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease to functional GI conditions such as IBS.
- Treatment options include brief consultation follow-ups, individual therapy focused on managing comorbid GI conditions and stress, and group therapy focused on psychoeducation and intervention strategies and supports, and ongoing long-term support and management.
