Biopsychosocial Programs

Our group in biopsychosocial (BPS) medicine has been operating since 1985 here in the highly supportive atmosphere of Michigan State University. We are interested in developing new BPS teaching and treatment approaches – and in providing research support for them. Our particular focus has been on patient-centered interviewing, personal awareness of the learner, and the primary care diagnosis and management of mental health problems, often in the form of medically unexplained symptoms. We have developed unique, evidence-based models in these areas. In this website, we provide links to the supporting publications as well as to many of the curricula, teaching aids, and research tools we have developed.

Dr. Robert Smith has created another website dedicated to those who would like to more about their (and their family's) mental healthcare.

Dr. Smith and his group have been invited by one of the leading medical publishers, McGraw-Hill, to write two textbooks. The first book below published in its 4th edition, August 2018, and the second one published in May 2019 is ACP endorsed.

                 Patient-Centered Interviewing                  Essentials of Psychiatry in Primary Care:
                   An Evidence-Based Method                         Behavioral Health in Medical Setting