Comparison of Integrated Behavioral Health Treatment for Internalizing Psychiatric Disorders in Patients With and Without Type 2 Diabetes

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes is often comorbid with internalizing mental health disorders and associated with greater psychiatric treatment resistance. Integrating psychotherapy into primary care can help treat internalizing disorders generally. We explored whether such treatment had comparable effectiveness in patients with and without Type 2 diabetes. Method: Participants were 468 consecutive adults (23% male; 62% Hispanic, M-age = 41.46 years) referred by medical staff for psychotherapy appointments to address internalizing symptoms (e.g., depression). After each visit, patients completed a self-report measure and clinicians assessed patient symptom severity. These data and demographics extracted from electronic medical records were analyzed using descriptive and multilevel modeling analyses. Results: Patients with and without diabetes were similar in types of internalizing disorders experienced and baseline clinician-and self-reported symptomology. Multilevel modeling suggested improvements in self-reported symptomology was comparable across patient groups; however, only patients without diabetes significantly improved according to clinician reports. Discussion: Although findings suggested integrated psychotherapy resulted in comparable patient-reported reductions of internalizing symptoms, these effects were not evident in clinician reports of diabetic patients. Possible reasons for this discrepancy (e.g., reporting biases) are discussed. Integrated psychotherapy for internalizing disorders may be effective for Type 2 diabetic patients, though caution is warranted.