Where we should be: Introduction to the special section on psychotherapy integration in behavioral medicine (part I)

This is Part 1 of a special section on psychotherapy integration and behavioral medicine. The latter discipline- encompassing virtually all the psychosocial issues relevant to mainstream medicine (health behaviors, living with chronic illness, etc.)- has ascended to prominence in relation to theory and research, and clinical innovation and evidence-based practice alike, in recent decades. Accordingly, mainstream medicine is becoming a major avenue through which the behavioral sciences, and psychotherapy, are making an impact. Articles in this section address this circumstance from an integrative therapeutic approach, including end-stage renal disease (ESRD) during adolescence, functionally somatic disorders, medical issues in anorexia nervosa, substance use disorders, and the personification of chronic illness.