In this episode of the Intentional Clinician Podcast, Paul Krauss, MA, LPC interviews Robert C. Smith, MD, about his book "Has Medicine Lost Its Mind? Why Our Mental Health System Is Failing Us and What Should Be Done to Cure It," in which Dr. Smith argues that the U.S. mental health crisis stems from the way mainstream medicine (especially primary care doctors) are trained–where most are lacking the depth of education surrounding mental health. And further, that mainstream medicine is mainly organized around a rigid mind-body split that neglects the environmental, social, and emotional dimensions of health and illnesses. Drawing on both research and decades of clinical experience, Dr. Robert Smith explains that mental disorders are now the most common health condition physicians see, surpassing heart disease and cancer, yet roughly three‑quarters of people with mental illness receive no care or inadequate treatment. Paul Krauss and Robert Smith, MD discuss how primary care and other non‑psychiatric physicians now provide the majority of mental health care (over 70-75%), even though they typically receive only about 2-5% of their training in behavioral health and psychiatry, leading to misdiagnosis, one-size-fits-all interventions, under‑treatment, and an over-reliance on purely pharmaceutical and biomedical interventions that fail to treat the whole person, or emphasize prevention through activities that promote emotional health and well-being or even referrals to competent psychotherapists to compliment treatment.
Robert Smith, MD, MACP, is a general internist and University Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry Emeritus at Michigan State University, where he has focused since 1985 on teaching and research in patient‑centered communication and primary care mental health. He and his colleagues defined the patient‑centered interview in concrete behavioral terms, validated it in randomized controlled trials, and authored the widely used textbook "Smith's Patient‑Centered Interviewing: An Evidence‑Based Method," now in its fourth edition and translated into multiple languages. A Master of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Smith has been widely featured in national media for his work on improving the doctor-patient relationship, chronic pain care, and mental health treatment in medical settings, and he continues to write and lecture internationally on the biopsychosocial model of care.
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Paul Krauss MA LPC is a Cofounder of Health for Life Counseling Grand Rapids, home of The Trauma-Informed Counseling Center of Grand Rapids. Paul is also a Private Practice Psychotherapist, an Approved EMDRIA Consultant , host of the Intentional Clinician podcast, Behavioral Health Consultant, Clinical Trainer, Counseling Supervisor, and Meditation Teacher. Paul is now offering consulting for a few individuals and organizations. Paul is the creator of the National Violence Prevention Hotline as well as the Intentional Clinician Training Program for Counselors. Paul has been quoted in the Washington Post, NBC News, Wired Magazine, and Counseling Today. Questions? Call the office at 616-200-4433.
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Original Music:
”Alright” from the album Mystic by PAWL (Spotify)
”Rice Harvesting Day” from the album soft shakes by Go Kurosawa (Spotify)
