Our healthcare system maintains an artificial divide that continues to focus on individual diseases or other physiologic challenges in isolation, despite growing recognition of the mind-body connection. It’s all just health. Not mental or physical. It’s one person on the other side of care and support. But without seeing the whole person and the nuances of what makes each unique and requiring more personalized interventions, the consequences of this separation ripple through the entire healthcare experience across a person’s life:

• Fragmented care forcing people to navigate disconnected systems, creating frustration and mistrust
• Delayed diagnosis and treatment of underlying conditions, resulting in higher cost of care and sub-optimal outcomes
• A perpetuation of mental and behavioral health challenges that the two points above exacerbate

Healthcare that Treats People, Not Just Conditions

"Symptoms and conditions are not people. People are people, requiring them to be seen as the complex systems that they are," says Frank Chavez, Head of Corporate Strategy & Development at Otsuka Precision Health. This simple truth underscores the fundamental shift needed in how we conceptualize healthcare.

Take a person living with diabetes who may also have depression. Healthcare’s tendency to segment people by disease state ignores the reality that people experience multiple conditions and health events simultaneously. “If we’re not seeing the full picture, then we’re actually not solving the problem,” adds Frank.

There is a paradigm-shifting opportunity across all healthcare segments to change the conversation and stop treating people as collections of symptoms and start seeing them as whole human beings. The path forward requires acknowledging these principles:

• Dismantling the false mind-body divide: Mental health is a fundamental component of every health experience, with a bidirectional relationship between mental and physical health conditions. “At times people are cycling through the healthcare system with unresolved physical complaints, only to discover underlying mental health factors driving their symptoms,” shared Desiree Priestley, Chief Health Experience Officer at Otsuka Precision Health. “We were treating only part of the observable symptoms without addressing the root cause. True healing requires acknowledging the inseparable connection between mind and body."‍
• Connecting data to guide whole-person care: Looking at isolated conditions or symptoms creates unnecessary barriers, delays diagnosis, and contributes to poorer outcomes across the spectrum of care. “Better, more fully connected data used the right way leads to a better way for people to achieve better total health. It creates a more complete, personalized picture and holistic understanding of an individual's health across life,” said Frank. “This is the cornerstone to better integrate siloed approaches in all aspects of care delivery including mental and behavioral health.”‍
• Personalizing beyond one-size-fits-all: Standardized protocols and treatment pathways fail to account for individual needs, preferences, and circumstances. “Technology presents an opportunity to extend care beyond clinical settings, enabling the precision health long discussed in medicine while strengthening relationships between providers and the people they treat,” Sanket Shah, President at Otsuka Precision Health explains. "But our guiding principle must be that digital tools amplify human connection rather than replace it." This combination has the power to truly personalize the experience and meet people with what they need, when they need it most.

Reimagining Digital in Mental & Behavioral Health

The most promising path to mental and behavioral health integration lies at the intersection of human interaction and technological innovation.

"Data gives us visibility into patterns we could never see before—early warning signs, treatment effectiveness, and population-level trends," shares Frank. "That all enables a future where we have an opportunity to use data to personalize outreach and truly change the trajectory of somebody's health experience. And it’s no longer just talk.  We’re seeing the buds starting to take shape in different disease areas and in preventative medicine.”

Within the Otsuka Precision Health portfolio, Rejoyn® is a prescription digital therapeutic authorized by the FDA for the adjunctive treatment of Major Depressive Disorder Symptoms in adults age 22 and older who are on an antidepressant treatment. Rejoyn is not intended to be used as a standalone treatment. "It's been really exciting to see the impact that this treatment has had on people because we know that accessibility is a continuous challenge within the mental health space," said Desiree.

Continuing, she added: "Rejoyn marries high-tech and high-touch, allowing people to receive treatment in the palm of their hand and personalized outreach with nurses with a degree of personalization that, historically, hasn’t been possible with traditional treatment modalities. We're making sure that people understand how to onboard this treatment and ultimately stay on it so they can receive the full impact of the treatment as it's designed."

The evolution of recognizing the full potential of digital-in-health comes from creating truly connected health experiences. Frank shares, “We're really trying to use data to put together a connected health experience and where the underlying data can be trusted to ultimately predict changes in health, prevent disease, and manage well-being at all stages of life.”

The Path Forward: A Call to Action for Healthcare Leaders

"What gives me hope is the way people are proactively seeking out education and evidence-backed solutions," explained Sanket. "They aren’t shying away from the new and want a more complete understanding of how to better maintain their health for the long run. The expectation for more integrated care that considers their mental and physical well-being is the crux of it all. The consumer voice and all of us serving people’s health in totality will drive that a shift as we look ahead in how health is received, managed, and delivered."

It’s time to rally others around this cause.

Three Imperatives for Healthcare Leaders

1. Break down structural barriers: Reform payment models that perpetuate the mind-body divide. Value-based care arrangements create financial incentives for integration, yet defining “value” is critical to ensure alignment.  
2. Leverage technology as a bridge, not a replacement: Digital solutions should enhance human connection, not substitute for it. Technology should serve as the "digital glue" that connects in-person care with real-world experiences. This all places digital where it belongs as “digital-in-health,” not just “digital health.”
3. Embed mental & behavioral health expertise throughout the system: Rather than isolating mental health as a specialty service, integrate behavioral health competencies across the care continuum. This approach recognizes that mental and behavioral health factors are intrinsic to every aspect of a person’s health journey regardless of age or wellness state.

The integration of mental health into whole-person care represents a transformational opportunity to improve healthcare outcomes, experiences, and sustainability. It's time to move beyond fragmentation toward a system that truly addresses people in all their complexity—one that heals rather than merely treats.

To learn more, visit Otsuka Precision Health’s website.