3% Of Patients Receive Stress Management Counseling From Primary Care Professionals

Only three percent of primary care patients report receiving stress management counseling from their primary care professionals; however, an estimated 60% – 80% of primary care visits have a stress-related component. Stress management counseling is the least common type of counseling offered by primary care physicians— after nutrition (16.8%), physical activity (12.3%), weight reduction (6.3%), and tobacco cessation (3.7%) counseling. Depression was the only condition associated with stress management counseling. The findings were reported in “When Physicians Counsel About Stress: Results of a National Study,” by Aditi Nerurkar, M.D., MPH; Asaf Bitton, M.D., MPH . . .