Gregory L. Fricchione, MD, of Harvard Medical School, says that primary care physicians and specialists alike can benefit from a heuristic equation that considers a patient’s stress and resilience levels. For example, if a patient has high stress and low resilience, a composite program like the one at the Benson-Henry Institute can produce promising outcomes.

Dr Fricchione further suggests that mind and body medicine offers particular benefits for improving the quality of life for patients with stress-related illnesses like metabolic syndrome. There is also a downstream reduction in costs.