# Multimorbidity: Addressing the Elephant in the Clinic Room

## TL;DR

This paper discusses multimorbidity, where patients have multiple health conditions, and explores how clinical health psychology can help manage it.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a model for addressing multimorbidity using clinical health psychology in a multidisciplinary pain clinic.

## Key findings

- Multimorbidity is a significant public health issue involving multiple concurrent conditions.
- Clinical health psychology can manage multimorbidity using the biopsychosocial model.
- A model is proposed using a multidisciplinary pain clinic to address multimorbidity in disadvantaged patients.

## Abstract

Multimorbidity is the conjoint presence of multiple conditions in patients, which is a public health problem. Multimorbidity is like the elephant in the clinic room because it remains the unaddressed challenge we face in healthcare. Clinical health psychology has a role to play in this undertaking because it recognizes the intersection and interface of concurrent mental and/or behavioral problems and physical diseases. The current article will define multimorbidity, describe current statistics, how it differs from comorbidity, how to use the biopsychosocial model, and ways in which clinical health psychologists can manage and prevent it in their clinics. A model of how to address multimorbidity will be shared using the role of a clinical health psychologist working in a multidisciplinary pain clinic in a hospital setting serving patients who are socioeconomically disadvantaged.