Behavioral health

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Behavioral health was first used in the 1980's to name the combination of the fields mental health and substance abuse. As an example, an organization serving both mental health and substance abuse clients might refer to its practice as behavioral health or behavioral health care. The term is often simply abbreviated BH and is quite commonly used. A large national association of treatment providers, the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare (NCCBH), is one highly visible example. The term is somewhat controversial, however, since the word behavioral suggests a psychological cause and treatment for substance abuse (or substance dependence), rather than a medical or disease-model cause and treatment as some experts assert.