Volume 8, Issue 7 e70954
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Open Access

Psychosocial Interventions Impact on Cardiometabolic, Neurobiological, Behavioral, and Immune Outcomes in People With a Serious Mental Illness: A Systematic Review

Julia C. Hill

Corresponding Author

Julia C. Hill

Department of Community and Family Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

Correspondence: Julia C. Hill ([email protected]; [email protected])

Contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, ​Investigation, Methodology, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing

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Crystal Noller

Crystal Noller

Department of Community and Family Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

Contribution: Writing - review & editing

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Paul Holtzheimer

Paul Holtzheimer

Department of Community and Family Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

Contribution: Writing - review & editing

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Krista Disano

Krista Disano

Department of Neurology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

Contribution: Writing - review & editing

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Ella Klinsky

Ella Klinsky

Department of Community and Family Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

Contribution: Methodology, Project administration

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Mona Pudasaini

Mona Pudasaini

Department of Community and Family Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

Contribution: Methodology, Project administration

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Hannah Crowe-Cumella

Hannah Crowe-Cumella

Department of Community and Family Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

Contribution: Formal analysis, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review & editing

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Karen L. Fortuna

Karen L. Fortuna

Department of Community and Family Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA

Collaborative Design for Recovery and Health, Nashua, New Hampshire, USA

Contribution: Project administration, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing

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First published: 21 July 2025

ABSTRACT

Background and Aims

Five and a half percent of the population of the United States has a serious mental illness (SMI). Mind-body outcomes represent a direct and operationalizable measurement associated with accelerated aging. These findings may suggest that psychosocial interventions represent the first-ever strategy to increase the lifespan of people with SMI; however, the literature is limited.

Methods

The patient/population, intervention, comparison, and outcomes (PICO) criteria were used to assess study eligibility in partnership with a master's-level librarian. Studies focused on (1) the general population, which later became a population with SMI, (2) psychosocial intervention vs. no psychosocial intervention, and (3) cardiometabolic, neurobiological, behavioral, and immune outcomes. We searched the following databases from 1946 to January 2024: Medline, PsycINFO, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Scopus, and PubMed. Thirty-two RCTs fit the criteria. The Methodological Quality Rating Scale assessed the methodological quality of the included studies. Studies assessed four outcome categories: (1) neurobiological, (2) behavioral, (3) immune, and (4) cardiometabolic.

Results

Immune outcomes were the least recorded but significantly differed between the psychosocial intervention treatment group and controls. Behavioral and neurobiological outcomes significantly differed between the treatment group and controls. Cardiometabolic outcomes were the most studied, with inconsistencies in significant vs. nonsignificant differences between intervention and control.

Conclusion

Evidence is growing that psychosocial interventions can improve the lives of people with SMI and potentially reduce accelerated aging. We suggest that psychosocial intervention randomized control trials with mind-body outcomes may represent a viable strategy for reducing disease burden and improving human health. Additional research is needed to examine the correlation between psychosocial interventions and the effects on mind-body outcomes of accelerated aging and SMI. The present systematic review extends this study by identifying the outcomes associated with accelerated aging significantly modified by psychosocial intervention.

Summary

  • Immune outcomes were the least recorded among the studies, but significant differences were shown between the psychosocial intervention treatment group and controls.

  • Cardiometabolic outcomes were the most recorded among studies and demonstrated significant and nonsignificant differences between intervention and control groups, even when the intervention type was kept constant across studies.

  • Behavioral and neurobiological outcomes demonstrated significant differences between intervention and control.

  • Numerous studies supported the hypothesis that psychosocial interventions can impact various mind-body outcomes and reflect the mind-body connection. Therefore, more studies are needed to examine the effect of these interventions on health-related outcomes and their relation to accelerated aging.

Conflicts of Interest

Karen L. Fortuna has a conflicts of interest with Emissary Health. Paul Holtzhiemer receives royalties from Oxford University Press and UpToDate. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its Supporting Information.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.