Full Course Description

The Impact of Trauma on Mental and Physical Health through the Lens of the Polyvagal Theory: Predictable Consequences of a Dysregulated Nervous System

The talk will focus on how an understanding of polyvagal theory can help clinicians treat clients with trauma. The theory, by providing a comprehensive framework for understanding the physiological and psychological aspects of trauma responses, has been impactful in understanding and treating trauma. By recognizing the role of the autonomic nervous system in defense and sociality, clinicians can tailor interventions to regulate arousal levels, promote safety, and foster social engagement. By understanding the polyvagal theory, clinicians gain insights into the neurophysiological mechanisms behind trauma symptoms, such as hypervigilance, dissociation, and social engagement difficulties. The theory highlights the optimistic perspective of developing interventions that target the specific neurophysiological pathways involved in feeling safe and restoring autonomic regulation.

Program Information

Objectives

Describe the primary principles and features of the Polyvagal Theory.
Describe how autonomic regulation is linked to mental health, behavioral problems, learning processes, and sociality.
Explain how a neural process, neuroception, evaluates risk in the environment and triggers adaptive neural circuits to promote either social interactions or defensive behaviors.
Identify deficits in the regulation of the Social Engagement System that are observable as core features of several behavioral and psychiatric disorders.

Outline

Polyvagal Theory

Theoretical basis for a neuroscience of safety
Safety promotes spontaneous social engagement behaviors and health, growth, and restoration

Principles

Autonomic state functions as an intervening variable
Three neural circuits form a phylogenetically ordered response hierarchy that regulate autonomic state adaptation to safe, dangerous, and life-threatening environments
In response to a challenge, the ANS shifts to states regulated by circuits that evolved earlier consistent with the Jacksonian principle of dissolution [30], a guiding principle in neurology
Ventral migration of cardioinhibitory neurons leads to an integrated brainstem circuit (ventral vagal complex) that enables the coordination of suck-swallow-breath-vocalize, a circuit that forms the neurophysiological substrate for an integrated social engagement system
Neuroception: Reflexive detection of risk triggers adaptive autonomic state to optimize survival

Application

What does this mean in practice?
Applying in trauma care

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Marriage and Family Therapists
Nurses
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 11/02/2023

Brains of Fire: Current State of Mental Health and Integrative Treatments for Anxiety and Depression

Dr. Ackerley will discuss why our current approaches to depression and anxiety are failing our patients. She will present how environmental stressors and biotoxins can trigger neuroinflammation and produce the symptoms found in depression and anxiety and other neuropsychiatric illnesses. She provides alternate approaches for treatment and guidance for implementing these approaches into the care you provide.

Program Information

Objectives

Discuss the current approach for diagnosing and treating depression and anxiety.
Describe the role of neuroinflammation in depression and anxiety.
Analyze the impact of biotoxins on neuropsychiatric illness.
Explain alternative management approaches for depression and anxiety.

Outline

Current Status – Depression/Anxiety

Oversimplified Diagnosis – what we know
SSRI Usage
Covid Impact

Role of Neuroinflammation

Causes of Chronic Inflammation
CIRS vs Neuropsychiatric Syndromes
Medical Gaslighting

Biotoxins and Neuropsychiatric Illness

Cognitive Decline
Inflammatory Cytokines
Microglia Activation
Suicide

Treatment Approaches

Simple Treatments – Anxiety, Depression, Insomnia
MCAS Supplements
Antihistaminergic Psych Meds
Bodywork Approaches

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Therapists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 11/02/2023

Functional Medicine Psychiatry for Depression, Anxiety, and other Mental Health Disorders

An opportunity for all clinicians seeking to deepen their knowledge of Functional Medicine and its profound impact on understanding chronic disease...In this dynamic course, we will explore the intricate relationship between the brain, gut, and chronic inflammation, providing clinicians with the tools and insights needed to deliver holistic patient care. Whether you're seeking to optimize patient care, explore new treatment paradigms, or deepen your understanding of these critical topics, this course will empower you to make a meaningful impact on patient physical and mental health.

Program Information

Objectives

Determine where digestion begins.
Differentiate the 4 pillars of treatment areas.
Determine the 5R of gut restoration.
Determine which cranial nerve connects the brain to the gut.

Outline

Comparison of conventional medicine and functional medicine

Standard psychiatric care, bloodwork ordered and siloing of treatment
Acute care model/silver bullet approach
Contrasted to functional assessment and care and testing ordered – chronic disease approach.
Functional medicine: who is for and who is it not for

Areas of assessment and treatment overlooked and challenges of the conventional physician

Primary root cause of chronic disease is inflammation.

How inflammation causes depression
Creating a timeline of the patient’s history
MSQ form for tracking clinically/PROMIS for research

The gut brain connection:

Brain Immune Gut connection: BDNF
Zonulin, LPS and increased gut permeability
Vagus nerve

The functional medicine approach

Digestion
Four main root causes – foods, infections, toxins and stress and how to address each area
5Rs of gut restoration – remove, replace, re-inoculate, repair and rebalance and what specifically to do

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Therapists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 11/02/2023

The Role of Thyroid Hormones and Thyroid Autoimmunity in Mental Health

Let’s engage in an educational session that sheds light on the intricate relationship between thyroid hormones, thyroid autoimmunity, and mental health. We will investigate the direct impact of thyroid disorders, including hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, on mental health, mood, cognition, and emotional stability...delving into the often-overlooked connection between thyroid function and mental well-being, equipping healthcare professionals with essential knowledge to provide more holistic patient care.

Program Information

Objectives

Assess autoimmune thyroid disease.
Assess the relationship between thyroid hormone status and thyroid autoimmunity on mood disorders, anxiety, and mental health.
Construct a list of the components of a full thyroid panel to hand to a patient.
Evaluate suboptimal thyroid treatment as a potential cause for residual mental health symptoms.
Analyzing the consequences and triggers of AITD.
Identify thyroid hormone, thyroid autoimmunity and thyroid trigger directed protocols that may help mental health symptoms.

Outline

What’s going on in autoimmune thyroid disease?

Thyroid hormone status
Autoimmunity
Consequences of dysthyroidism/triggers/exacerbating factors of AITD
Symptom Overlap
What is a “full thyroid panel”?

Role of thyroid hormone status (hypothyroidism/hyperthyroidism) in mood disorders and anxiety

Subtreatment as cause for residual symptoms
How to optimize thyroid hormones
- TSH
- T4 to T3 conversion...pharmaceutical options, co-factors

Clinical relevance of thyroid autoimmunity in mental health disorders

Discussion of pertinent research and proposed mechanisms
Strategies for balancing autoimmune response...myo-inositol, selenium, LLLT, NAC

Consequences of dysthyroidism/autoimmune triggers in relation to mental health

Stress response
- Blood sugar
- Trauma
Nutrient deficiencies
- Low ferritin
- Low Vitamin D
- Methylation
- B12
Infections, gut health and toxins

Potential protocols to support thyroid and mental health symptoms

Target Audience

Chiropractors
Exercise Physiologists
Occupational Therapists
Occupational Therapy Assistants
Personal Trainers
Physical Therapists
Physical Therapy Assistants
Strength and Conditioning Coaches

Copyright : 11/02/2023

Dopamine Fasting: An Early Intervention for Compulsive Overconsumption in the Digital Age

In a world brimming with digital distractions and the constant allure of overconsumption, it is time to explore innovative solutions to these addictive behaviors. Join us for a thought-provoking session that unveils the power of Dopamine Faster, an intervention technique to combat compulsive overconsumption in the digital age. This session will delve into the neuroscience behind dopamine, the "feel-good" neurotransmitter, and how it can hijack brains, leading to addictive behaviors, and how we can help our patients regain control over their digital habits, and find contentment and connectedness.

Program Information

Objectives

Analyze the neuroscience of pleasure and pain balance and its impact on the brain with addiction.
Recognize the Plenty Paradox and ways in which the mismatch between our primitive wiring and our modern ecosystem has made us all more vulnerable to addiction.
Determine the best approach to guard against compulsive overconsumption...Abstain, maintain, or seek out pain.

Outline

The Pleasure-Pain Balance: How It Works
- Pleasure Seeking
- Pain Avoidance
- Finding Balance
The Plenty Paradox
- Primitive Wiring
- Modern Ecosystem
- How to Deal with the Mismatch
Helping Your Patients Figure out What to Do About It
- Abstain
- Maintain
- Seek out Pain

Target Audience

Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Physicians
Psychologists
Speech-Language Pathologists
Social Workers
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 11/02/2023

Mental Health is Metabolic Health of the Brain

Mental health is currently viewed as an imbalance of neurotransmitters, because current pharmacotherapies are directed to alter neurotransmitter levels. But most people don’t respond to those drugs very well. The question is, what are the other possible causes of mental health dysfunction? Most of these affect neuroenergetics or neurotransmission in some fashion, and many are manipulable. By understanding those, participants should be able to more completely evaluate environmental stimuli that might be contributing to mental health disorders, and provide adjunctive nutritional and/or environmental health to improve both metabolic and mental health.

Program Information

Objectives

To assess the statistical and mechanistic overlaps between metabolic and mental health.
To identify specific mechanisms by which metabolic dysfunction leads to mental health dysfunction.
To identify diet and eating patterns that will help mitigate both metabolic and mental health disorders.

Outline

Increasing metabolic and mental health crises around the world

Diseases of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, CVD, cancer, dementia
Diseases of despair – addiction, drug use, depression
Overlap between metabolic and mental health disorders - could these be linked?

Does unhappiness lead to early mortality?

Unhappiness does not reduce lifespan
What we do to “get happy” reduces lifespan
Things that increase dopamine increase both metabolic and mental dysfunction
Mechanisms that worsen both metabolic and mental health
Mitochondrial energetics and ATP availability inhibited by fructose
Neurotransmitter cycling, esp. glutamine synthase inhibited by fructose
Trophic factors, including leptin and BDNF; blockage by insulin
Gut inflammation due to changes in the microbiome

Improving both metabolic and mental health through nutrition

Protect the liver
Feed the gut
Support the brain

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Psychotherapists
Therapists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Addiction Counselors
Case Managers
Physicians
Nurses
Other Mental Health Professionals

Copyright : 11/03/2023

The Next Frontier in Healing the Brain: Beyond Functional Medicine

With mental illness on the rise, many new modalities are available to help set the foundation for brain recovery. Hear from Dr. Robert Hedaya, who pioneered the use of HYLANE technology, a new framework, which includes the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, transcranial laser therapy, and neural exercise to normalize dysfunctional nerve tracts and cortical areas in the brain. This approach can reduce or eliminate the use of medication, can reduce side effects of medication, and can improve rates of full remission. Very exciting conversation ahead.

Program Information

Objectives

Describe the components of HYLANE and how this relates to cognitive function and mood.
Determine the effect of antagonists/inverse agonists in cognitive impairment, anxiety, and depression.
Analyze how neurofeedback can be used to improve cognition.
Discuss ways to integrate new treatments for patients with cognitive impairment, anxiety, and depression.

Outline

HYLANE

HYperBaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)
LAser, and
Neural Exercise
Pascal...How is her brain...Improvement after HYLANE
qEEG, HBOT, Laser, KETAMINE ASSISTED THERAPY...mechanisms of action, including thalamus

Antagonists

NMDA/Glutamate antagonist
Kappa-opioid mixed antagonist/agonist
Nicotinic acid antagonist
D2-antagonist

Other symptoms/changes

Neuroplasticity
Synaptogenesis: MPFC and hippocampus; increased dendritic spines
Thalamic regulation; PTSD/Movement disorders

Literature overview

Laser
HBOT
Ketamine
Neurofeedback (NFB)

Cases:

Shmuel B: mood charts-Laser; Aphasia (Bower), Visual: Jang/King
Folio-Ketamine-pre-post
Morris/others-Ketamine-right left shift
OCD: NFB-Tankel
HBOT: Bleiler

Target Audience

Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Physicians
Psychologists
Social Workers

Copyright : 11/03/2023

Awareness is Not Enough: A New Look at the Staggering Statistics of Adolescent Mental Health

The American youth of today are in crisis. While rates of adolescent depression and suicide in the U.S. have hit unprecedented highs, mainstream psychiatry persists in its adherence to a century-old model of treatment and prevention. . . a reactionary symptom-drug polypharmacy model that has, despite widespread and longstanding implementation, failed to reverse current mental health trends.

This tragic status quo is one to which we are not bound, however. We HAVE tools with which we could prevent suicide, treat depression, improve patient outcomes, and turn the trend lines around.

This lecture introduces a novel Functional Psychiatry model of treatment and prevention spanning both psychosocial and biological factors - biomarkers linked to an increased risk of depression and suicide. It explores research supporting the utility of biomarkers such as genetic mutations and essential nutrient deficiencies, as well as lab screenings to illuminate chronic underlying conditions robustly associated with neuropsychiatric dysfunction.

Bridging research, concept, and application, this presentation seeks to redefine modern treatment and prevention efforts, and reshape systems meant to provide a lifeline to those in urgent need of our attention, care, and support. Through biomarker testing in accordance with a Functional Psychiatry model, today’s providers are equipped with evidence-based tools capable of improving patient outcomes, and turning the tides of the youth mental health crisis.

Program Information

Objectives

Elucidate the limitations of the traditional psychiatry symptom-drug polypharmacy model of treatment and prevention.
Identify two or more biologic factors associated with an increased risk of psychiatric dysfunction, and evidence-based strategies for the objective identification and/or assessment of those factors.
Discuss the physical and mental health implications of undetected Celiac disease.
Identify one or more micronutrient cofactors influencing the rate-limiting step in serotonin synthesis.
Discuss the relevance of sleep (quality/quantity) to mental health, and identify two or more evidence-based strategies for correcting sleep dysfunction.

Outline

The American Youth in Crisis

An overview of recent trends and statistics
How is the popular media framing this crisis? How is scientific research literature?
- Psychosocial and environmental contributors
The established treatment and prevention paradigm: a closer look
- Strengths and limitations of the traditional symptom-drug polypharmacy model
- The widening gap between research innovation and clinical practice: opportunities for change

Functional Psychiatry: Expanding & Enhancing the Paradigm

Traditional models dismiss biology / biologic contributors to mental health: why this is a critical omission
An evidence-based, dimensional model of psychiatric etiology
- Genetics x environment x epigenetics x metabolism x neurochemistry = health
Functional Medicine: an evidence based, comprehensive model for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention

Genetics

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and their relevance to psychiatric etiology
SNP testing as a means to guide clinical decisions, predict individual responses to treatments
Strengths and limitations of the research

Low-Dose Lithium

Overview of the research corroborating lithium’s nutritional essentiality
Overview of the research illuminating lithium’s anti-suicide properties
Biologic mechanisms underlying lithium’s neuroprotective, mood-stabilizing, anti-suicide effects
Elucidating the dose-response curve: pharmaceutical vs. nutritional/low-dose lithium
Strategies for testing and assessment
Clinical indicators of deficiency
Strengths and limitations of the research; risks and benefits of supplementation

PANS/PANDAS

Introduction, review of common symptoms, etiology, and pathogenesis
Neuropsychiatric signs and symptoms
Implications of misdiagnosis, relevance to pediatric psychiatry
Testing
Strengths and limitations of the research

Celiac Disease

Introduction, review of common symptoms, etiology, and pathogenesis
Implications of misdiagnosis and lack of treatment
Testing

Ultra-Processed Food

Rate of consumption in American youth
Exploring research showing robust correlations with adverse mental health outcomes
Strength and limitations of the research
Implications for clinical practice

Nutrition

Fundamentals of human biology; commonly ignored by mainstream models
The laws of human nutrition: you are what you eat / you are what you don’t eat
Neurobiologic and neuropsychiatric implications of chronic malnutrition
Where does nutrition “fit” into a modern, evidence-based Functional treatment model?

Vitamin D

Overview of roles, biologic essentiality
Spotlight: serotonin synthesis
Common causes of deficiency
Research illuminating robust correlations between Vitamin D deficiency and psychopathology
Testing
Strengths and limitations of the research; risks and benefits of supplementation

Zinc

Overview of roles, biologic essentiality
Spotlight: neurotransmitter synthesis, digestion
Common causes of deficiency
Testing
Strengths and limitations of the research; risks and benefits of supplementation

Magnesium

Overview of roles, biologic essentiality
Spotlight: neurotransmitter synthesis, HPA Axis modulation
Common causes of deficiency
Clinical indicators of deficiency
Strengths and limitations of the research; risks and benefits of supplementation

Biochemical Individuality

Limitations of “one size fits all” models
How biochemical individuality can inform a novel paradigm for treatment and prevention

“Vitamin S”: Sleep

What does sleep accomplish, physiologically?
How much sleep do we need? Are kids today getting enough?
Physical, neuropsychiatric ramifications of inadequate sleep, sleep dysfunction
- Research examining links between sleep and suicide.
- Limitations of the research
Evidence-based sleep solutions

Conclusion

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Nurses
Physicians
Physicians Assistants

Copyright : 11/03/2023

An Integrative Approach to Mental Health: Where the Body Meets the Mind

A common misconception is that health begins from the neck down. Too often, psychiatry and mental health are perceived to fall outside the scope of primary care, while physical and root causes are often overlooked in psychiatric practice. We feel strongly that our professions of psychiatry and general medicine can do a better job of integrating our services to assist our patients. Drs.’ Mather and Podesta will detail integrative and collaborative methods, as well as discuss the common causes, workup and treatment of various mental health concerns.

Program Information

Objectives

Identify collaborative care tools in mental health and primary functional medicine.
Lay the groundwork for collaborative care.
Determine some of the root causes and work ups for some of the most common mental health complaints.
Implement some of the tools to treat some mental health complaints.

Outline

What is collaborative medicine?

Integrative vs collaborative vs “transdisciplinary”
What tools needed to integrate
Why integrate/collaborate with mental health (“comorbidities”)

Causes, workup and treatment of common mental health problems

ADHD
Anxiety
Depression
Insomnia
Fatigue

Common missteps in integrative mental health care

Overtreatment of thyroid
Aggressive elimination diets
Over prescription of medications (SSRI, benzos)

Pillars of some effective treatment of common mental health symptoms

Gut
Nutrition and diet
Gut health
Inflammation
Methylation
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)

Target Audience

Addiction Counselors
Counselors
Marriage and Family Therapists
Psychologists
Social Workers

Copyright : 11/03/2023

PANS/PANDAS: The Role of Infection and Toxin-Mediated Neuroinflammation in Mental Health Disorders

In the early 1990s, a group of researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health began collecting data on children who had developed neuropsychiatric disorders (OCD and tics) following infections. They found evidence that antineuronal antibodies had developed in some of these children which attacked the basal ganglia region of the brain. MRI and PET scans in these children also demonstrated inflammatory changes in the basal ganglia. In 1997, the researchers published the first article to describe this syndrome that they named PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Strep infections).

In PANDAS, an autoimmune attack on the brain occurs following a Strep infection. PANS (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome) is a broader term that also includes cases following exposure to other infections, toxins, and even stress. Clinicians treating children with PANS and PANDAS have found that antibiotics targeted at the offending organisms, steroids, and IVIG results in marked improvement and occasionally complete remission of the neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Disturbing symptoms consistent with many DSM-5 psychiatric disorders manifest in patients with PANS and PANDAS—yet we know that there is a biologic basis for the changes in these children. As a result, these disorders require us, as physicians and society, to view mental illness in an entirely new way. Resistance to this change in paradigm has made PANS and PANDAS difficult for clinicians to diagnose, unbearable for parents to endure, and controversial for scholars to accept.

PANS and PANDAS are complex disorders that demand a rich, multifaceted response with novel treatment approaches.

This lecture, by one of the world’s top experts in PANS and PANDAS, will explain the actual link between immune dysregulation in these children and the development of these syndromes. In this presentation, participants will find conclusive evidence from the peer-reviewed medical literature for the existence and pathophysiology of PANS and PANDAS, alongside testing and treatment interventions the author has successfully used in his own practice with hundreds of children.

Program Information

Objectives

Define PANS and PANDAS.
Describe common presentations of these disorders and current diagnostic criteria.
Analyze the role of molecular mimicry in the genesis of autoimmune diseases.
Explain the concept of immune dysregulation in PANS and PANDAS and causative factors.
Identify the role of laboratory and radiology testing in children with PANS and PANDAS.
Define common infections and stressors which may precipitate flares.
Define the four aspects which must be addressed by both parents and physicians to successfully treat PANS and PANDAS.

Outline

The History and Science Behind PANS and PANDAS

Definitions of PANS and PANDAS
Molecular Mimicry as a Causative Factor in Autoimmunity
Anti-neuronal Antibodies in PANS and PANDAS
Radiographic and Experimental Evidence of Basal Ganglia Pathology in PANS/PANDAS Patients
Origins of the Controversy Surrounding PANS and PANDAS and Evidence-based Medicine

Diagnosing PANS and PANDAS

Classic Criteria
A Detailed Description of Symptoms and Physical Exam Findings
The Role of Laboratory and Radiology Testing in PANS and PANDAS
Specific Testing Performed in Patients with PANS and PANDAS
The Importance of Excluding Other Causes of Acute Neuropsychiatric Changes

The Four Vitals Areas That Must Be Addressed to Promote Long-term Healing in PANS and PANDAS

Finding and Eliminating Infections and Biofilms
Finding and Removing Toxins and Toxicants
Re-regulating the Immune System
Breaking Neurologic Loops (OCD/Anxiety)

Valuable Treatment Adjuncts for Patients with PANS and PANDAS

Exposure Response Prevention/CBT
Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP)
Hypnosis
Family Counseling and Guidance
Resources to help at School, with Friends, and with Family

Future Treatment Directions

State Campaigns to Prevent Insurance Denials of IVIG
Physician and Other Healthcare Provider Education
Immune Modulators and Targeted Therapies

Copyright : 11/03/2023

Sex Hormones and their Impact on Mental Health

As the prime directive of life is the creation of new life, the ovarian and testicular produced sex hormones, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, are typically seen by the public and by health care professionals as solely important for sexual functioning and reproduction. But reproduction is viewed narrowly, rather than seen as involving every organ system working in optimal unity. Successful reproduction requires that the entire person is optimally healthy, including the cardiovascular, immune, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, genitourinary systems … as well as an optimally functioning neurological system!

Human reproduction necessitates supportive relationships, love and bonding, and critical thinking for survival to enable a substantial longevity, facilitating multiple prodigy to be conceived, born, and raised to their sexual maturity. Sex hormones should be renamed as life hormones, acknowledging their enormous contribution to the healthy functioning of every bodily system, with a keen recognition of their vital involvement in both cognitive and emotional health, which will be detailed in this presentation.

Program Information

Objectives

Discuss the critical involvement of the sex hormones in optimal functioning of every organ system and the interrelationships among organ system to support overall bodily health and reproductive success.
Compare the specific effects of each of the sex hormones on cognitive and emotional health.
Explain the mechanisms involved in the support of emotional health by each of the sex hormones, including neurotransmitter production, peptides, the endocannabinoid system, and the autonomic nervous system.
Provide an integrative approach to the optimization of sex hormone production and replacement through the decades of life.

Outline

What are the sex hormones?

Where are they produced?
How do they work?
What are their primary and secondary functions-include their connections to all organ system functions

Sex hormones as neurosteroids

What are the specific roles of sex steroids in the brain?
What are the specific roles of sex steroids in the autonomic nervous system?
How does the brain get sex hormones?

How do the sex steroids affect mood?

The role of neurotransmitters
The role of peptides
The role of the endocannabinoid system

The integrative approach to hormone optimization

How can the production and balance of sex hormones be optimized?
How can sex hormones be replaced due to reduced production with aging?
Summary of the integrative approach to hormone optimization: including nutrition, fitness, circadian rhythm alignment, relationships, toxicant avoidance, stress management
Acknowledge the current limitations of research in this growing field

Target Audience

Counselors
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Social Workers

Copyright : 11/03/2023

Dementia Demystified: Reversing Cognitive Decline and Dementia with Functional Medicine

Alzheimer's Disease is a neurodegenerative disorder – but it is not a mysterious, untreatable brain disorder. It is a reversible multisystem illness that occurs due to toxins and Infections and inflammation and lack of hormones and other diet and lifestyle factors. It has a strong auto-immune component as well.

Neurodegeneration does not just happen. It happens for reasons, and when we can look at the big picture and address all of the driving factors, we can gain traction in stopping and sometime even reversing the degenerative process.

Alzheimer's Dementia is a multi-factorial disease, and it is rarely due to just one thing. In order to reverse dementia, we have to look at, and rectify, all of the factors that contribute:

Metabolic, nutritional, toxic, inflammatory, infectious, autoimmune, and/or withdrawal of trophic support (like hormones and nutrients).

Dr. Toups will discuss the Functional Medicine approach she used to reverse her own dementia and uses with her patients and in the Precision Medicine Dementia clinical trial she conducted with Dr. Dale Bredesen. She will cover how to evaluate and test patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia using a Functional approach to determine the root causes of their illness.

Program Information

Objectives

Discuss the multiple factors that contribute to the development of cognitive decline and dementia.
Evaluate and test for the many reversible factors that are involved with cognitive decline and dementia, especially commonly missed triggers like infections, mycotoxins, and lack of trophic hormones.
Determine how nutrients, brain training, mindfulness, and exercise can enhance production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and enhance neuroplasticity to re-build damaged or lost neurons and synapses.
Analyze the findings in the first prospective Precision Medicine clinical trial.

Outline

Alzheimer's Disease/Dementia

Neurodegenerative disorders
Not mysterious, untreatable brain disorders
Reversible multisystem illnesses
Evaluation and Testing

Root Causes

Toxins
Infections/Inflammation
Hormone Imbalances and Deficiencies
Metabolic (Lipids and Blood Sugar)
Diet and Lifestyle factors
Autoimmune Components

Preventing and Reversing Neurodegeneration – 3 R’s Dementia Program

REMOVE the factors weakening or hurting the body and brain

REPLACE nutrients and hormones

REGENERATE the brain to regrow damage neuronal connections

Dementia Research

Precision Medicine Dementia Clinical Trial
Limitations
Future Directions

Target Audience

Physical Therapists
Physical Therapists Assistants
Occupational Therapists
Occupational Therapy Assistants
Speech Language Pathologists

The New Science of Calming your Mind with Food (Nutritional Psychiatry: What It Is and How It Can Help Depression, Anxiety, Concentration, Memory, and More)

Learn how your clients can unlock the power of food to nourish not only their bodies but also their minds in this session on nutritional psychiatry. Gain insights into the key nutrients crucial for brain health, including omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and various vitamins and minerals. In this dynamic program, we delve into the fascinating intersection of nutrition and mental health, offering a comprehensive understanding of how food impacts emotional well-being.

Program Information

Objectives

Define the meaning of Nutritional Psychiatry and determine how key it is to an integrative health practitioner.
Analyze current stats and data on anxiety and explain whether food can calm the mind.
Explain the Gut Brain Axis as one of the mechanisms to explain the food mood connection.
Identify mood foods and their impact depression, anxiety, concentration, brain fog and memory.

Outline

Nutritional Psychiatry

Definition
Role in integrative health care

Anxiety

Current stats and data on anxiety
Can food calm the mind?

Gut Brain Axis

Mechanisms of the gut brain axis
Food mood connection.

Mood foods

The food-mood connection
Impact on depression, anxiety, concentration, brain fog and memory
Nutritional interventions

TMS, Ketamine, Psychedelics, and More: Emerging Treatments and their Applications in Integrative Pediatric Psychiatry

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide and nearly 1/3 of patients do not find relief with antidepressant medications. Clinicians and patients desperately need more effective, safe treatment options. TMS, ketamine, and psychedelics are breakthrough interventions that are bringing hope for people suffering from treatment-resistant mental health conditions. This session will discuss the evolution of these treatments and give you tools to use them in an integrative approach to helping your patients.

Program Information

Objectives

Outline the evolution of TMS in the treatment of depression and other treatment-resistant psychiatric conditions.
Discuss FDA approved indications for TMS, patient selection, and safety considerations.
Explain the indications, patient selection, and risks of ketamine and esketamine for depression and other psychiatric conditions.
Explore principles of ketamine assisted psychotherapy and how these apply to various practice models.
Outline emerging treatments in psychedelic psychiatry including legal and safety concerns.

Outline

Emerging psychiatric treatments for children and adolescents

Considering integrative approaches in mental health care

Use of CBD in Children and Adolescents

Prevalence of anxiety and insomnia in this age group
Studies on the use of CBD for anxiety and insomnia in children and adolescents
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for Adolescent Major Depressive Disorder
Major Depressive Disorder in adolescents
TMS as a treatment
Effectiveness and safety of TMS in treating adolescent depression

Ketamine and Esketamine for Mental Health Disorders in Adolescents

Recent studies on the use of ketamine and esketamine in adolescents

Psychedelics and Emerging Applications

Cultural and societal perceptions of psychedelics
Applications of psychedelics in treating mental health conditions in adolescents
Unique considerations and risks in pediatric populations
Ethical considerations and informed consent

Target Audience

Addiction Counselors
Case Managers
Counselors
Marriage and Family Therapists
Nurses
Psychologists
Psychotherapists
Social Workers
Therapists
Psychiatrists
Other Mental Health Professionals

Gut-Brain Connection

Uncover the intricate relationship between the Gut-Brain Connection. Delve into the microbiome's inner workings, its profound influence on neurological health, and explore actionable strategies to enhance patient well-being through a deeper understanding of this connection.

Program Information

Objectives

Describe the microbiome, including the diversity of microorganisms residing in the gastrointestinal tract, and its crucial role in digestion and overall health.
Analyze the gut-brain axis, how the gut and brain communicate, and the significance of this intricate bidirectional connection.
Explain the microbiome's impact on neurotransmitter production, its role in brain inflammation, its influence on the immune system and neuroinflammation, its contribution to the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), its effects on mood, behavior, and mental health.

Outline

Overview of the microbiome

Significance of the gut-brain connection
Definition of the microbiome
Diversity of microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract
Role of the microbiome in digestion and overall health

The Gut-Brain Axis

Introduction to the gut-brain axis
How the gut and brain communicate
Significance of this bi-directional communication

Mechanisms of Microbiome Influence on the Brain

Gut microbiome and neurotransmitter production
Inflammation and its impact on the brain
Microbiome's role in the immune system and neuroinflammation
Gut microbiota and the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)
Influence of the microbiome on mood, behavior, and mental health

The Gut-Brain Connection in Practice

Practical implications for maintaining a healthy microbiome
Dietary strategies to support a balanced gut-brain axis
Lifestyle factors that can positively impact the gut-brain connection

Emerging Research and Future Directions

Current studies and breakthroughs in microbiome research
Potential future therapies and treatments related to the gut-brain axis

Target Audience

Counselors
Marriage and Family Therapists
Psychologists
Speech Language Pathologists
Social Workers
Other Professions

The Effects of Toxins such as Molds, PFOAs, Metals, and Pesticides on Mental Health

The accumulation of neurotoxins in the environment in the environment directly correlate with loss of IQ, autism and ADHD in children and multiple neuropsychiatric disorders in adults. This clinically-oriented lecture overviews the worst of the metals and chemicals, key diagnostics and the most effective and safe interventions for each toxin.

Program Information

Objectives

Determine which environmental neurotoxins cause the most damage to mental function in adults and children.
Identify components for a competent assessment of environmental neurotoxin load.
Provide patients guidelines to effectively decrease toxin load.
Describe how to help reverse the neurological damage with key nutrients.

Outline

Polyvagal Theory

Theoretical basis for a neuroscience of safety
Safety promotes spontaneous social engagement behaviors and health, growth, and restoration

Principles

Autonomic state functions as an intervening variable
Three neural circuits form a phylogenetically ordered response hierarchy that regulate autonomic state adaptation to safe, dangerous, and life-threatening environments
In response to a challenge, the ANS shifts to states regulated by circuits that evolved earlier consistent with the Jacksonian principle of dissolution [30], a guiding principle in neurology
Ventral migration of cardioinhibitory neurons leads to an integrated brainstem circuit (ventral vagal complex) that enables the coordination of suck-swallow-breath-vocalize, a circuit that forms the neurophysiological substrate for an integrated social engagement system
Neuroception: Reflexive detection of risk triggers adaptive autonomic state to optimize survival

Application

What does this mean in practice?
Applying in trauma care

Target Audience

Counselors
Marriage and Family Therapists
Nurses
Psychologists
Social Workers

End of Autism: Exciting New Research and Future Directions

Here from William Shaw, PhD, internationally known expert and author on Autism about the latest evidence and approaches around autism. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increasing prevalence and incidence in children. In this session, the attendees will learn about the major causes of ASD in the environment. Additionally, treatment and prevention of the major causes of autism using FDA-approved drugs and by nutritional recommendations and non-drug supplements will be covered.

Program Information

Objectives

Discuss the evidence for the major causes of autism spectrum disorders.
Determine the proof that HPHPA is produced by Clostridia bacteria in the intestinal tract in conjunction with human metabolism.
Describe the two major human biochemical systems that are disrupted by the Clostridia product HPHPA.
Describe how the Clostridia product HPHPA disrupts the major human developmental protein sonic hedgehog, perhaps the major immediate cause of autism.
Identify the likely mechanisms by which the popular analgesic acetaminophen (paracetamol) and the common weedkiller glyphosate cause autism.
Determine the unique role that fats such as cholesterol and palmitic acid play in the activation of sonic hedgehog.

Outline

Evidence that the autism epidemic is real and that there has been a remarkable increase in autism rates over the past decades

Autism is caused primarily by environmental triggers acting on a genetically susceptible subset of children and that epigenetics play an important role in mediating how environmental toxins affect gene expression.
The incidence of autism rose 7- to 8-fold in California, where autism diagnoses are most reliable, from the early 1990s through the present. Other factors cannot explain the magnitude of the rise in autism.

Evidence for the presence of excessive amounts of HPHPA from Clostridia bacteria in the gastrointestinal tracts of children with autism spectrum disorder.

Phenylpropionic acid, the biochemical precursor of HPHPA, the biochemical in the urine associated with a diagnosis of autism, has only been found in culture media of eight species of Clostridia bacteria.
Phenylpropionic acid was not found in non-Clostridia species isolated from many stool samples.
Antibiotics that kill Clostridia eliminate phenylpropionic acid from cultures of stool samples.
Based on the proof that Clostridia bacteria alone produce the precursor of HPHPA, the clinician can test for the presence of Clostridia bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract by testing urine samples for HPHPA.

Evidence for excessive amounts of dopamine in people with autism spectrum disorder

Elevated dopamine metabolite, homovanillic acid (HVA) found in cerebrospinal fluid samples of people with autism.
Multiple studies finding elevated dopamine metabolite HVA in high amounts in urine samples of people with autism and severity of autism related to degree of HVA abnormality.

Evidence that excessive dopamine causes brain dysfunction

Drugs that are dopamine inhibitors such as haloperidol and Risperdal are widely used to reduce autism symptoms.
Dopamine added in high concentrations to tissue cultures of neurons causes extensive biochemical damage to the neurons including damage to neuron structural proteins, produces toxic byproducts, and damages neuronal mitochondria.

Evidence that the products of Clostridia inhibit the key enzyme of the brain and peripheral nervous system dopamine beta-hydroxylase

4-cresol, a product of Clostridia and perhaps other bacteria, inhibits dopamine beta hydroxylase in vitro and forms covalent complexes with the enzyme.
HPHPA, although not yet tested in vitro, is associated in autism with extreme increases in the dopamine metabolite HVA with no increase in the metabolite vanillylmandelic acid (VMA). There appears to be no biochemical explanation for this abnormality except in vivo inhibition of dopamine beta hydroxylase.

Evidence that glyphosate weed killer is a substantial cause of the autism epidemic

There is an almost perfect correlation between the increased use of glyphosate on major food crops and the increase in the incidence of autism.
Glyphosate, in addition to killing plants and weeds, also kills beneficial bacteria in the intestinal tract without killing Clostridia bacteria.
Glyphosate in the feed of farm animals leads to a substantial overgrowth of Clostridia bacteria in their intestinal tracts.

Evidence that acetaminophen is a substantial cause of autism

The major metabolite of acetaminophen, abbreviated as NAPQI, strongly reacts with numerous proteins with free sulfhydryl groups. The sonic hedgehog protein responsible for brain development possesses such a sulfhydryl group on the most critical portion of the molecule and would be a target for NAPQI, preventing activation of sonic hedgehog by palmitic acid.
Several epidemiological studies have documented increased risk of autism with acetaminophen exposure while exposure to comparable pain killers like ibuprofen caused no increased risk of autism.
The rate of autism declined during a terrorism event in which the most popular brand of acetaminophen was removed from the market.

Target Audience

Counselors
Social Workers
Psychologists
Case Managers
Addiction Counselors
Therapists
Marriage & Family Therapists
Nurses
Other Mental Health Professionals