Fellowship in Integrative Psychiatry

A Course by James Greenblatt, MD
This course is intended for clinicians of all specialties who seek to redefine the model by which they characterize, assess, and treat depressive illness.  Through four separate modules, an integrative functional medicine model of depression will be introduced, one in which depression is understood to arise from underlying biologic abnormalities associated with nutritional, metabolic, genetic, and environmental factors.  Recommendations for the implementation of testing and augmentation strategies will provided alongside research elucidating the roles that key nutrients play in maintaining neurologic health, providing registrants with evidence-based, integrative strategies that can be incorporated into existing therapeutic protocols.

This Enduring Material activity, Integrative Medicine for Depression, has been reviewed and is acceptable for up to 5.00 Prescribed credit(s) by the American Academy of Family Physicians.  AAFP certification begins 09/01/2019.  Term of approval is for one year from this date.  Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

A Course by James Greenblatt, MD
This four-module course provides clinicians of all specialties with a comprehensive introduction to Dr. Greenblatt’s integrative model for the treatment of anxiety disorders.  Following an empirically substantiated rationale for the de-prioritization of symptom classification, and a step away from pharmaceutical approaches that overlook causality, the viability of a functional medicine approach will be elucidated through objective reviews of recent studies that show anxiety to be associated with nutritional deficiencies, neurotransmitter dysfunction, systemic inflammation, and other endogenous factors.  The mechanisms through which these factors affect changes in cognition and behavior will be explored, with an emphasis on the practical ramifications of biochemical individuality.  Guidelines for testing will be offered alongside specific nutritional interventions to address anxiogenic physiology, and complementary strategies to support integrative treatments – such as exercise, yoga, and herbal supplements – will be reviewed.  Upon completion, registrants will be able to implement evidence-based integrative methods into clinical protocols and maximize therapeutic outcomes for patients in need.

A Course by James Greenblatt, MD
Scientific evidence confirms ADHD to be a neurologic, brain-based disorder represented by numerous biological abnormalities.  What is observable as atypical behavior is merely the tip of an iceberg that extends down to an individual’s unique biochemical makeup. Certain nutritional imbalances, which can profoundly impact cognition and behavior, are significantly correlated with this common disorder. Health-care practitioners, however, often overlook diet, micronutrient status, and individual biochemistry in ADHD treatment and assessment.

Fortunately, addressing nutritional imbalances with an integrative treatment plan has proven effective in treating ADHD.  This three-module course will introduce Dr. Greenblatt’s breakthrough Plus/Minus plan for ADHD and provide a comprehensive overview of the biochemistry ‘beneath’ the disorder.  Dietary interventions and augmentation strategies for the mitigation of specific nutrient deficiencies will be reviewed, as well as recommendations for going “beyond biochemistry” to enhance treatment outcomes.

A Course by James Greenblatt, MD
This course offers practitioners a functional medicine model for the reduction and elimination of side-effects in patients taking psychotropic drugs.  Registrants will be provided with an overview of pharmaceutical use in mainstream psychiatry, and the unprecedented steps some patients are now taking in order to get themselves off medication.  A rationale for the implementation of a slow taper, secondary to an integrative assessment per THE ZEEEBRA approach, will be presented as a protocol for discontinuation and the elimination of withdrawal effects.  Thereafter, nutritional and herbal interventions for the amelioration of medication-induced weight gain and sexual dysfunction will be reviewed. Gene variants associated with medication-induced weight gain will be discussed, and the clinical utility of gene testing for minimizing weight-related side-effects will be elucidated.  Finally, tardive dyskinesia (TD) will be explored: biologic factors linked to its pathogenesis, mainstream treatment options, and the demonstrated superiority of integrative approaches for symptom resolution.  Nutritional interventions with a proven track record of success in eliminating TD will be introduced, along with Dr. Greenblatt’s recommendations for dosing and titration.  The course will conclude with an open-minded discussion about the role medications can and should play in today’s functional medicine practice, and a clarification of psychiatry’s most fundamental objectives in addressing mental illness safely, effectively, and ethically.

A Course by James Greenblatt, MD
Schizophrenia is a variable and multifactorial mental disorder producing a spectrum of symptoms ranging from odd but harmless behavioral abnormalities to full psychosis.  Such dynamic symptomatic presentations, in tandem with research supporting a biological model of schizophrenia pathogenesis and pathophysiology, invite functional medicine treatment approaches that emphasize biochemical individuality and the mitigation of etiologic risk factors.

This five-module course incorporates the classical theories of orthomolecular medicine into modern nutritional psychiatry, presenting decades of research evidence supporting the utility and efficacy of integrated approaches to the treatment of schizophrenia.  Micronutrient deficiencies, toxic neurochemical aggregations, systemic inflammation, and other etiologic factors will be elucidated in regard to the mechanisms through which they precipitate neurologic dysfunction, and addressed through comprehensive functional medicine protocols for use in clinical practice.

A Course by James Greenblatt, MD
This course offers an immersive look at one of the oldest elements in the known universe – lithium – through an orthomolecular lens, seeking to redefine its association with human health and illuminate its potentials as a treatment for neurologic and psychiatric ailments.  Over four modules, an empirically substantiated rationale for the incorporation of lithium into functional protocols for disorders ranging from depression to Alzheimer’s will be presented, along with guidelines for the safe and effective administration of low-dose nutritional lithium.

A Course by James Greenblatt, MD
Suicide is the observable result of what is often a complex array of problems.  Strong scientific evidence suggests that suicide risk is moderated by underlying biochemical abnormalities and environmental factors, which together can impact brain structure and function. Brain alterations that accrue as a result can place an individual along a path towards tragedy.  In being a phenomenon that science has shown to involve myriad endogenous and exogenous factors, however, suicidality – and psychiatric disorders that confer increased risk – invites an integrative approach that may offer at-risk patients the very best opportunity for recovery.

This three-module course will introduce an integrative model for suicide prevention, one in which the concept of suicidality as the result of underlying biochemical, nutritional, genetic, and environmental factors is explored.  Research illustrating the benefits of nutritional supplementation to mitigate risk factors will be presented; evidence-based interventions will be described; and a treatment approach centered upon objective biologic measurement and a concept of biochemical individuality will be presented.

A Course by James Greenblatt, MD
This four-module course offers healthcare practitioners a unique opportunity to redefine their understanding and treatment of eating disorders, and introduces a powerful, empirically supported rationale for a biologic model of eating disorder pathogenesis.  Drawing upon scientific research and Dr. Greenblatt’s extensive clinical experience, the course presents effective, scientifically supported strategies for addressing the biochemical imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, and metabolic disruptions that characterize anorexia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and food addiction.

A Course by William Shaw, PhD
Presented by William Shaw, PhD, the founder of Great Plains Laboratory and a board-certified clinical chemist and toxicologist, these four courses will delve into the exciting field of biomedical analysis, and explore how objective laboratory testing for metabolic, nutritional, and toxic factors can help clinicians maximize therapeutic potentials in integrative functional medicine practice.

Heavy Metal Testing will examine the growing threat to human health posed by environmental pollution, the physiologic and neurologic sequelae of toxic metal exposure, and the options currently available to practitioners for the testing and quantification of toxic metal burden.

A Course by William Shaw, PhD
Presented by William Shaw, PhD, the founder of Great Plains Laboratory and a board-certified clinical chemist and toxicologist, these four courses will delve into the exciting field of biomedical analysis, and explore how objective laboratory testing for metabolic, nutritional, and toxic factors can help clinicians maximize therapeutic potentials in integrative functional medicine practice.

Mycotoxin Testing offers an in-depth look at the physical and neurologic ramifications of exposure to toxic fungal metabolites, and the variety of laboratory tests now available to clinicians for mycotoxin screening.

A Course by William Shaw, PhD
Presented by William Shaw, PhD, the founder of Great Plains Laboratory and a board-certified clinical chemist and toxicologist, these four courses will delve into the exciting field of biomedical analysis, and explore how objective laboratory testing for metabolic, nutritional, and toxic factors can help clinicians maximize therapeutic potentials in integrative functional medicine practice.

Organic Acid Testing will explore biologic factors that can precipitate disruptions of intermediary metabolism, the pathologic ramifications of organic acidemia, and the clinical utility of organic acid testing in integrative functional medicine practice.

A Course by William Shaw, PhD
Presented by William Shaw, PhD, the founder of Great Plains Laboratory and a board-certified clinical chemist and toxicologist, these four courses will delve into the exciting field of biomedical analysis, and explore how objective laboratory testing for metabolic, nutritional, and toxic factors can help clinicians maximize therapeutic potentials in integrative functional medicine practice.

Genetic Testing will bridge symptomatic presentation and genetic variability by exploring single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that have been identified as influential in psychiatric susceptibility and pathogenesis, and examine how information gleaned from pharmacogenetic testing can be utilized to steer the course of individually-tailored treatment.

A Course by Peter Bongiorno, ND, LAc
Presented by naturopathic physician Peter Bongiorno, ND, LAc, and intended for healthcare practitioners, this two-part educational series devoted to adaptogens will focus on the history of adaptogens in medicine, the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of adaptogens, and recommendations for clinical intake and lab testing to inform adaptogen protocols for psychiatric illness.

A Course by Peter Bongiorno, ND, LAc
Presented by naturopathic physician Peter Bongiorno, ND, LAc, and intended for healthcare practitioners, this two-part educational series devoted to adaptogens will focus on the history of adaptogens in medicine, the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of adaptogens, and recommendations for clinical intake and lab testing to inform adaptogen protocols for psychiatric illness.

In this webinar Dr. Greenblatt sheds an informative light on the fundamental aspects of integrative psychiatry that set it apart from traditional disciplines, the need from which integrative psychiatry has developed as a field, the progress that has been made in promoting integrative approaches to the treatment of mental health.

After examining the dichotomies which characterize medical vs. psychiatric treatment models, Dr. Greenblatt takes a hard look at the shortcomings of the latter, which have resulted in the perpetuation of symptom-focused approaches that, in short, aren’t working.  Statistics revealing increasing rates of suicide and mental illness force a critical assessment of modern therapeutic paradigms, and of mainstream practices that too often leave patients stranded on the polypharmacy highway, continuing to suffer from residual symptoms or medication side-effects.  Orthomolecular psychiatry and the integrative disciplines that it has propagated offer clinicians an alternative – not ‘alternative medicine,’ but rather scientifically and biologically-informed models that seek to identify and treat the root causes of disorders.  The surge in popularity that has accompanied the rise of integrative psychiatry has created something of a fad – are we treating patients, or treating test results?  – and Dr. Greenblatt elucidates the need to incorporate testing in a well-defined manner that does not preclude listening to the patient.  Next, Dr. Greenblatt introduces his unique integrated biologic model for the assessment and treatment of mental illness, THE ZEEBRA, and explores some of its core components with supporting research evidence.  Finally, educational offerings available through Psychiatry Redefined are reviewed, illuminating opportunities for clinicians to develop and refine integrative, personalized, and patient-centered approaches.

When it comes to integrative psychiatry, there are often as many questions about the scope of practice as there are clinical challenges.  The expansion of integrative and functional medicine practice, bolstered by scientific research corroborating biologic models of psychiatric disorders, has been met with increased public acceptance.  With such acceptance, however, comes obligation: obligation on the part of integrative psychiatry as a field to operationally define itself and establish parameters for best practice, and obligation on the part of individual practitioners to effectively and ethically integrate this knowledge into clinical practice.

In this webinar, Dr. Greenblatt engages viewers in a frank discussion about the practical, ethical, legal, and professional hurdles that face the integrative clinicians of today, and shares with them insights and recommendations derived from his decades of practice.  The flaws and failures of mainstream psychiatry will be examined not only to substantiate the need for new therapeutic paradigms but also to caution against the de-prioritization of biochemical individuality and the neglect of etiologic discovery.  Legal implications of integrative practice will be explored, with an emphasis on upholding ethical obligations for informed patient consent.  The talk will conclude with an open dialogue about the role that pharmaceutical medications can and should play in modern integrative psychiatry, and the possibilities for improved patient care now made possible by scientific advances.

This webinar is dedicated to the separation of fact from fiction, science from stigma regarding the use of lithium in integrative psychiatry.  Drawing upon the latest in scientific research as well as his own extensive clinical experience, Dr. Greenblatt elucidates the functional differences and appropriate clinical applications of lithium carbonate and lithium orotate, and establishes a powerful rationale for the incorporation of lithium into protocols for the treatment of mental illness.  After a discussion as to common bases of dissent amongst clinicians about lithium, and a review of lithium’s history, Dr. Greenblatt explores the role and therapeutic potential of lithium in modern functional medicine practice.  Research studies revealing powerful associations between dietary lithium intake and rates of mental illness, violent crime, and suicide will be appraised, lending empirical support to Dr. Greenblatt’s lithium deficiency hypothesis.  Next, the quantification of lithium status through laboratory analysis and the delimitation of dose ranges will be closely examined, providing viewers with specific parameters as to what constitutes a “therapeutic” vs. “nutritional” dose of lithium.  Finally, Dr. Greenblatt offers a review of commercially available lithium supplements, and clarifies his recommendations for lithium dosing, titration, and monitoring in professional practice through engaging audience Q&A.

Sponsored by JayMac Pharmaceuticals, this webinar explores the clinical applications of micro-dose lithium, a key ingredient of the supplement formulation LUMA and a powerful component of integrative protocols for the prevention of neurodegenerative illness.

After reviewing lithium’s history use, Dr. Greenblatt examines research demonstrating powerful associations between lithium intake and rates of suicide, psychiatric illness, and neurocognitive decline.  Next, the parameters by which designations of “pharmacologic” and “micro-” are ascribed to lithium doses are elucidated, and an empirically supported rationale for lithium deficiency states presented.  Dr. Greenblatt then explores current affairs in Alzheimer’s treatment and research, and the implications of studies revealing that Alzheimer’s has a lengthy prodromal period and is associated with a host of modifiable risk factors.  Evidence supporting the efficacy of micro-dose lithium for the prevention of Alzheimer’s, along with biologic mechanisms through which lithium exerts neuroprotective effects, will be discussed in detail.  Additional evidence corroborating the use of lithium in functional protocols for Lyme disease, Parkinson’s disease, and CTE/TBI will also be examined.  The webinar will conclude with a look at the ingredients which accompany lithium in the LUMA formulation, and research supporting their efficacy as neuroprotective agents.

Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 5.8 million Americans and, along with other forms of dementia, is projected to kill more than 700,000 individuals over the age of 65 this year.  It is the sixth leading cause of death nationwide, and the only cause amongst the top ten that cannot be cured or curtailed with medication.  All attempts to find a pharmaceutical cure have, to-date, failed; despite decades worth of research and billions of dollars invested, viable solutions for neurodegenerative illness continue to elude modern medicine, and the tolls borne by victims and their families remain incalculable.

In this webinar, Dr. Greenblatt examines a topic which justifiably inspires fear in many, but for which there is also cause for hope.  Beginning with a look at the state of affairs in Alzheimer’s treatment and research, he highlights flaws inherent in current treatment models and the myopic focus on pharmaceutical solutions that have widened the gap between research and practice.  Research has in fact moved forward significantly and revealed both a clear disease progression and a host of risk factors – many of which can modified via functional medicine interventions and thus alter the trajectory of disease progression.  Dr. Greenblatt will discuss the therapeutic implications of this research, and review evidence-based nutritional interventions for the mitigation of specific Alzheimer’s risk factors and the promotion of healthy neurogenerative processes.

The foundation of modern psychiatry is one of neurotransmitter regulation, a paradigm of altering neurologic function by influencing the availability, transport, or degradation of neurotransmitters in order effect cognitive and behavioral change.  In traditional approaches, this is accomplished through pharmaceutical medications.  In functional medicine, this is accomplished by providing the body with the raw materials from which neurotransmitters – and the enzymes and receptors responsible for completing their pathways – are built.

This webinar introduces a functional medicine model for neurotransmitter regulation using amino acid precursors, among the more important interventions currently available to today’s integrative clinicians.  After an overview of the roles that amino acids play in neurotransmitter synthesis, the lecture will turn to an in-depth exploration of factors that can modulate amino acid levels.  Diet, age, trauma, the essential mineral zinc, and digestive enzymes will be discussed in regard to their influences on amino acid absorption and bioavailability, and studies highlighting the neurologic sequelae of amino acid depletion will be presented.  Empirical evidence supporting the role of amino acids in the pathophysiology of mental illness will be objectively examined, and related to a functional medicine model.  Throughout the lecture Dr. Greenblatt will offer clinical recommendations for the rectification of amino acid imbalances through objective testing and the administration of targeted nutritional supplements.  Commercial formulations for specific symptomatic presentations will be reviewed, along with guidelines for dosing and titration.