Presenter: Philip Rouchotas, MS, ND

Original Date: December 5, 2021

Depression, anxiety, and insomnia had reached epidemic proportions prior to the pandemic, and ongoing pandemic restrictions have added to the burden of these common mental health concerns. A growing body of literature is challenging conventional strategies of managing these concerns, including a plethora of journal publications and books written by the who’s who of academia openly criticizing pharmacotherapy for these concerns. After showcasing these highlights and the brilliant scientists trying to raise awareness, the talk will briefly review a comprehensive integrative approach for management of depression, anxiety, and insomnia. The focus of the talk will be to review recent advances of guidelines for weaning prescription psychotropic medications (focus on SSRI class of antidepressants as well as benzodiazepines). Appropriate timing and magnitude of prescription dose reduction, appropriate supportive integrative strategies during the weaning process, and ensuring attendees can differentiate challenges that arise for weaning antidepressants relative to benzodiazepines will comprise the focus of the lecture.

Specific medications will be reviewed, yet I wish to stress that they are reviewed in context of “drug class.” While discussing SSRI’s, a handful of specific SSRI’s will be highlighted as examples (I usually cover Prozac and Zoloft). Due to unique challenges facing two, I always specifically review Effexor and Pristiq. Likewise, benzodiazepines are reviewed as a class, yet in so doing, one or two are mentioned specifically, usually lorazepam and clonazepam.

1.0 Pharmacology, 0.25 Ethics, and 0.25 General (Total 1.5 CEUs) approved by OBNM