Integrative Medicine For Depression

Integrative Medicine for Depression A disease that has long plagued humankind, depression is debilitating. Despite the frequency with which they’re prescribed, drugs alone don’t always provide relief, and often have side effects that limit effectiveness. There’s new hope for treatment, as emerging evidence suggests depression can be triggered by biochemical imbalances and nutritional deficiencies. In the newly updated edition of Integrative Medicine for Depression, mental health expert Dr. James M. Greenblatt emphasizes the treatment of depression using an integrative regimen that first seeks to understand the whole person. This book offers fresh new possibilities for those who suffer from depression. Incorporating decades of research and treatment in this groundbreaking work, Dr. Greenblatt explains: ■ The biologic mechanisms that cause depression ■ Why previous treatments may have failed ■ Nutritional approaches to improve mood ■ Ways to minimize the side effects of antidepressants ■ Strategies for a personalized supplement program

Integrative Therapies for Depression: Redefining Models for Assessment, Treatment and Prevention summarizes emerging theories and research findings on various nonpharmaceutical therapies to treat mood disorders.Supported by the review of nearly 3000 scientific studies, the book describes the concepts of inflammation, genetics, hormonal imbalance, g

This book is offered as a practical resource on safe, effective and affordable alternative treatments of depression. If you are struggling with depression this book provides valuable information about non-medication alternatives that will help you manage depressed mood using lifestyle changes such as exercise and nutrition, herbals and other natural supplements, meditation and mind-body practices. This book is written to give you the maximum amount of information in the least amount of time. From the contents you can instantly navigate to sections that will help you: • Understand depression better • Take inventory of your symptoms • Identify treatments that make sense for you based on the research evidence • Learn about alternative treatments of depression • Develop a customized treatment plan that is right for you • Re-evaluate your treatment plan and make changes if your initial plan doesn’t work If you are a mental health professional this book provides concise, jargon-free summaries of alternative treatments of depression. An appendix with links to valuable internet resources is included to help you find quality brands of natural supplements and important safety information. This book is part of a series on alternative and integrative treatments of mental health problems. Other books in the series cover: · Alcohol and drug abuse · Anxiety · Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) · Bipolar disorder · Dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) · Insomnia · Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) · Schizophrenia

Depressive disorders affect almost 10% of the North American adult population age 18 and older in a given year, and about 25% of adults will have a major depression episode. It is projected that depression will be the second largest killer after heart disease by 2020. Conventional medicine is adept at prescribing medications for depression, but not well versed at addressing the causes of depression or preventing this disease. Fortunately, naturopathic medicine has proven to be especially effective and safe in doing do. Healing Depression is an authoritative guide for the naturopathic, conventional, and integrative practitioner, providing comprehensive information about the underlying factors that contribute to depression, how to diagnose the disease properly, and how to safely and effectively treat depression using natural medicines, while weaning patients from medications. Depression is a multifactorial disease best treated by a multifaceted integrative approach. Treating the cause affords the most complete and long-lasting clinical result, while cooperating with the healing power of nature (vis medicatrix naturae) is the guiding principle of naturopathic medicine, unifying its multifaceted modalities, from clinical nutrition and botanical medicine to homeopathy and mind-body therapy. Based on the most current research and evidence-based practices, Healing Depression will become a standard text for medical libraries, healthcare practitioners, and patients for years to come. "Living a life without joy is what living with depression is like. Dr Bongiorno has provided an excellent overview of depression as well as a guide to how it is treated in both standard and naturopathic models. His book will help healthcare providers of all licenses raise their patients out of the pit of depression." -- Dr Walter Crinnion, ND, Professor, Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine

An integrative approach to support your health and well-being While Western medicine often relies on a one-size-size-fits-all approach to treating depression, Ayurveda offers an individualized, holistic model that draws upon five thousand years of scientific knowledge and practice to address depression systemically--restoring balance and nourishing mind, body, and spirit. The Ayurvedic anti-depression protocols outlined in this book can work alone or in concert with conventional therapies to help you develop a tailored plan that meets your unique needs. You'll learn how to identify your inborn and mental constitutions (prakruti and manas prakruti) to better understand the root causes of your condition. This book will empower you to create daily and seasonal routines using dietary adjustments, mind-body training, and herbal remedies to reawaken your body and cultivate the wisdom needed to heal from depression.

In "The Breakthrough Depression Solution: A Personalized 9-Step Method for Beating the Physical Causes of Your Depression," Dr. James Greenblatt, a pioneer in integrative medicine and dually certified child and adult psychiatrist, lays out a proven approach to identifying and healing the physical contributors to your depression. Despite the dozens of antidepressants on the market, millions of people who seek treatment for depression fail to find ongoing relief from their symptoms. Others must go through months of medication trials before finding the prescription(s) that works best for them. In "The Breakthrough Depression Solution," Dr. Greenblatt uses what he's coined THE ZEEBrA approach to take readers beyond traditional treatment strategies toward healing. Dr. Greenblatt argues that, to treat depression, clinicians must understand the connection between mind and body and start looking at the unique biochemistry of each individual, including physical factors such as nutrition, genetics, hormones, and stress. Finding the right treatment is easier than people think and may be as simple as taking a vitamin or mineral tablet. The author discusses the latest technology and the many tests available to ensure that medications and other treatments are targeted to each individual for the best outcome possible. A chapter describing the tests that patients can ask for empowers readers to get the treatment they deserve.

Contemporary psychiatry is a field that is especially conducive to the principles of integrative medicine. With the exception of a few disorders, such as schizophrenia, most psychiatric disorders respond to interventions other than drugs. Patients who have not tolerated or not responded optimally to traditional treatments are also good candidates for integrative treatments. Additionally, herbals such as St. John's wort for the treatment of depression and ginkgo for the treatment of memory impairment in dementia have been found effective in traditional clinical trials. Patients' use of alternative and complementary therapies in psychiatry has created a need for physicians to become informed about these treatments, to advise patients on their efficacy, and to be able to make judgments on integrating these therapies into existing regimens, including discussions of such issues as potential drug-herb interactions. In this volume in the Weil Integrative Medicine Library, the authors describe a rational and evidence-based approach to the integrative therapy of mental disorders integrating the principles of alternative and complementary therapies into the principles and practice of conventional psychiatry and psychology. The authors will examine what works and what doesn't, and offer practical guidelines for physicians to incorporate integrative medicine into their practice and to advise patients on reasonable and effective therapies. The text discusses areas of controversy and identifies areas of uncertainty where future research is needed. Chapters also cite the best available evidence for both the safety and the efficacy of all therapies discussed. The information is presented in accessible and easy-to-read formats, including clinical pearls and key points, with a second text color for highlighting key information.

A new approach to treating depression offers information on biochemical ltherapies, energy treatments such as acupuncture, mind-body therapies, and exercise. Original.