Description:

Many patients in psychotherapy practices are also taking various psychotropic medications including anti-depressants, mood stabilizers, anti-psychotics, anxiolytics, to name just a few. The psychotherapists of the 21st Century not only need to be masters at their own craft, but they also need a working knowledge of these various medications, their common side-effects, and how these medications can both help and hinder the psychotherapeutic process.

This workshop will be led by a psychiatrist-psychotherapist team and will offer a primer on the most important neurotransmitters (such as serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine), and help the attendees learn about the benefits and side-effects of the most commonly used medications including weight gain and sexual dysfunction. Through case examples from their own practices, they will demonstrate how to create an ideal partnership between psychotherapists and psychiatrists, as well as psychotherapy and psychopharmacology. Focus will be on the importance of deprescribing, black box warnings, the use of scales of screeners, the partnership between medications and wellness interventions, and look at what the future holds. Use of handouts and resources will be emphasized throughout this workshop.

Educational Objectives:

1. To recognize the role of the biological, genetic, and neurochemical aspects of mental health disorders, and to appreciate how these interact with psychological factors
2. To understand the importance of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine in both optimum and adverse mental health conditions, and to appreciate how various psychotropic medications help common mental health disorders
3. To integrate this knowledge on psychopharmacology for the non-prescribing mental health professional, and using case-based learning to illustrate how psychotherapists can ideally partner with a prescriber and a patient receiving both medications and psychotherapy

*Sessions may be edited for content and to preserve confidentiality*