Where: Online

CPE: 1.5 CPE points

Webinar Recording: Webinar recordings can be watched at any time.

Antidepressant Withdrawal - A Holistic Approach for Natural Medicine Practitioners

Antidepressant use is widespread in Australia, but the journey off these medications can present significant challenges, including the risk of Antidepressant Discontinuation Syndrome (ADS). This webinar offers natural medicine practitioners a comprehensive guide to understanding and managing the complexities of antidepressant withdrawal, focusing on evidence-based, integrative strategies.

Key Topics Covered:

Antidepressant Use in Australia: Gain insights into current trends and prescribing practices.
When is Medical Deprescribing Appropriate? Learn how to safely consider deprescribing in collaboration with the patient’s doctor and/or psychologist, while understanding the differences between dependence and addiction.
Understanding Antidepressant Discontinuation Syndrome (ADS): Explore the incidence, pathophysiology, symptoms, and diagnosis of ADS.
Strategies to Reduce ADS Risk: Discover effective techniques including awareness building and dose tapering.
Holistic Approaches to Reduce Relapse Risk:
- Lifestyle Medicine: Implement exercise, meditation, nature exposure, sleep optimization, social activities, volunteering, and creative pursuits.
- Food as Medicine: Explore the benefits of the Mediterranean diet in supporting mental health during withdrawal.
- Nutritional Medicine: Ensure adequate intake of dietary neurotransmitter precursors and essential fatty acids.
- Herbal Medicine: Understand the role of herbal therapies, including critical insights on drug interactions.
- Microbiome Support: Address the link between gut health and mental well-being.
- Counselling Referrals: Recognise when and how to refer patients for professional mental health support.

Join us to deepen your understanding of antidepressant withdrawal and equip yourself with the tools to guide your patients through this challenging transition with compassion and evidence-based integrative therapies.

Presenter: Diana Boot

Diana graduated from pharmacy in 1989 and has since worked in hospital, industry and community pharmacy settings. She bought her first pharmacy in 2007 and currently owns two compounding pharmacies in Sydney’s north.

Diana’s journey into integrative health began when a regular pharmacy customer walked in with a pile of scripts and said he would return after he bought his lunch. The patient’s scripts were for blood pressure, cholesterol and acid lowering drugs. The patient returned with his lunch of a pie, a sausage roll and a Coke. The experience highlighted the need for more wholistic approaches to health and led to Diana enrolling in nutrition and naturopathy studies.

Today, Diana’s consulting practice is focused on deprescribing: helping people reduce their reliance on pharmaceutical medicines for conditions that can be managed effectively with more integrative approaches, such as mood, gut and metabolic conditions. Diana collaborates with other health professionals to create tailored treatment plans which include bespoke herbal and compounded nutritional medicines.

In 2014 Diana and her husband founded Natural Chemist, an online integrative pharmacy. Shortly afterwards they started Natural Script, a bespoke dispensary service empowering practitioners to create unique products tailored to the specific needs of their patients.

Natural Script is a trusted partner to practitioners who use the platform to formulate and prescribe a variety of high-quality compounds including liquid herbs, herbal creams and pessaries, nutritional and pharmaceutical compounds, and practitioner only supplements

Diana is available to support practitioners to reduce their patients’ reliance on pharmaceutical medications (www.medfreeme.com.au) and to mentor practitioners on building nutritional compounding into their practice (www.naturalscript.com.au).