Presenter: Joel Evans, MD, OB/GYN and Kelly Brogan, MD
Format: Video of slides with synchronized audio

Unfortunately, many healthcare practitioners treat mental health issues with medications because they are often unaware of the underlying functional imbalances that manifest as the symptoms they are asked to address. In this session, Joel Evans, M.D., author of a recently published textbook chapter on Mental Health and a member of the senior faculty of the Institute for Functional Medicine, along with Kelly Brogan, M.D., a psychiatrist, lecturer/ blogger and specialists in Women's Mental Health, will discuss the Functional Medicine Approach to Mental Health. Topics to be covered include pre and perinatal influences (think Functional Medicine Timeline) as well as the limitations of conventional treatment, the inflammatory model featuring postpartum depression, the gut/ brain/ microbiome connection, methylation/ epigenetics and environmental toxins.

Learning Objectives
- The pre and perinatal influences on Mental Health
- The theory and application of the inflammatory model of depression and the relevance of the gut/brain axis
- The evidence to support considerations of nutritional factors and non-medication interventions for the treatment of depressive and anxiety symptoms