(HS Greenblatt 078688 2023) Awareness is Not Enough: A New Look at the Staggering Statistics of Adolescent Mental Health

Course overview

The American youth of today are in crisis. While rates of adolescent depression and suicide in the U.S. have hit unprecedented highs, mainstream psychiatry persists in its adherence to a century-old model of treatment and prevention. . . a reactionary symptom-drug polypharmacy model that has, despite widespread and longstanding implementation, failed to reverse current mental health trends. This tragic status quo is one to which we are not bound, however. We HAVE tools with which we could prevent suicide, treat depression, improve patient outcomes, and turn the trend lines around. This lecture introduces a novel Functional Psychiatry model of treatment and prevention spanning both psychosocial and biological factors - biomarkers linked to an increased risk of depression and suicide. It explores research supporting the utility of biomarkers such as genetic mutations and essential nutrient deficiencies, as well as lab screenings to illuminate chronic underlying conditions robustly associated with neuropsychiatric dysfunction. Bridging research, concept, and application, this presentation seeks to redefine modern treatment and prevention efforts, and reshape systems meant to provide a lifeline to those in urgent need of our attention, care, and support. Through biomarker testing in accordance with a Functional Psychiatry model, today's providers are equipped with evidence-based tools capable of improving patient outcomes, and turning the tides of the youth mental health crisis.