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Course curriculum

    1. Introduction

    2. Full Text Download

    3. The Shift in Paradigm: Why Mental Health is No Longer Just "In the Head"

    4. The Overlap: How “Sickness Behaviour” Mimics De-pression and Anxiety

    5. Section I Quiz

    1. Defining the Response: Not Just a "Red Swell"

    2. The Transdiagnostic Nature: Moving Beyond Labels

    3. Section II Quiz

    1. Introduction

    2. 1. The Depression Connection: The "Inflamed" Subtype

    3. Deep Dive (optional)

    4. 2. Psychotic Disorders: Beyond the "Chemical Imbalance"

    5. Deep Dive (optional)

    6. 3. PTSD and Trauma: The Body as a High-Alert System

    7. Deep Dive (optional)

    8. Therapist Perspective: The "Stuck" Client

    9. 4. When the Alarm Becomes a Fire: Acute Neuroinflammatory Syndromes

    10. Deep Dive (optional)

    11. 5. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and the "Depression-First" Presentation

    12. 6. Anxiety Disorders: The Link to Chronic Stress Arousal

    13. 7. Bipolar Disorder: A State-Dependent Milieu

    14. Therapist Perspective: Looking for the "Irritable-Tired" Client

    15. Section III Quiz

    1. Introduction

    2. 1. The Western-Style Diet and Inflammation

    3. 2. Adipose Tissue: The Body’s Largest Immune Organ

    4. 3. Why Visceral Fat is the "Hidden Player"

    5. 4. The Microbiome and Environmental Load

    6. Section IV Quiz

    1. Introduction

    2. 1. The Challenge of the "Magic Bullet"

    3. 2. The Lifestyle Advantage: A "Broad-Spectrum" Approach

    4. 3. Why This Belongs in the Therapy Room

    5. Section V Quiz

    1. 1. Physical Activity: The Muscle–Immune Dialogue

    2. 2. Sleep and Circadian Alignment: Keeping the Immune System "On Schedule"

    3. 3. Weight and Metabolic Health: Clearing the Chemical "Noise"

    4. Section VI Quiz

4 hour 45 min Reading Course

  • $57.00

The Inflamed Mind

This reading course provides psychotherapists with an essential lens for understanding mental health, moving beyond a traditional "neck-up" approach. Chronic, low-grade inflammation is a critical biological driver of psychiatric symptoms like depression, fatigue, and cognitive fog. The course explains how the body's natural "sickness behaviour" can become chronically activated by modern lifestyle factors, leading to a state that mimics or worsens mental illness. It equips clinicians with a practical roadmap to identify this "inflamed phenotype" and use targeted, body-first interventions related to movement, sleep, and diet to calm the body's immune alarm, thereby making psychological work more effective.

  • Explain the paradigm shift from a purely psychological model of mental health to a systemic, psychoneuroimmunological perspective that includes the body's inflammatory state.

  • Identify the key clinical features of the "inflamed phenotype," including effort-based anhedonia, psychomotor slowing, and cognitive fog, to better screen clients.

  • Describe the primary biological and lifestyle drivers of chronic inflammation, including the Western-style diet, visceral adipose tissue, and circadian rhythm disruption.

  • Analyze how inflammation acts as a transdiagnostic factor that contributes to symptoms across different disorders, including major depression, PTSD, and bipolar disorder.

  • Apply "body-first" behavioural interventions, such as promoting myokine-releasing movement and circadian-aligning routines, within a therapeutic setting.

  • Utilize psychoeducational metaphors, like the "immune alarm" and "sickness behaviour," to explain the body-brain connection to clients in a non-shaming and empowering way.

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