The Stress-Mood Axis

CE Credit Hours: 5
APA, BBS, BRN

The face of disease has shifted in the last hundred years. The primary diseases affecting us today are ones where damage accumulates gradually: including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and autoimmune illnesses. Additionally, anxiety and depressive disorders affect approximately 18% and 9% of U.S. adults respectively, with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome affecting over one million Americans. And for many more individuals, mood instability, pervasive fatigue, and general ‘unwellness’ can persist, even in the absence of the ability to detect any clinical (diagnosable) disease. There is evidence linking these pervasive states of illness to a chronically overworked stress system. As this course will explore in detail, chronic stress can create dysregulation within the body’s primary stress system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The HPA axis, along with short-term mediation from the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), controls the stress response in humans, and in doing so, modulates stress-related illnesses and the chronic (and pervasive) feelings of ‘unwellness’ that some individuals experience.

The purpose of this course is to explain the physiological mechanisms of chronic stress, as well as how to assess for the psychological and physical manifestations of HPA-axis Dysregulation (HPA-D). Methods for stabilizing the HPA axis and promoting HPA-D recovery will also be proposed in the form of an integrative, evidence-based model called Stress System Restorative Therapy (SSRT).

Instructor: Ephimia Morphew-Lu, MS, Dip. CN
M. Ephimia Morphew-Lu is an M.S. in Psychology with a decade of experience in the field of psychology and human performance. She spent the majority of her career at NASA as a Senior Engineering Psychologist supporting the psychological and performance capabilities of pilots and astronauts for NASA and the U.S. military. She is the founder of an International scientific society and peer-reviewed journal, The Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments, has won numerous awards in her field of specialty, and has published widely in her area of expertise. In 2004, she resigned from her career with NASA to pursue a full-time career in the field of nutrition and nutritional psychology. She has since been personally trained by the country’s leading experts in amino acid therapy and holistic nutrition. In addition to her professional training, Ephi has personally suffered from both a chronic autoimmune disease and debilitating pain disorder for over 25 years. Motivated to relieve her own pain and find a cure, she has consulted a plethora of physicians and health practitioners during these years, and has been prescribed an equal amount of medications – all with no relief. It was not until she stumbled into the field of nutrition that she was able to replace many of the medications she was taking with nutrients. She has now dedicated her life to bringing this form of therapy and healing to her clients, fellow practitioners, and the medical and health community.

Instructor: Lou Lasprugato, MFT
Lou Lasprugato is a mental health clinician within the Department of Psychiatry at Kaiser Permanente, Sacramento, California where he facilitates psycho-educational and skill-building groups, along with individual therapy and crisis intervention services within an Intensive Outpatient Program. Lou’s clinical training and therapeutic approaches include Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), mindfulness-based stress reduction, heart rate variability biofeedback, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), music therapy, and nutritional psychology. Lou initiated a movement in educational seminars for colleagues within the North Valley region and continues to both recruit guest speakers as well as present on various topics, including ACT, nutritional psychology, stress management, and integrative treatments for depression. Lou is a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and also maintains a small private practice in Davis, CA. He earned his Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology (Holistic Studies Specialization) from Lesley University, Cambridge, MA following a career as a professional musician. Lou has had a long-held personal and professional interest in the emerging field of nutritional psychology.

JFKU-CE is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists, by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) to provide continuing education for MFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs & LEPs and by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) to provide continuing education for RNs. JFKU-CE maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

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