Use of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Mental Illness

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Use of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Mental Illness ~ Member Rate - $25.00

Use of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Mental Illness - $30.00

Session Summary

Omega-3 fatty acids are involved in many physiologic processes. Since they cannot be made de novo in the body, they are considered essential nutrients and are divided into two groups 1) short chain, alpha linolenic acid (ALA) and 2) long chain, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) fatty acids. The long chain omega-3 fatty acids are derived from marine sources such as oily fish and are more frequently implicated in mental illness than ALA. There are three primary lines of evidence that support the role of long chain omega-3 fatty acids in psychiatric illnesses: 1) epidemiologic data indicate that lower omega-3 fatty acid intake is correlated with an increased risk of mental illness; 2) trials have found altered omega-3 fatty acid levels in people with some forms of mental illness and 3) some interventional trials show promising results for the role of omega-3 fatty acids in the treatment of mental illness. However, clinical trials report disparate outcomes making interpretation of the role of omega-3 fatty acids difficult. Current data support the role of omega-3 fatty acids in affective disorders but their use has yet to be clarified in other mental illnesses.

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Faculty Information

Jessica Goren, PharmD, BCPP

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Jessica Gören, PharmD, BCPP
Associate Professor
University of Rhode Island
Somerville, MA

Jessica Gören is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island. She completed her residency and fellowship training at Albany College of Pharmacy. She has been a Clinical Pharmacist Specialist for the Cambridge Health Alliance, an Associate Professor at the University of Rhode Island and an Instructor in Psychiatry with Harvard Medical School for the past five years. She has conducted research on quality of care for patients with severe mental illness and complementary and alternative medicine. As Cambridge Health Alliance is part of the Public Health Department, Jessica works directly with a diverse patient population who rely heavily on complementary and alternative medical practices for self management of their illnesses.

Presentation will include discussion of off-label, experimental, and/or investigational use of drugs or devices:

Entire talk will be off label since omega-3 fatty acids are not approved for any psychiatric indication.

Learning Objectives

Describe the prevalence of using omega-3 fatty acids as a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapy for mood disorders
Identify potential neuronal mechanisms of action for omega-3 fatty acids
Interpret the evidence for use of omega-3 fatty acids in the mentally ill/mood disorders
Propose omega-3 fatty acids’ place in therapy
Recommend appropriate dosing and type of omega-3 supplementation as a treatment for mood disorders

Continuing Education Credit

Activity Dates: 05/02/2011 - 05/02/2014
ACPE Contact Hours: 1.0
ACPE Number: 0284-9999-11-008-H01-P (Knowledge)
Nursing Credit Reminder: Note that ACPE and ACCME credit is accepted for certification renewal.

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ACPE The College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. This self-study course provides 1.0 contact hours (0.10CEUs) of knowledge-based continuing education credit from CPNP approved programming. The ACPE universal program number assigned to this course is 0284-0999-11-008-H01-P (1.0 contact hours).

ACPE approved contact hours are accepted for ANCC Certification Renewal (see pages 5 and 6): At least 50% (37.5 hours) of your 75 continuing education hours must be formally approved continuing education hours. Formally approved continuing education hours meet one or more of the criteria listed below:

Continuing nursing education (CNE) approved for nursing contact hours by an accredited provider or approver of nursing continuing education
Continuing medical education (CME) approved for CME hours
Sponsored by organizations, agencies, or educational institutions accredited or approved by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) or the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) or the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) or the Commission on Dietetic Registration

Course Requirements

This course is provided online at cpnp.org and consists of the speaker audio and slides. A PDF file of the slides is also provided and access is available to participants indefinitely although ACPE credit is available only through the course expiration date.

Participants in this course must complete an examination and achieve a score of 60% or greater. Successful completion of the course also requires the completion of a course evaluation. ACPE statements of credit can be retrieved by participants online at cpnp.org immediately upon successful completion of the course.

View System Requirements to Access All Session Resources

Minimum:

Internet Explorer 6+, Firefox 2+ or Safari 3+
1024x768 resolution or greater
Adobe Flash Player 8+
512MB RAM
Any Operating System capable of the above requirements

Recommended:

Internet Explorer 7+, Firefox 3+ or Safari 3+
1280x768 resolution or greater
Adobe Flash Player 10+
Windows XP/2000/Vista and Mac OS 10.4 or better
512MB of RAM for Windows XP or Mac OS
1GB of RAM for Windows Vista

Target Audience

If you are a pharmacist, nurse practitioner or other healthcare professional involved in the medication therapy management of psychiatric and/or neurological patients, we invite you to participate in this online course.

Grant Support

This programming was supported in part by grants from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cyberonics, Merk and Sunovion.