Continuing Education Credits

Psychologists, social workers, counselors, and nurses:

Why spend time driving or flying to a seminar when you can obtain Continuing Education credits in the comfort of your home, and at a time convenient to you? Dr. Brickey has three online courses with the Zur Institute. The courses are approved for CEUs by numerous licensing organizations.

Anti-Aging Research and Therapies: What is Evidence-Based and What is Not --14 CE Credits

GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION

Traditional medicine and healthcare have focused on diagnosing and treating diseases. Anti-aging medicine focuses on using scientific, evidenced-based methods to prevent, treat, and even reverse diseases and aging. The goal is to live long and be in good physical and mental health at every age. The field is exploding with exciting findings in gene therapy, tissue engineering, stem cell therapies, hormone therapies, brain research, pharmaceuticals, and nanotechnology. The field also has considerable hype and even charlatanism.

This course examines anti-aging research and practices with an emphasis on what is evidence-based and what isn't. It looks at promising developments in the pipeline. It presents the best research and, when applicable, discusses controversies, concerns, and risks - and lets you draw the conclusions on what makes sense for you and your clients.

This course is composed of several short articles and 11 audio (MP3) interviews with top experts in the field of Anti-aging:

In the first section Michael Brickey, Ph.D. gives an overview of the field of anti-aging medicine and gerontology.

The second section, Longitudinal Research, includes an interview with Leslie Martin, Ph.D., who emphasizes aging and longevity issues in the latest findings from the ongoing Terman study begun in 1921.

The third section, Brains and Anti-aging Research, includes interviews with Judith Horstman, science journalist with Scientific American, on the latest research on human brains, and an interview with Barbara Strauch, New York Times Health and Science Editor, who focuses on surprising research about the uniqueness of "middle aged brains."

The fourth section, titled Nutrition and Anti-aging, includes an interview with Susan Yager, health journalist, who gives a perspective on the last 100+ years of nutrition and dieting and then focuses on anti-aging nutritional issues.

The fifth section covers the important topic of Hormone Therapies. This section includes an interview with Jonathan Wright, MD, the world's preeminent expert on bioidentical hormone replacement, who focuses on his research and clinical experience with bio-identical hormone replacement; an interview with Jonathan Morgentaler, MD, the world's preeminent expert on male hormone replacement, who examines hormone replacement for men; and an interview with Sergey Dzugan, MD, Ph.D. and George Rozakis, MD, who examine holistic approaches to rebalancing hormones (restorative medicine).

The sixth section covers the often neglected but extremely important topic of Over-Diagnosis and Over-Treatment. It includes an interview with H Gilbert Welch, MD, a prominent expert on evidence-based medicine, who examines how the over-diagnosis and over-treatment of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis often do more harm than good. It also includes an interview with Michael Ozner, MD, preventive cardiologist, who examines the overdiagnosis and overtreatment of cardiovascular disease.

The seventh section is focused on The Future of Anti-aging and includes a couple of short articles on the Artificial Retina Project and two MP3 interviews. One is with Terry Grossman, MD, which examines best practices in holistic medicine and what is in the future for anti-aging medicine, and the other is with Michael Fossel, MD, telomere researcher, which discusses the role of telomeres in aging.

Finally, the last section provides Online Resources and Annotated Resources for further reading.

Aging and Positive Psychology: Biological, Cognitive, Personality, Health, and Clinical Issues -- 10 CE Credit

GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION

Between 1900 and 2000 American life expectancy jumped from 47 to 77 years. Advances in genetic engineering, tissue engineering, stem cell therapies, nanotechnology, hormone therapies, and other fields are likely to foster a longevity revolution in which life-spans get much longer and people look and function younger at older ages. What can psychology and positive psychology teach us about how to live longer, healthier, and happier? This course uses articles and interviews with anti-aging experts to consider cognitive and personality research and clinical issues. The focus is on what helps people age better and live longer as opposed to focusing on decline and pathology. The Psychology of Aging The content is both relevant to your aging better and to helping clients age better and deal with the challenges of aging.

In this intermediate course the article on aging and positive psychology examines longevity research with an emphasis on attitudes, beliefs, and coping skills. Other articles look at particular aspects of cognition and personality in aging and at clinical issues, such as diagnostic and testing considerations, elder abuse, substance abuse, financial considerations, and rural outreach.

Often the best way to get a feel for researchers and their research is to hear them. The course includes eight unique MP3 interviews with anti-aging experts. Each interview is about 35-40 minutes long. Separate PDF files give bios and notes for each of these interviews. Interviews with Dr. Alan Zelicoff, Dr. Duke Johnson, and Dr. Barry Sears consider what evidence-based medicine, holistic health research, and hormone research find about how to live longer and healthier lives. Dr. Ryan Niemiec examines portrayals of aging in movies from the perspective of positive psychology. Psychologist Dr. Jeff Johnson and sociologist Dr. Paula Forman, Ph.D., consider challenging life transitions for Baby Boomers. Sexologist Dr. Robert Birch shares his 30+ years of clinical experience as a sex therapist and discusses how to foster a fulfilling sex life for Boomers and seniors. John Erickson is a visionary who revolutionized retirement living, founded Retirement Living Television network (the only cable TV network devoted to seniors), and has developed remarkably effective medical services for seniors. Happiness researcher Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky shares her research on happiness and what people can do to become happier.

Psychology of Aging and Positive Psychology: Biology and Psychology of Aging and What It Takes to Live Longer, Healthier, and Happier -- 3 CE Credits

GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION

Between 1900 and 2000, American life expectancy jumped from 47 to 77 years. Advances in genetic engineering, tissue engineering, stem cell therapies, nanotechnology, hormone therapies, and other fields are likely to foster a longevity revolution in which lifespans get much longer and people look and function younger at older ages. What can psychology in general and positive psychology teach us about how to live longer, healthier, and happier?

This course focuses on what research on aging and research on centenarians (people 100+ years old) can teach us about living longer, healthier, and happier and how therapists can apply this knowledge to their clients (and to themselves)