Functional Herbal Therapy and the New Biology of Depression: Neuroinflammation and Neuroplasticity

Functional Herbal Therapy and the New Biology of Depression: Targeting Neuroinflammation and Neuroplasticity

Presented by Professor Kerry Bone

For decades, depression has been framed as a neurotransmitter problem—most famously, a “serotonin deficiency.” That model is now collapsing. Large-scale analyses show no consistent link between serotonin levels and depression, and modern neuroscience suggests antidepressants may work not by correcting a chemical imbalance, but by restoring brain network flexibility and neuroplasticity.

So, what is really driving depressive illness?

One of the strongest emerging answers is neuroinflammation.

Neuroinflammation can be acute—but more often it is a slow, smouldering process driven by systemic inflammation, immune activation, blood-brain barrier dysfunction, oxidative stress, mitochondrial impairment, and gut-derived inflammatory signals. This inflammatory traffic into the brain disrupts synaptic signalling, impairs neurogenesis, suppresses BDNF, alters stress circuitry, and locks patients into rigid, maladaptive brain states. And yes—we can now see this process live in humans.

In this advanced professional lecture, Professor Kerry Bone presents a new clinical framework for depression based on Functional Herbal Therapy (FHT)—a systems-based approach designed to modulate neuroinflammation, restore neuroplasticity, and address the upstream drivers of mood dysregulation, especially the gut-brain impact.

You will learn:
• Why neuroinflammation is now central to modern depression research
• How inflammatory signalling suppresses BDNF and neuroplastic recovery
• The critical role of the gut-brain axis in inflammatory mood disorders
• Why “leaky gut” often becomes a “leaky brain”
• Which herbs have human evidence for modulating neuroinflammation
• A proof-of-principle clinical trial using herbal neuroplastic support
• Practical FHT strategies you can use immediately

This is not about symptom suppression or pharmacologically propping up a dysregulated brain. It is about changing the biological terrain in which depression arises. If your patients are stuck, relapsing, or only partially responding, this session will give you a fundamentally new way to think and treat.

Live Webinar Times for Thursday, May 14:
Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) - 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Mountain Daylight Time (MDT) - 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Central Daylight Time (CDT) - 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) - 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM