Free course · Dr. Jim Phelps
A free, guided course built from Dr. Jim Phelps's own teaching videos — how he diagnoses complex depression, recognizes mixed states, thinks about what causes bipolarity, and approaches treatment across the mood spectrum. Psychofarm curates and sequences it; every video is his.
What you'll be able to do
This isn't a diagnosis checklist — it's a way of reasoning about where a mood problem sits on the spectrum, and what that means for treatment. By the end, you'll be able to:
Recognize the large middle ground between plain unipolar depression and full bipolar disorder.
Recognize depression mixed with agitation, irritability, or racing thoughts — often mistaken for anxiety, PTSD, or ADHD.
Genetics, circadian rhythm, reward sensitivity, metabolism, and inflammation as contributing causes.
Sleep and light-based strategies, nutrition, and lifestyle approaches as real treatment, not an afterthought.
Follow Dr. Phelps's logic for matching medication to mood pattern — including where he differs from standard guidelines, and why.
When they help, when they create problems across the mood spectrum, and how to taper them thoughtfully.
Curriculum · 6 modules · 43 videos
Free, in full, in the order Dr. Phelps recommends. Start with Module 01 if you're new to the material.
The suggested starting point — recognizing different forms of depression and finding where you fall on the mood spectrum.
What it looks like when depression and activation — agitation, racing thoughts, irritability — show up together.
The leading explanations for why bipolarity shows up in different forms and at different severities.
Psychotherapy, sleep and light-based strategies, nutrition, and lifestyle tools alongside — or instead of — medication.
A focused, not exhaustive, look at the medications Dr. Phelps finds most useful or most misunderstood.
Where antidepressants help, when they create problems, and how to taper them — placed last on purpose.
About the teacher
Jim Phelps, MD, is a psychiatrist and educator with approximately 30 years of clinical experience, including more than 20 years focused on complex mood disorders — complex depression, mixed states, Bipolar II disorder, and the broader bipolar spectrum.
He has worked in inpatient psychiatry, outpatient psychiatry, private practice, and primary-care psychiatric consultation and liaison programs. He is an emeritus psychiatrist at Samaritan Mental Health in Corvallis, Oregon, and Medical Director of PsychEducation.org.
Dr. Phelps received his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and completed his psychiatry residency and a fellowship in medical education at the University of New Mexico.
He has been the lead author of more than 20 peer-reviewed publications and has participated in International Society for Bipolar Disorders task forces addressing bipolar diagnosis and chronotherapy. He also served as Bipolar Disorder Section Editor for Psychiatric Times.
Dr. Phelps is now semi-retired from clinical practice and remains active in educating clinicians and patients about depression, bipolar disorder, and complex mood presentations. The opinions presented in this course are his own and do not necessarily represent the International Society for Bipolar Disorders.
Free course
Curated from Dr. Phelps's own YouTube channel, organized into a clear sequence, with your progress saved automatically as you go.
Start now
The complete mood-spectrum track, curated from Dr. Phelps's videos.
Start the Course →All videos are courtesy of Dr. Jim Phelps / PsychEducation.org. Psychofarm curates and sequences this content — it does not create it, and the opinions expressed are Dr. Phelps's own, not Psychofarm's. Educational only; not medical advice.
Educational content only. This course curates video content created by Dr. Jim Phelps for clinician, trainee, and patient education. It is not medical advice and not a substitute for clinical judgment, current guidelines, or individualized patient care.