diff --git a/src/families/location_scale.jl b/src/families/location_scale.jl
index 152cd15d..e60538a1 100644
--- a/src/families/location_scale.jl
+++ b/src/families/location_scale.jl
@@ -57,17 +57,17 @@ Base.eltype(::Type{<:MvLocationScale{S, D, L}}) where {S, D, L} = eltype(D)
 function StatsBase.entropy(q::MvLocationScale)
     @unpack  location, scale, dist = q
     n_dims = length(location)
-    n_dims*convert(eltype(location), entropy(dist)) + first(logabsdet(scale))
+    n_dims*convert(eltype(location), entropy(dist)) + first(logdet(scale))
 end
 
 function Distributions.logpdf(q::MvLocationScale, z::AbstractVector{<:Real})
     @unpack location, scale, dist = q
-    sum(Base.Fix1(logpdf, dist), scale \ (z - location)) - first(logabsdet(scale))
+    sum(Base.Fix1(logpdf, dist), scale \ (z - location)) - first(logdet(scale))
 end
 
 function Distributions._logpdf(q::MvLocationScale, z::AbstractVector{<:Real})
     @unpack location, scale, dist = q
-    sum(Base.Fix1(logpdf, dist), scale \ (z - location)) - first(logabsdet(scale))
+    sum(Base.Fix1(logpdf, dist), scale \ (z - location)) - first(logdet(scale))
 end
 
 function Distributions.rand(q::MvLocationScale)
diff --git a/src/optimize.jl b/src/optimize.jl
index acb455d2..325de5a2 100644
--- a/src/optimize.jl
+++ b/src/optimize.jl
@@ -1,17 +1,15 @@
 
 """
-    optimize(problem, objective, restructure, param_init, max_iter, objargs...; kwargs...)              
-    optimize(problem, objective, variational_dist_init, max_iter, objargs...; kwargs...)              
+    optimize(problem, objective, q_init, max_iter, objargs...; kwargs...)              
 
 Optimize the variational objective `objective` targeting the problem `problem` by estimating (stochastic) gradients.
 
-The variational approximation can be constructed by passing the variational parameters `param_init` or the initial variational approximation `variational_dist_init` to the function `restructure`.
+The trainable parameters in the variational approximation are expected to be extractable through `Optimisers.destructure`.
+This requires the variational approximation to be marked as a functor through `Functors.@functor`.
 
 # Arguments
 - `objective::AbstractVariationalObjective`: Variational Objective.
-- `param_init`: Initial value of the variational parameters.
-- `restruct`: Function that reconstructs the variational approximation from the flattened parameters.
-- `variational_dist_init`: Initial variational distribution. The variational parameters must be extractable through `Optimisers.destructure`.
+- `q_init`: Initial variational distribution. The variational parameters must be extractable through `Optimisers.destructure`.
 - `max_iter::Int`: Maximum number of iterations.
 - `objargs...`: Arguments to be passed to `objective`.
 
@@ -50,8 +48,7 @@ function optimize(
     rng          ::Random.AbstractRNG,
     problem,
     objective    ::AbstractVariationalObjective,
-    restructure,
-    params_init,
+    q_init,
     max_iter     ::Int,
     objargs...;
     adtype       ::ADTypes.AbstractADType, 
@@ -65,9 +62,9 @@ function optimize(
         barlen    = 31,
         showspeed = true,
         enabled   = show_progress
-    )
+    ),
 )
-    params   = copy(params_init)
+    params, restructure = Optimisers.destructure(deepcopy(q_init))
     opt_st   = maybe_init_optimizer(state_init, optimizer, params)
     obj_st   = maybe_init_objective(state_init, rng, objective, params, restructure)
     grad_buf = DiffResults.DiffResult(zero(eltype(params)), similar(params))
@@ -78,7 +75,7 @@ function optimize(
 
         grad_buf, obj_st, stat′ = estimate_gradient!(
             rng, objective, adtype, grad_buf, problem,
-            params, restructure,  obj_st, objargs...
+            params, restructure, obj_st, objargs...
         )
         stat = merge(stat, stat′)
 
@@ -98,52 +95,16 @@ function optimize(
         pm_next!(prog, stat)
         push!(stats, stat)
     end
-    state  = (optimizer=opt_st, objective=obj_st)
-    stats  = map(identity, stats)
-    params, stats, state
-end
-
-function optimize(
-    problem,
-    objective    ::AbstractVariationalObjective,
-    restructure,
-    params_init,
-    max_iter     ::Int,
-    objargs...;
-    kwargs...
-)
-    optimize(
-        Random.default_rng(),
-        problem,
-        objective,
-        restructure,
-        params_init,
-        max_iter,
-        objargs...;
-        kwargs...
-    )
+    state = (optimizer=opt_st, objective=obj_st)
+    stats = map(identity, stats)
+    restructure(params), stats, state
 end
 
-function optimize(rng                   ::Random.AbstractRNG,
-                  problem,
-                  objective             ::AbstractVariationalObjective,
-                  variational_dist_init,
-                  n_max_iter            ::Int,
-                  objargs...;
-                  kwargs...)
-    λ, restructure = Optimisers.destructure(variational_dist_init)
-    λ, logstats, state = optimize(
-        rng, problem, objective, restructure, λ, n_max_iter, objargs...; kwargs...
-    )
-    restructure(λ), logstats, state
-end
-
-
 function optimize(
     problem,
-    objective              ::AbstractVariationalObjective,
-    variational_dist_init,
-    max_iter               ::Int,
+    objective::AbstractVariationalObjective,
+    q_init,
+    max_iter ::Int,
     objargs...;
     kwargs...
 )
@@ -151,7 +112,7 @@ function optimize(
         Random.default_rng(),
         problem,
         objective,
-        variational_dist_init,
+        q_init,
         max_iter,
         objargs...;
         kwargs...
diff --git a/test/interface/optimize.jl b/test/interface/optimize.jl
index 9666893b..2606851c 100644
--- a/test/interface/optimize.jl
+++ b/test/interface/optimize.jl
@@ -33,28 +33,6 @@ using Test
             show_progress = false,
             adtype,
         )
-
-        λ₀, re  = Optimisers.destructure(q0)
-        optimize(
-            model, obj, re, λ₀, T;
-            optimizer,
-            show_progress = false,
-            adtype,
-        )
-    end
-
-    @testset "restructure" begin
-        λ₀, re  = Optimisers.destructure(q0)
-
-        rng  = StableRNG(seed)
-        λ, stats, _ = optimize(
-            rng, model, obj, re, λ₀, T;
-            optimizer,
-            show_progress = false,
-            adtype,
-        )
-        @test λ     == λ_ref
-        @test stats == stats_ref
     end
 
     @testset "callback" begin