Episodes

Parents often come into treatment hoping an SSRI will make their child's OCD disappear. But how much relief do these medications actually provide? Today, we look at a large meta-analysis that gives us a more realistic picture of what SSRIs can and can't do for pediatric OCD. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 10/12/2026 Duration: 14 minutes, 12 seconds Joshua Feder, MD, and Mara Goverman, LCSW, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial...

Dr. Carla Sharp is a leading expert in Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT), developmental psychopathology, and the treatment of personality disorders. She is the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Houston, where she serves as Associate Dean for Faculty and Research and directs the Developmental Psychopathology Lab and the Adolescent Diagnosis, Assessment, Prevention, and Treatment Center. A prolific scholar with more than 380 peer-reviewed publications ...

Prescribing stimulants outside of ADHD is not illegal, but what Done did sent the clinical leader to jail. We look at what went wrong and what the charges were, and end with a research update that improves access to psychiatric care the honest way. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 09/28/2026 Duration: 15 minutes, 25 seconds Chris Aiken, MD and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this ...

Done paid clinicians by the refill, not the visit. We trace how a telehealth company built its business model around stimulant prescriptions. Along the way you’ll learn why amphetamines are the #1 stimulant in America, but rarely used outside the US.Plus: a research update on tapering and switching sleep medication. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 09/21/2026 Duration: 26 minutes, 00 seconds Chris Aiken, MD and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP have disclosed no relevant financi...

A Silicon Valley founder built a telehealth company to make ADHD treatment as easy as ordering takeout, until federal prosecutors traced 37 million pills of Adderall back to the clinic. We follow Done from venture-backed startup to criminal conviction, and ask what the case means for how we diagnose and treats ADHD. Plus: a new FDA approval adds a third option to the ADHD reuptake-inhibitor family. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 09/14/2026 Duration: 13 minutes, 34 s...

Today, we’re tackling a deceptively simple question that comes up all the time in clinical practice: When should we prioritize medication, when should we emphasize psychotherapy, and when can we recommend both? This question comes up especially often with patients who are new to treatment. They’ll ask, “Do I need a medication?” or “Can I just do therapy?” And while it’s tempting to answer in generalities, the evidence actually gives us much clearer guidelines, depending on the substance that the...

Dr. Donn Posner is a leading expert in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), founder and president of Sleepwell Consultants, and an adjunct clinical associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He is co-author of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia: A Session-by-Session Guide, and he has trained and consulted with clinicians nationally and internationally across nearly four decades of clinical practi...

Dr. Donn Posner is one of the most active educators in CBT-I. He's founder and president of Sleepwell Consultants, adjunct clinical associate professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, and spent twenty-five years before that as director of behavioral sleep medicine at the Sleep Disorders Center of Lifespan Hospitals.  In this first of two episodes, Dr. Posner explains that chronic insomnia is a disorder in its own right — not just a symptom of something else — driven by perp...

How to separate adult ADHD from other causes of cognitive problems like bipolar disorder, sleep apnea, medication effects, brain injury, temperament, and malingering. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 08/17/2026 Duration: 15 minutes, 35 seconds Chris Aiken, MD and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

The modern DSM began as a short list of 12 well-validated diagnoses. But the list expanded as the authors changed the goals from validity to reliability. Lost in this history is a missing page that helps separate adult ADHD from its mimics. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 08/10/2026 Duration: 14 minutes, 39 seconds Chris Aiken, MD and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educatio...

Nine studies have tried to find out whether ADHD can start in adulthood, we dig into the data and find some answers to the controversy. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 08/03/2026 Duration: 13 minutes, 07 seconds Chris Aiken, MD and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

DSM-5 loosened the criteria for adult ADHD, but did it get too lose? We look at what recent prosecutions of telehealth companies mean for those trying to diagnose this disorder on the front-lines. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 07/27/2026 Duration: 15 minutes, 10 seconds Chris Aiken, MD and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

Dr. Shireen Rizvi provides an overview of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and the treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder.

Women clear some psychiatric medications more slowly, lose bone density at higher rates, and face greater medical consequences from alcohol and smoking than men. This final episode in a four-part series covers side effects, drug metabolism, drugs of abuse, urine incontinence, and what we do — and don't — know about prescribing for transgender patients. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 07/13/2026 Duration: 17 minutes, 37 seconds Chris Aiken, MD and Kellie Newsome, PMH...

Estrogen shapes nearly every neurotransmitter system in the brain, and when it starts to fall, psychiatric disorders often follow. This episode walks through what psychiatrists need to know about the perimenopause: which conditions worsen, which treatments help, and when to call the OB-GYN about hormone replacement therapy. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 07/06/2026 Duration: 18 minutes, 37 seconds Chris Aiken, MD and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP have disclosed no relevant...

Premenstrual hormones can destabilize mood, worsen ADHD, trigger psychosis, and drive binge eating. This episode walks through the tools to manage hormonal fluctuations in female patients, from SSRIs to overlooked supplements to the lamotrigine-contraceptive drug interaction. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 06/23/2026 Duration: 23 minutes, 32 seconds Chris Aiken, MD and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial c...

Women and men respond to psychiatric medications differently. In this first of a four-part series, Chris Aiken and Kellie Newsome walk through why valproate is risky for women, and when it’s worth using; why the FDA cut the zolpidem dose in half for female patients, and why SSRIs outperform tricyclics in women with depression. Plus: a sneak preview of DSM-6. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 06/22/2026 Duration: 27 minutes, 32 seconds Chris Aiken, MD and Kellie Newsom...

Psilocybin is going mainstream: Trump has signed an executive order opening psychedelics to patients with severe mental illness, and one in eight American adults has already tried it. But as we dig into the research, a more complicated picture emerges, one that separates the profound personal experience from the clinical evidence. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 06/15/2026 Duration: 18 minutes, 34 seconds Chris Aiken, MD, and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP, have disclosed no...

Dr. Roger Solomon provides a comprehensive introduction to Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), explaining the adaptive information processing model that underlies the treatment, walking through all eight phases of the protocol, and discussing how EMDR can be applied across a wide range of presentations—from single-incident trauma to complex trauma with dissociation. Dr. Solomon also addresses how clinicians can determine client readiness, navigate repressed memories, and levera...

What if the patients we assume are safest from suicide are actually the ones we miss? Today we're talking about suicide risk in autistic youth, why it's higher than many clinicians expect, how distress shows up differently, and what small changes in our assessment process and treatment can make a real difference. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 06/01/2026 Duration: 18 minutes, 29 seconds Joshua Feder, MD, and Mara Goverman, LCSW, have disclosed no relevant financ...

It's 1979, and Johns Hopkins has just shut down the first gender surgery clinic in the US. But investigations into the biological roots of gender identity are about to reopen those doors — and reshape how medicine thinks about sex, gender, and who gets to decide. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 05/25/2026 Duration: 11 minutes, 52 seconds Chris Aiken, MD, and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pe...

In 1966, Johns Hopkins opened the first gender surgery clinic in the US. Thirteen years later, a single study shut it down. We examine what the research said, what it didn't say, and how new standards of care emerged from the ashes. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 05/18/2026 Duration: 13 minutes, 39 seconds Chris Aiken, MD, and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational ac...

The president of the US branch of WPATH built one of the largest youth gender clinics in the country, then watched it close under political fire. Now she's facing a malpractice lawsuit from a former patient. We examine the unpublished study at the center of the controversy. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 05/11/2026 Duration: 16 minutes, 11 seconds Chris Aiken, MD, and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial c...

Medical societies are reversing decades of support for gender-affirming care in youth — but is it the science driving the shift, or the politics? This episode walks through the evidence, from randomized trials to regret rates, and finds a more complicated picture than either side presents. CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this Episode Published On: 05/04/2026 Duration: 13 minutes, 09 seconds Chris Aiken, MD, and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in ...