Topic

Patients

Everything we have written on Patients, in one place.

ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy)
Treatment · 8 min read

ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy)

ECT (electroconvulsive therapy, the one with the bad PR from the Jack Nicholson movie) works better than any antidepressant we have, and almost nobody who…

Jun 25, 2026
Three Months In on an SSRI: What to Expect
Medications · 15 min read

Three Months In on an SSRI: What to Expect

If you're reading this, you're probably somewhere between week eight and week twelve on an SSRI, you're trying to figure out whether it's working, and you…

Jun 19, 2026
Involuntary holds: OR/WA specifics
Treatment · 8 min read

Involuntary holds: OR/WA specifics

Oregon and Washington don't use the California 5150/5250 numbering, which confuses people who moved up here from the Bay Area expecting that vocabulary.

Jun 10, 2026
MAT (Medication Assisted Treatment)
Treatment · 8 min read

MAT (Medication Assisted Treatment)

If you have opioid use disorder, medication is the actual treatment.

Jun 2, 2026
Compounded ketamine lozenges
Medications · 10 min read

Compounded ketamine lozenges

For about five years, compounded ketamine troches and lozenges (small dissolving tablets made by specialty compounding pharmacies, taken at home) were the…

Apr 20, 2026
Trazodone vs Quviviq vs Belsomra
Medications · 9 min read

Trazodone vs Quviviq vs Belsomra

The sleep medication landscape in 2026 is in a weird place. Trazodone is still the default for most prescribers, mostly out of habit and price.

Apr 18, 2026
Ozempic, GLP-1s, and mood
Medications · 9 min read

Ozempic, GLP-1s, and mood

The GLP-1 agonists (Ozempic and Wegovy and Mounjaro and the rest, a class of medications originally developed for type 2 diabetes and now used…

Apr 16, 2026
Buprenorphine for depression and chronic pain
Medications · 9 min read

Buprenorphine for depression and chronic pain

Buprenorphine is best known as an addiction medication, particularly for opioid use disorder, but a growing body of research and a quieter clinical…

Apr 14, 2026
Pharmacogenomic testing for psych meds
Treatment · 9 min read

Pharmacogenomic testing for psych meds

GeneSight and the other pharmacogenomic tests (cheek-swab panels that look at your liver-enzyme genetics to suggest which psych medications you'll handle…

Apr 12, 2026
Caplyta off-label use
Medications · 8 min read

Caplyta off-label use

Caplyta (lumateperone) is one of the newer atypical antipsychotics, FDA-approved for schizophrenia and bipolar depression, and what's more interesting…

Apr 10, 2026
Vraylar for depression augmentation
Medications · 8 min read

Vraylar for depression augmentation

Vraylar (cariprazine) is an atypical antipsychotic that got an FDA add-on indication for major depression a few years back.

Apr 8, 2026
Auvelity (dextromethorphan/bupropion)
Medications · 8 min read

Auvelity (dextromethorphan/bupropion)

Auvelity is a once-daily pill that combines dextromethorphan, the cough syrup ingredient, with bupropion, which most people know as Wellbutrin.

Apr 6, 2026