Hydroxyzine
Hydroxyzine has been sitting in the pharmacy for sixty years doing useful work, and most prescribers act like it doesn’t exist. It’s an antihistamine in the same H1…
Sep 1, 2025
Wellbutrin (Bupropion)
Wellbutrin is the weird cousin in the antidepressant family. Most of what people think of as antidepressants are SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, the Zoloft/Lexapro/Prozac class), and they…
Aug 27, 2025
Lorazepam (Ativan)
Ativan has a reputation, and half my new patients walk in with strong feelings about lorazepam before I’ve said anything. The feelings split along a sharp line. The…
Aug 24, 2025
Ambien
Ambien gets handed out like Tic Tacs. Primary care hands it out, urgent care hands it out, the dentist hands it out before a crown. Most patients who…
Aug 16, 2025
Ritalin and Methylphenidate
Methylphenidate has been around since 1944 and is still, in 2026, one of the most reliable molecules in psychiatry. Ritalin is the original brand. Concerta is the long-acting…
Aug 14, 2025
Propranolol
Propranolol is a cardiology drug that wandered into psychiatry by accident and stayed because it does one specific thing well. It’s a non-selective beta blocker, developed for blood…
Aug 3, 2025
Adderall
Adderall is amphetamine. Specifically, it’s a roughly 3:1 mix of dextroamphetamine and levoamphetamine salts, the same molecule that’s been around since the 1930s. The branding is newer than…
Jul 29, 2025
Remeron
Remeron is the antidepressant nobody picks first and a lot of guys end up grateful for. The generic name is mirtazapine, it’s been around since the mid-90s, and…
Jul 29, 2025
Lunesta
Lunesta is the Z-drug you reach for when Ambien isn’t holding the night together. Same family, different shape, slightly longer half-life. It binds the same GABA-A receptor real…
Jul 23, 2025
Zoloft
Zoloft is the drug I prescribe more than anything else, and the one patients ask the most questions about before they’re willing to swallow the first pill. Sertraline…
Jun 12, 2025