Gender Affirming Care: Fall of the House of Hopkins

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 EpisodePublished On: 06/01/2026Duration: 18 minutes, 29 secondsJoshua Feder, MD, and Mara Goverman, LCSW, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

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 EpisodePublished On: 05/25/2026Duration: 11 minutes, 52 secondsChris Aiken, MD, and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this

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 EpisodePublished On: 05/18/2026Duration: 13 minutes, 39 secondsChris Aiken, MD, and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this

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 We examine the unpublished study at the center of the controversy.CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this EpisodePublished On: 05/11/2026Duration: 16 minutes, 11 secondsChris Aiken, MD, and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this

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 EpisodePublished On: 05/04/2026Duration: 13 minutes, 09 secondsChris Aiken, MD, and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this

Two malpractice cases — one worth $2 million — are reshaping the standards of gender-affirming care. This episode traces what went wrong, what held up in court, and what every clinician needs to know when referring patients for gender affirming procedures.CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this EpisodePublished On: 04/20/2026Duration: 12 minutes, 18 secondsChris Aiken, MD, and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this

In the 1950s, a young Danish psychiatrist named Mogens Schou staked his career — and his family — on a mineral most of his colleagues dismissed as dangerous nonsense. This is the story of how lithium went from fringe curiosity to the gold standard for bipolar disorder, and the bitter scientific battle that nearly derailed it.CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this EpisodePublished On: 04/20/2026Duration: 16 minutes, 01 secondsChris Aiken, MD, and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this

Dr. Frank Yeomans is an Adjunct Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is one of the developers of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP). In this episode, he offers a deep dive into the theory and clinical practice of TFP as a treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder. Drawing on object relations theory, Dr. Yeomans explains how BPD is understood through the lens of identity integration and split internal representations, and walks clinicians through the full arc of TFP treatment — from thorough assessment and diagnostic feedback, through contracting and frame-setting, to active intervention using clarification, confrontation, and interpretation. He also addresses the clinical use of countertransference as a window into the patient's internal world, signs of therapeutic progress, and how object relations principles can be applied even outside a formal TFP frame.Published On: 4/16/2026Duration: 40 minutes, 21 secondsEarn CME for listening to this episode here.

Before lithium became a cornerstone of psychiatry, it was in soda, spa water, and salt shakers. Trace lithium’s journey from Victorian health fad to life-saving mood stabilizer, and discover why the uric acid theory that launched it may be making a comeback.CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this EpisodePublished On: 04/13/2026Duration: 12 minutes, 48 secondsChris Aiken, MD, and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this

Legal questions come up in clinical care of autistic children and adults more often than many of us expect. A parent asks for a custody letter; a school requests documentation for services; a patient asks about disability benefits or driving. When autistic patients face legal systems, clinicians can help, but only if we stay within our role.CME: Take the CME Post-Test for this EpisodePublished On: 04/06/2025Duration: 19 minutes, 01 secondsJoshua Feder, MD, and Mara Goverman, LCSW, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.