14 Reasons Why Psychopharmacology Differs in Women, Part 1

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 EpisodePublished On: 06/23/2026Duration: 23 minutes, 32 secondsChris Aiken, MD and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

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 EpisodePublished On: 06/22/2026Duration: 27 minutes, 32 secondsChris Aiken, MD and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

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 EpisodePublished On: 06/15/2026Duration: 18 minutes, 34 secondsChris Aiken, MD, and Kellie Newsome, PMHNP, have disclosed no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

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 leverage the generalization effect when working with patients who have extensive trauma histories.

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 educational activity.

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 educational activity.

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 educational activity.

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 educational activity.