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.

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Published On: 06/22/2026

Duration: 27 minutes, 32 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.

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.

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Published On: 06/15/2026

Duration: 18 minutes, 34 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.

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.

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Published On: 06/01/2026

Duration: 18 minutes, 29 seconds

Joshua 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.

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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 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.

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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 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.

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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 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.

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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 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.

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Published On: 04/20/2026

Duration: 12 minutes, 18 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.

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.

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Published On: 04/20/2026

Duration: 16 minutes, 01 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.