Typically, a different name is used to schedule the appointment, or a personal email address is used instead of the one that passes through the assistant. A private card is used for the billing. The location is chosen with the same consideration that goes into every other professional decision this person makes, whether it’s a telehealth session conducted from a hotel room or a parked car, or it’s a discreet private practice tucked into a building with multiple tenants. The therapy is genuine. The confidentiality is regarded as non-negotiable. This arrangement is not uncommon. The decision to seek mental health…
Author: Jack Ward
Some people stop taking their ADHD medication without telling anyone due to a specific type of reasoning. The adverse effects are now annoying. It seems natural to take a break during the holidays. The refill appointment hasn’t been set, and the prescription has expired. Or, most simply, someone decides they want to see how they fare without it. This is a reasonable impulse, but if it’s handled poorly, it could make the next week much worse than they anticipated. Surprisingly, many people believe that stimulant drugs like Adderall, Ritalin, or Concerta can be stopped without repercussions. It endures in part…
Usually, it begins quite simply. Something throws off the sleep cycle, such as a challenging workweek, a failing relationship, or the arrival of a new baby, and a doctor writes a brief prescription. Lunesta and Ambien. A benzodiazepine, occasionally. It’s a relief during the first few nights. You stop staring at the ceiling. The hours go by. And the issue appears to be resolved for a while. The part that is frequently overlooked during the ten-minute consultation, where the prescription was written comes next. Every year, the sleep medication industry brings in about $70 billion. According to estimates, one in…
After taking an antidepressant for a few weeks, some people experience something. The worst of the darkness may lift around the edges, causing the depression to slightly lessen. However, there’s also something else: a slight dizziness, a word that refuses to come out, a walk into a room that ends with no idea why. Not everyone experiences it. However, it occurs frequently enough that scientists are beginning to seriously consider the possibility that medications meant to benefit the brain may also, in some ways, harm it. In a nutshell, the answer is yes, occasionally, temporarily, for certain individuals. The longer…
In recent years, psychiatrists in various clinical settings have become more adept at identifying a specific kind of patient. They have been receiving treatment for a number of years, sometimes more than ten. They’ve done as instructed. They attend their appointments. They consume the medications. However, at some point, the once-helpful medications have begun to feel more burdensome than the initial illness. Sleep doesn’t alleviate their fatigue. They alternate between days that seem doable and periods of time when just using the restroom drains them. Sometimes they are unable to pinpoint the exact issue. They can only express that they…
A certain kind of person never speaks up during meetings. When asked how they’re doing, who says “good, honestly, I’m fine” in a tone so practiced that it no longer sounds like anything at all? Who reacts to cancellations with “no worries at all.” Those around them typically characterize them as stable, mature, and pleasant. What they fail to mention is the cost of that performance, which they most likely cannot see. For women, professionals, and anyone who was raised in a home where having obvious needs had repercussions, the “low drama” identity has subtly been elevated into something aspirational.…
Bloodwork doesn’t reveal a certain type of fatigue. It isn’t fatigue brought on by physical strain or long hours. After a day of scrolling, skimming, reacting, and refreshing, it settles somewhere behind the eyes as a subtle cognitive grit. Even if they haven’t given it a name, the majority of people are aware of it. It’s the sensation of simultaneously being everywhere and nowhere. There’s a reason for that feeling. Social media platforms, algorithmic feeds, and notification-driven apps are just a few of the systems that have been subtly designed over the last fifteen years to divide human attention into…
A quiet shift has been taking place somewhere between the pharmacy counter and the wellness aisle. Individuals who cycled through SSRIs for years, adjusting dosages, putting up with weight gain, and overcoming the emotional flatness that many describe as feeling like life wrapped in cling film, have begun looking elsewhere. Some of them have discovered something that would have been limited to quiet conversations and festival grounds only a short time ago. They claim to be taking very small doses of LSD or psilocybin—not enough to cause hallucinations or ruin an afternoon, but enough to feel a change. For those…