This Is Your Brain On Drugs Psychiatry Podcast
Episodes
E80: Obesity Medicine: Lifestyle Medicine: Sleep, Toxins, Social, Learning, and the Outdoors
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will be wrapping up the lifestyle factors that contribute to health problems like mental health and obesity. I will briefly discuss getting ad...
E79: ADHD: Stimulants: Adverse (Side) Effects Part 3: Substance Abuse Risk
06 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will wrap up the last episode on adverse effects of stimulant medications used to treat ADHD. I will be discussing the black box warning regar...
E33: Antidepressant Efficacy Part 3: The Case for Antidepressants
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
So we had two episodes on the efficacy of antidepressants and I think I may have been a little hard on them, so I decided to make a part 3 where I ins...
E31: Psychogenomic Testing (RePublish for Spotify)
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
I bet a lot of you have heard of psychogenomic testing or at least seen one. Maybe you are a patient and you got one or are thinking about getting one...
E30: Improving Efficacy of Medications (RePublish for Spotify)
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
On the last episode on antidepressant efficacy we discussed effect size and placebo. On today's episode I will cover a topic called psychodynamic pres...
E29: Efficacy of Antidepressants (RePublish for Spotify)
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
OK, so we've learned about the antidepressants, how to pick one, and how to dose. Well, how well do they work? I'll be discussing the efficacy of anti...
E78: Obesity Medicine: Lifestyle Medicine: Physical Fitness
01 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
So we've finally gone through the massive topic of nutrition, and today I'll just have this one episode on physical fitness. That's not because it isn...
Quick Take #8: February Updates!: New Ketogenic Diet Studies for Mental Health Disorders, ProlivRX for Depression, New Blood Test for Alzheimers, and MORE!!!
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It's been a few months since my last update episode, and I have several updates in the world of psychiatry. A couple studies of the ketogenic diet for...
E77: ADHD: Stimulants: Adverse (Side) Effects Part 2: Cardiac and Pregnancy
11 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will continue talking about potential adverse effects of stimulant medications. Last time I discussed several adverse effects, but today I wil...
E76 Obesity Medicine: How Deception Works, How I've Been Deceived, and Corrections I'm Making
04 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
So today I wanted to do an episode about deception in health information. How do these deceptions work and how to detect them. We don't all have the k...
QT7: Quick Take #7: Why Is Adderall A Mixture of Salts?
28 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Today I do a deep, deep dive on Adderall, aka Mixed Amphetamine Salts, and I attempt to answer my own questions, "Why are there 4 different salts in A...
E75: ADHD: Stimulants: Adverse (Side) Effects
21 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
So, we've talked about every stimulant medication for ADHD under the sun and we understand them pretty well. Next, I will be discussing the adverse or...
E74 Obesity Medicine: Lifestyle Medicine: Barriers to Healthy Eating
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Well, we've gone through all of the information about nutrition. What's healthy. What't not. How to eat better. As well as the scientific evidence for...
E73 ADHD: Stimulants: Methylphenidate: Adhansia XR, Focalin, Azstarys, Modafinil (Provigil), and Armodafinil (Nuvigil)
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will finish talking about the methylphenidate formulation medications. This will be part 3 of 3 of the truckload of methylphenidate medicatio...
E72 Obesity Medicine: Lifestyle Medicine: Scientific Evidence for Diet Improving Mood
31 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Well, I've finally made it to the end of my nutrition talks and to round that discussion out, I will be going over the scientific data and evidence fo...
Quick Take #6: Nov 25 Updates! Part 2: Seltorexant, Fecal Transplant, and Ketogenic Diet for Depression? LSD for Anxiety? Vomiting in Pregnancy Associated with Depression? And More!!!
28 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's almost January and I'm releasing Part 2 of my November Updates. Today I'll be discussing several topics. Seltorexant, Ketogenic Diet, and Fecal T...
E71 :ADHD: Stimulants: Methylphenidate: Daytrana, Quillavant XR, Quillachew XR, Aptensio XR, Cotempla ODT-XR, and Jornay PM
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will continue talking about all the methylphenidate formulation medications. This will be part 2 of 3 of the truckload of methylphenidate medi...
E70: Obesity Medicine: Lifestyle Medicine: Cholesterol, Protein, and Healthy Foods for your Brain
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will be rounding off my information on macro and micronutrients and diet advice, so it's a bit of a hodgepodge. I'll cover cholesterol and pro...
Quick Take #5: November Updates! Part 1: Guanfacine for Catatonia? Doxycycline for Schizophrenia? More Data on Pramipexole for Depression? Is Vortioxetine Anti-inflammatory? And More!!!
13 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I'm finally putting out part 1 of my November updates episode. I recorded it a while back but its hard to put out 2 episodes in a week! Today I'll be ...
E69 ADHD: Stimulants: Methylphenidate: Ritalin, Methylin, Metadate, and Concerta
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will start talking about the methylphenidate products. I'll start with the oldest ones, brand names Ritalin, Methylin, Metadate, and Concerta....
E68: Obesity Medicine: Lifestyle Medicine: Fats: Saturated Fats and Seed Oils
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will be talking about another macronutrient, fats or fatty acids. I did an overview of fats in our omega-3 fatty acid episode, but I didn't re...
E67: ADHD: Stimulants: Lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse) and Amphetamine Base Medications
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will finish the amphetamine medications that we talked about on the last episode. I will be discussing lisdexamfetamine or Vyvanse(r) and the...
E66: Obesity Medicine: Lifestyle Medicine: Fructose and Artificial Sweeteners
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will be continuing with ultra-processed foods and the sugar, fructose. What is it? Where does it come from? What does it do in the body? And w...
E65 ADHD: Stimulants: Dextroamphetamine and Mixed Amphetamine Salts (Adderall)
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will start discussing the stimulant medications used for ADHD. I will be starting with the amphetamine medications. First, I'll talk briefly a...
E64: Obesity Medicine: Lifestyle Medicine: Ultra-Processed Foods
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I've been waiting a long time to do this episode. It seems like ultra-processed foods are being talked about a lot this day, but what exactly are they...
E63: ADHD: Introduction to Stimulants
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On today's episode from my ADHD season I will be introducing the stimulant medications. I'll do an overview of all of the stimulants that we will be d...
E62: Obesity Medicine: Lifestyle Medicine: Ketogenic Diet
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will be covering a very controversial topic, the ketogenic diet. I thought it appropriate to discuss it now while I was going over nutritional...
E61: ADHD: Medication Aspects to Consider
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On today's episode from my ADHD season I will be talking about the aspects to consider when deciding which medication to choose. I'll talk about why y...
E60: Obesity Medicine: Lifestyle Medicine: Nutrition Recommendations
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will be continuing with the lifestyle medicine series, and I will be continuing to talk about nutrition. I will discuss the general way of eat...
E59: ADHD: Treatments Other Than Medications
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On today's episode from my ADHD season I will be discussing non-pharmacological treatments of ADHD, so basically everything that isn't medication. I'l...
E58: Obesity Medicine: Lifestyle Medicine: Nutrition Introduction
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is the episode that I've been waiting a year to do. I'll be talking about Lifestyle Medicine as a treatment for obesity, mental health, and overa...
Quick Take #4: September Updates! Part Deux: Benefits of Drug Treatment of ADHD, ChatGPT-induced Bromide Poisoning Psychosis, Ineffectiveness of Gabapentin, Newest GLP-1 Trial Results, and MORE!!!
20 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to part two of my September edition of my psychiatry quick takes episode series. It's been a busy couple months in the news, so I have se...
E57: ADHD: Adult ADHD
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today we switch back to ADHD and I will be talking about adult ADHD. I'm an adult psychiatrist and I practiced in the military so this was one of the ...
Quick Take #3: September Updates! Part 1: Old Drugs For New Indications (Ketamine, Strattera, Flexeril) And Some Antidepressants On The Horizon (Nelivaptan and Seltorexant)
13 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to my second episode covering several snippets of breaking news on psychiatric medications. In these episodes I don't deep dive like norm...
E56: Obesity Medicine: Medical Effects of Obesity and Assessing the Obese Patient
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will be presenting my second episode on obesity medicine. I will go over how obesity reeks havoc on every system in the body, what medical con...
E55: ADHD: Diagnosis, Comorbidities, and Differential
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Flipping back to ADHD today, I continue with the background information. I'll go over how to diagnose. I'll go over the criteria but of course I'll be...
E54: Obesity Medicine: Measurements, Rates, Trends, and Causes
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will start a new season of This Is Your Brain On Drugs Psychiatry Podcast. I mentioned the dual season of ADHD with Obesity Medicine and Lifes...
E53: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Background and Pathophysiology
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I start a new season of This Is Your Brain On Drugs Psychiatry Podcast. I will do a dual season where I will go back and forth each week between...
E52: Depression Differential: When to Consider Bipolar Disorder or Something Else
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I had an after thought after finishing the depression season, and that is what happens when someone has depressive symptoms that looks like a depressi...
E51: Procedures: Bright Light Therapy, Vagal Nerve Stimulation, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulators
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will finish up on psychiatric procedures for depression. I will discuss bright light therapy, vagal nerve stimulation, transcranial magnetic s...
E50: Electroconvulsive Therapy: The Most Effective Psychiatric Treatment
30 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I talk about Electroconvulsive Therapy or ECT. This is the most effective treatment in psychiatry with effect sizes off the charts and comparabl...
Quick Take #2: July Updates!: FDA Denies New Treatment for PTSD, Alcohol Intake Limit Recommendation Ends?, New BBW on SSRIs?, Clozapine REMS Ends!, New Psychedelic for Depression?, and Many More!
26 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hey All, I'm starting up a new series that will contain several snippets of updates in the psychopharm world. Every month or two I will plan to releas...
E49: NAC, Creatine, Aromatherapy, Unfounded Alternative Treatments, and Complementary Medicine Wrap-Up
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will be finishing up the complementary treatments for depression. I'll briefly cover three more treatments that have some evidence and no risk...
E48: Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Are They Good For Mental Health, Too?
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing with complementary medicine for depression, I'm moving on to omega-3 fatty acids. I'll give you the full run down of fatty acids and where ...
E47: Zinc: The Second Most Important Mineral for Mental Health?
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On today's show I will continue the discussion on minerals with zinc. Like magnesium, zinc is also critical for cell functioning, and neurons are cert...
E46: Magnesium: The Most Important Mineral for Mental Health?
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On today's show I will be talking about minerals and specifically magnesium. Magnesium is critical for cell functioning and neurons are certainly no e...
E45: Vitamin D: Does Supplementation Help With Mental Health?
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the show today I will be wrapping up the vitamins with vitamin D. This is a vitamin that I see ordered all the time, and I see it ordered a lot by ...
E44: L-Methylfolate (Deplin) and SAMe for the Treatment of Depression
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I introduced you to vitamins on the last episode and specifically concentrated on the B vitamins and more specifically, B12 and folate (B9). I touched...
E43: B Vitamins and Why They Are Important for Mental Health
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today we continue our journey through complementary medicine and its impact on depression. Last time I talked about herbal treatments, and today I wil...
Quick Take #1: Suzetrigine (Journavx)
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I'm putting out a special episode that I'm calling a Quick Take where I'm featuring new information that comes out that is not with the topic th...
E42: Herbal Antidepressants: St. John's Wort, Rholiola Rosea, and Kanna
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I'll be starting off my series on complementary depression treatments with herbal treatments. St. John's Wort and Rhodiola rosea are probably th...
E32: UPDATE! Medication Treatment Course: Discontinuation and Taper of Antidepressants
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I touched briefly on discontinuation on this episode, but I found some cool information from RELEASE from the University of Queensland in Australia th...
E41: Hypogonadism vs Depression
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We just had several episodes regarding antidepressant use that are unique to females, so today I will have one that will be unique to males. In this e...
E40: UPDATE! Breastfeeding and Antidepressant Safety: L1-L5 Updates
25 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I actually found out a lot of the L1-L5 ratings have changed. Some of the changes are big, most not. Also, there are a lot of meds that have been give...
E40: Breastfeeding and Antdepressant Safety
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today we have the third and final episode on reproductive psychiatry where I will be discussing relative safety of antidepressants as well as some oth...
E39: Peri-partum Depression: Including Antidepressant use, Brexanolone (Zulresso), and Zuranolone (Zurzuvae)
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today we have episode 2 of our reproductive psychiatry series, and I will be talking about peri-partum psychiatric symptoms with a focus on depression...
E38: Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) and Peri-menopausal Psychiatric Symptom Treatments: Estrogen, Progestin, Testosterone, Duavee, Veozah, Tamoxifen
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I'm going to be talking about something that I've wanted to talk about for a while. Even though I'm a male, I am very interested in reproductive...
E37: Pediatric and Geriatric Psychiatric Drug Management
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's time to talk about the differences in using the medications that we have discussed for depression in kids and seniors. I don't have a subspecialt...
E36: Depression Subtypes: How to Pick the Best Antidepressant for Each
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There are many subtypes of depression, and this can be important when selecting the best medication. Today I will be going over these subtypes and wil...
E35: Antidepressant Augmentation
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So you've found an antidepressant that seems to be helping the patient, but not quite as much as you'd both like. It's maxed out or we've topped out o...
E34: Antidepressant Switching
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We've learned all about the antidepressants. You know each one of them inside and out. You know how to dose them, how to pick them, and how to follow ...
E21: NDRI: Bupropion (Wellbutrin) (RePublish)
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
*This is a republish for spotify because I needed to make some changes. For today's antidepressant category of norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake ...
E20: SARIs: Trazodone and Nefazodone (RePublish)
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
*This is a republish for spotify because I needed to make some changes. Merry Christmas. I have a special song for you today as we start the atypical...
E33: Antidepressant Efficacy Part 3: The Case for Antidepressants
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So we had two episodes on the efficacy of antidepressants and I think I may have been a little hard on them, so I decided to make a part 3 where I ins...
E32: Medication Treatment Course
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Apologies! I accidentally uploaded an old episode. This one is correct. We've gone over all the antidepressants. We've talked about how to pick one. ...
E31: Psychogenomic Testing
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I bet a lot of you have heard of psychogenomic testing or at least seen one. Maybe you are a patient and you got one or are thinking about getting one...
E30: Improving Efficacy of Medications
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the last episode on antidepressant efficacy we discussed effect size and placebo. On today's episode I will cover a topic called psychodynamic pres...
E29: Efficacy of Antidepressants
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
OK, so we've learned about the antidepressants, how to pick one, and how to dose. Well, how well do they work? I'll be discussing the efficacy of anti...
E28: Selecting an Antidepressant
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
So we've talked about all the FDA approved medications for depression. How to you choose which one to use? Have no fear, I have my break down where I ...
E27: Investigational Antidepressants
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode I will be discussing the different mechanisms of action that are being looked at as the next phase of antidepressant medications. I wi...
E26: Antidepressant Dosing
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode I will be going over all the nuances of dosing the most common antidepressants. I'll talk about the optimal ranges for dosing for most...
E25: 5-HT1A Partial Agonist: Gepirone ER (Exxua)
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I will be talking all about the most recently approved antidepressant, gepirone ER. I'm really not a fan of this one, and there are several reas...
E24: NMDA Receptor Antagonists: Ketamine, Esketamine (Spravato), and Dextromethorphan+Bupropion (Auvelity)
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today we have an interesting episode. We are covering the first of a very new class of antidepressants, the NMDA receptor antagonists. These are the f...
E23: Serotonergic Modulators and Stimulators: Vilazodone and Vortioxetine (Viibryd and Trintellix)
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We are making our way through the atypical antidepressants and up next are the so called serotonin modulators and stimulators, vilazodone and vortiox...
E22: Noradrenergic and Specific Serotonergic Antidepressant: Mirtazapine (Remeron)
14 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I'm talking about mirtazapine, which is in a class of its own as both a noradrenergic and selective serotonergic antidepressant and a tetracycli...
E21: NDRI: Bupropion (Wellbutrin)
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For today's antidepressant category of norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitor, we just have one medication, bupropion, but it is a very specia...
E20: Serotonin Antagonist and Reuptake Inhibitors (SARIs): Trazodone and Nefazodone
28 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas. I have a special song for you today as we start the atypical antidepressants. We've finished with the typical antidepressants and now...
E19: SNRIs (Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors): Venlafaxine, Duloxetine, Desvenlafaxine, Milnacipran, Levomilnacipran
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I hope you enjoyed the overview of the SNRIs from the last episode. Today I continue with the SNRIs and go through each of the five individually and g...
E18: SNRI Overview
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Moving on to the next class of antidepressants after the SSRIs is the SNRIs. In this episode I'll discuss what is unique about these medications and w...
E17: SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors): Fluoxetine, Sertraline, Paroxetine, Fluvoxamine, Citalopram, Escitalopram
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode I continue with the SSRIs. In the last episode we discussed them as a class, but today I'll go over each individual SSRI and highlight...
E16: SSRI Overview
28 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Well we've finally reached the most commonly prescribed psychiatric medications. Doctors of all ilks prescribe the SSRIs for a myriad of conditions, b...
E15: Serotonergic Adverse Effects
20 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Most of the serotonin medications are pretty darn safe, but they come with a pretty long list of adverse effects that can make patients really uncomfo...
E14: Serotonin Toxicity (AKA Syndrome)
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I'm sure you've all heard about serotonin toxicity AKA syndrome, and you might even know what it looks like and how to diagnosis it, but do you know w...
E13: Antidepressants and Suicide Risk
08 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ever wonder about that pesky "black box" warning on all those antidepressants? Have you ever considered not prescribing to a patient based on that war...
Episode 12: PDE5 inhibitors and Supplements for Sexual Dysfunction
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last time in Part 1 I went over the mechanism of sexual dysfunction and some treatments. In Part 2 we dive into PDE5 inhibitors like Viagra. These med...
Episode 11: Sexual Dysfunction Associated with Serotonergic Medications
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is a big one! So I chopped it into two episodes. We're talking about sexual adverse effects associated with serotonergic medications. This is a h...
Episode 10: QTc Prolongation
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today I'm talking about QTc prolongation. This is an adverse effect of many medications and medical conditions, and psych drugs are right up at the to...
Episode 9: Receptor Selective (2nd Generation) Antidepressants
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Let's get to know the second generation antidepressants, otherwise known as receptor selective antidepressants. These antidepressants started in the 1...
Trailer
13 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Trailer to the new podcast This Is Your Brain on Drugs.
Episode 8: Tricyclic Antidepressants
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Now that we better understand the neuroreceptors in our brains, let's tackle the tricyclic antidepressants. These used to be a mainstay of psychiatric...
Episode 7: Neuroreceptors
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Taking a short break from the antidepressants to talk about all of the receptors in the brain (and some outside) that I think about when I'm thinking ...
Episode 6: Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs)
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's episode 6 and we're talking about the first antidepressants, the MAOI's! How do this things work? Aren't they really dangerous and not used anymo...
Episode 5: Introduction to Antidepressants
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this shorter episode I'll give the back story on antidepressants. What was used before they were around? How do they work? Join me to find out!
Episode 4: Depression Treatment Overview
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today I'll start talking about treatments for depression. I'll go over lifestyle modification recommendations, psychotherapy, complementary treatments...
Episode 3: Introduction to Depression Part 2
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I'm hitting my stride here in episode 3 where I continue with introducing depression. In this episode I'll discuss how to diagnose and assess depressi...
Episode 2: Introduction to Depression Part 1
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Let's get started learning some basics about depression before we dive into medication treatments. From what exactly is it to where do we think it com...
Episode 1: Introduction to This Is Your Brain on Drugs Psychiatry Podcast
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
My very first episode where I introduce myself, the podcast format, my philosophy, talk about my target audience, let you know what my information sou...