What this is
Evidence-grounded guides for adults, families, and referrers — written from the published literature, in plain language. General education only: not medical advice, not a diagnosis, and not an emergency path.
Starting psychiatric care
What evaluation, fit review, intake, and first-visit preparation mean at Foundry.
- What a real psychiatric evaluation actually involves — A first visit should be a thorough evaluation, not a fifteen-minute medication check. Here's what a careful one covers — and what the research shows it catches that rushed visits miss.
- When psychiatric symptoms have medical causes — Thyroid disease, sleep apnea, hormonal transitions, vitamin deficiencies, and everyday medications can each produce or worsen psychiatric symptoms. A good evaluation looks for them.
Medication management
How thoughtful prescribing, follow-up, side effects, refills, and monitoring are approached.
- Why good psychiatric care tracks numbers, not impressions — Measurement-based care — tracking symptoms and side effects systematically at every visit — measurably speeds recovery. Most care still doesn't do it.
- What to actually expect from anxiety medication — The most common reason anxiety medication "doesn't work" is stopping it before it has had time to — and why benzodiazepines aren't handed out the way many people expect.
- Coming off an antidepressant, the right way — Stopping an antidepressant is a clinical process, not a single decision — and stopping abruptly is the main reason it goes badly.
ADHD concerns
How attention concerns are reviewed without promising a diagnosis or stimulant prescription.
- ADHD: why a careful evaluation matters — Attention problems have a long differential — sleep, mood, anxiety, trauma, and substance use all mimic ADHD. Here's what a rigorous evaluation looks at, and what the evidence says about getting it right.
Integrative psychiatry
Sleep, nutrition context, supplement safety, pharmacogenomic limits, and outside referrals inside psychiatric scope.
- What genetic (pharmacogenomic) testing can and can't tell you — These tests are marketed as a shortcut to the right medication. The evidence is more specific — and more honest — than the marketing. Here's what they actually do.
- Supplements and psychiatric medications: the evidence, both ways — A few supplements have real randomized-trial evidence for mood. Others can quietly sabotage your medications. The difference is specific — and worth knowing before you take anything.
- Why sleep is often the first question in psychiatric care — Sleep problems don't just follow mood problems — longitudinal research shows they often precede and predict them, and treating sleep measurably improves mental health.
- Treating insomnia without sleeping pills: what CBT-I is — The first-line treatment for chronic insomnia isn't a medication — it's a structured, short-term program with unusually strong evidence behind it.
Conditions, explained
Evidence-grounded deep dives into specific conditions and how treatment actually works.
- Perimenopause, mood, and "brain fog": what's real and what helps — Mood changes during the menopause transition are common, measurable, and treatable — and they should never be written off as "just hormones."
- When grief doesn't loosen: prolonged grief, explained — Grief is not a disorder. But for roughly 1 in 20 bereaved adults, it becomes one — and it has its own name, criteria, and effective treatment.
- OCD treatment: how therapy and medication actually work together — ERP therapy and SSRI medication are both first-line for OCD — and the details of dose, duration, and sequencing matter more than most people are told.
- Alcohol and your mental health: the honest version — Alcohol and mood feed each other in both directions — and even cutting back, without quitting entirely, measurably improves depression, anxiety, and sleep.
- Burnout or depression? Why the difference matters — Burnout is real and often workplace-driven — but it overlaps so heavily with depression that calling it "just burnout" can hide a treatable condition.
Care logistics
Telehealth, in-person visits, forms, privacy, portal, refills, and non-urgent contact boundaries.
- Does telehealth work as well as in-person psychiatry? — For most psychiatric care the evidence says yes — but not for every situation, and controlled-substance medications have their own rules. Here's when a video visit fits.