Today we are joined by the host of the @CallingInSickPodcast, a pod run by our good friend Alex (familiarly) to discuss the rigamoroll that is navigating the healthcare system through the eyes of a patient with debilitatig conditions. Alex shares her story from Investment banker, to patient to podcaster all…
This episode is a slight excursion from our regularly scheduled program. Today we are chatting with Will Flannery, who is in many ways our content “dad” if you will. We will talk about the art of including humor into our daily practive, when it goes right, when it goes left,…
Margaret and I are back with part two of our conversation with Dr. Drew Ramsey and this time, things get personal. I volunteered my real-life food log for a full nutritional psychiatry breakdown… and let’s just say my “ultra-processed protein” lifestyle did not escape unscathed. What started as a casual…
He eventually discovered that the moods of these patients were stabilized over time, and it became a much better treatment for psychiatric disorders than metabolic ones.
We sat down with Dr. Drew Ramsey to talk about something we all think we understand and don’t: how food shapes mood. In Part 1, we get practical and personal: what to reach for when you’re anxious, what to cook when you’re depressed, and how to think about nutrition when…
In this preston-led episode, we take a deep dive into the history of lithium and its use in psychiatry. But because Preston is very literal, we are starting at the very beginning, inside of stars where lithium was formed at the beginning of the universe. Then we will follow this…
This week, Margaret and I sat down with Dr. Jhilam Biswas, psychiatrist and expert on the intersection of law and mental health, for one of the hardest—and most important conversations we’ve had on the show. Together, we take a close look at how our justice system responds to mental illness:…
What is aphasia, really and what happens when your brain no longer cooperates with your ability to speak or understand language? In this episode, Preston and Margaret tackle the messy, frustrating, and often isolating world of language disorders, focusing on the real-life implications of aphasia. They walk through the clinical…
Is it all in your head or is pain more complex than we’ve been led to believe? In this episode, Margaret and I dig into the psychological and biological factors that shape our experience of pain, including how the brain processes physical discomfort, the emotional toll it takes, and what…
Margaret took the captain’s chair for this one, and I was just along for the ride—straight into the deep waters of psychodynamic and psychoanalytic therapy. We start with the basics: what do these words actually mean, and why do they still make some clinicians roll their eyes while others swear…
This episode might feel like a gut punch, in the most important way. Margaret and I sat down with Alyson Stoner to talk about what it means to be raised in the spotlight, what happens when systems prioritize performance over people, and how we reckon with that legacy in healthcare.…
Margaret and I sat down to speak on a topic we rarely hear spoken plainly: suicide. We didn’t plan to tidy anything up or wrap it in easy language. Instead, we tried to sit with it—the fear, the responsibility, the human ache behind it all. We talk about how suicide…
This episode felt like a deep exhale. Margaret runs solo today, as she sat down with Dr. Hillary McBride—psychologist, author, and researcher—to talk about embodiment, trauma, and the radical act of tuning back into ourselves. We talked about what it means to feel your feelings in your body, why disconnection…
Listen on The Go: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, & Anywhere Else You Enjoy Podcasts While in psychiatry we avoid using declarative or certain language about mechanisms, it can be helpful to think about the narratives that drive people to behavior that will ultimately end their life. In this episode Margaret and…
Listen on The Go: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, & Anywhere Else You Enjoy Podcasts It’s Part 2 of our deep dive into eating disorders—and this time, we’re going even deeper. We kick off by unpacking our mock therapy session with Dr. Helen Liljenwall, which unexpectedly hit close to home for all…
Listen on The Go: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, & Anywhere Else You Enjoy Podcasts This is Part 1 of our two-part deep dive into eating disorders—and we’re starting at the beginning. Margaret and I sit down with psychiatrist and eating disorder specialist Helen Liljenwall, MD to walk through the basics: What…
Listen on The Go: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, & Anywhere Else You Enjoy Podcasts Margaret and I talk about what it feels like to care for patients who remind us a little too much of ourselves, especially when we’re also the ones filling out the paperwork for a psychiatric hold. We…
In this episode, Margaret and I take on burnout—what it actually is, where the term came from, and how to tell when you’re not just tired, but something deeper is cracking. We dig into the history, the Maslach Inventory, moral injury, and why burnout isn’t in the DSM (yet). We…
This might be our nerdiest episode yet—and that’s saying something. In our Season 2 kickoff, Margaret and I sit down with Dr. Margo Funk, psychiatrist and QTC whisperer, to explore the strange, stressful overlap between psychiatry and cardiology. We talk about our worst fears on call, how to spot when…
Season 1: complete! In this wrap-up episode, Margaret and I reflect on what it’s been like building this show from scratch—while also being full-time psychiatry residents. We talk about favorite episodes, unexpected challenges, what we’re still figuring out, and what’s ahead for Season 2. We also answer listener questions about…
In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Nikki Haddad, we went from couples therapy theory to Simpsons cosplay, and yes—it was as chaotic and illuminating as it sounds. Margaret and I roleplay Homer and Marge in a fictional session while Nikki breaks down what’s actually happening between us (emotionally,…
In this episode, we sat down with Dr. Nikki Haddad—Margaret's residency best friend, couples and sex therapist, and one of the most thoughtful psychiatrists I know—to break down what makes romantic relationships so damn hard. We get into myths we’ve carried (and tried to shake), how sexual issues are rarely…
We opened up the inbox and wow… y’all really came through. In this first-ever Q&A episode, Margaret and I answer your questions about coping during med school, surviving feedback, dealing with emotional exhaustion in residency, and why outpatient goodbyes feel like actual breakups. I also overshare about marathon training (again),…
This week, I learned I have a pelvic floor. And yes, I realize I’m a doctor and should’ve known that already. Margaret and I talk with pelvic floor physical therapist and viral educator Dr. Alicia Jeffrey-Thomas, who somehow made me breathe through my butt on mic. We cover everything from…