Priya Iyer 
The first time Marcus tried to stop sertraline, he did what his prescriber suggested: cut the 100 mg dose in half for two weeks, then stop. By day six of the lower dose he was dizzy whenever he turned his head. By day three of zero he was crying in his car at lunch, sleeping … Read more
Three Different Professionals, Three Different Roles Most patients searching for mental health care encounter three different kinds of providers and use the names interchangeably. Therapist. Psychologist. Psychiatrist. The terms are not synonymous. They describe different training, different scopes of practice, and different roles within a treatment plan. Choosing the right kind of provider for your specific need … Read more
Officer Daniel Quintero filed a workers comp mental health claim after he pulled three children from a wrecked sedan on Interstate 5 in May 2023. Two of them survived. He went back on shift the following Tuesday after a department-mandated 72-hour stand-down, finished his patrol cycle, and over the next four months stopped sleeping, started … Read more
Cody Whitcomb walked into the Hennepin County emergency department in Minneapolis on a cold Tuesday morning in February, three days after his last hit of methamphetamine. He had not slept more than two hours total since arriving. He was crying, shaking, and convinced he should not be alive. The triage nurse logged him as “stimulant … Read more
The Silence of the New Mother You are supposed to be happy. That is what everyone keeps telling you. You have a beautiful, healthy baby. You waited for this. You planned for this. You should be glowing. But you are not glowing. You are crying in the bathroom while your partner has family over to … Read more
Tashawn Pellington was 22 weeks pregnant in August 2024 when she walked into a Knoxville detox facility carrying her overnight bag. The intake nurse looked at her belly, then at her chart, then told her the program could not accept pregnant patients and she should go to an emergency department. Tashawn had been using fentanyl … Read more
Job Loss and the Mental Health Coverage Cliff Few transitions in American life produce more abrupt risk to mental health care continuity than job loss. The same week that a patient is dealing with the financial and emotional shock of unemployment, they are often also losing the health insurance that has been paying for their therapy and … Read more
Damien Halsey arrived at a 28-day program in Bend, Oregon, in February 2024, three days after his last methamphetamine hit. He had been smoking ice for nineteen months, lost a CDL job, and was sleeping in his Subaru when his sister drove him to the facility. The program had a single substance-use track. Day one: … Read more
Marisol had been calling about her united healthcare mental health coverage for nine days. Her son, sixteen, had stopped eating, stopped sleeping, and stopped speaking. The hospital wanted to admit him to a residential program in Arizona that the admissions counselor said was “in-network through Optum.” Optum was the part she had not understood. Every … Read more
Yvonne had been caring for her mother, who had Alzheimer’s, for four years before she landed in the emergency room with chest pain that turned out not to be her heart. The cardiologist asked her three questions: How much do you sleep? When did you last see your own doctor? Who else is helping you? … Read more