Welcome to the SWEET Psych NP Blog!
Here, we explore essential topics in psychiatry, mental health, and behavioral health, including clinical practices, neuroscience, diagnostic and case formulation, best prescribing practices, treatment-resistant issues, and strategies for personal and professional growth.
Action – Turning Plans Into Action Without Burning Out the Patient
Mr. B is a 63-year-old man with a history of alcohol use disorder and chronic insomnia.
After months of contemplation and planning, he has now stopped drinking for two weeks.
Preparation – The Hidden Stage That Predicts Success or Failure
Helping Prescribers Lay the Foundation for Sustainable Change
Contemplation – Stuck in Maybe
Mr. K is a 56-year-old man with COPD and hypertension. He smokes half a pack per day. You’ve discussed it before.
Precontemplation – When the Patient Doesn’t See the Problem
Your task is not to convince, persuade, or educate in a traditional sense; rather, it’s to evoke curiosity, elicit discrepancy, and plant a seed.
The Stages of Change at the Bedside: A Prescriber’s Guide to Fast and Effective Behavior Change
Mr. J, a 42-year-old man with a history of alcohol use disorder, hypertension, and poor sleep hygiene, comes in for medication follow-up.
Case 3, Episode 6: Dignity, Recovery, and Reentry – The Clinician as Ally, Not Savior
“People keep asking me if I’m okay.
I don’t know what ‘okay’ looks like.
But I know I’m not disappearing anymore.”
— Cynthia, 62
Case 3, Episode 5: Designing a Healing Environment – From Surveillance to Support
“They watched me for 20 years.
Not to protect me—just to control me.
Now you say I’m free, but I don’t know where to put my back.”
— Cynthia, 62
Case 3, Episode 4: Medication and Consent – When the Answer Isn’t “Take This”
“Every time I took their pills, I lost pieces of myself.” — Cynthia, 62
You’ve met with Cynthia several times now. She shows up. She’s quiet. She listens. She watches.
Case 3, Episode 3: Diagnostic Possibilities – Psychosis, PTSD, or Institutional Adaptation?
“They call it a disorder. But it’s how I survived.”
— Cynthia, 62
By now, you’ve walked with Cynthia through her first appointment, then through the story of her life—layer by layer.
Case 3, Episode 2: Layers of Experience – Constructing the Biopsychosocial-Institutional Timeline
“They kept asking me what happened.
But things didn’t happen all at once.
They happened over time. That’s how you break someone.”
— Cynthia, 62
Case 3, Episode 1: First Contact – A Different Kind of Emergency
“They said I’m free now. But out here… everything feels dangerous.” — Cynthia, 62
Case 2, Episode 6: A New Narrative – From Surviving to Living
“I still have hard days. But now I notice them.
Before, I didn’t even know I was drowning. I just thought that was life.”
— Marcus, 48
Case 2, Episode 5: Therapy That Goes Deeper – Remembering What Was Buried
“We talk about the depression. The thoughts. The behaviors.
But I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone what it actually feels like to be me.”
— Marcus, 48
Case 2, Episode 4: Medication Strategy Reimagined – When “Nothing Works”
“They keep switching the meds. I take them, I wait, I hope. Then it fades—or nothing happens at all. It’s like everyone’s just guessing.”
— Marcus, 48
Case 2, Episode 3: Diagnostic Deep Dive – Beyond “Major Depression”
“They said I have depression. I guess that fits. But sometimes I wonder if that’s just the word we use when we don’t really know what else to call it.” — Marcus, 48
Case 2, Episode 2: Constructing a Life Timeline – More Than a Psychiatric History
“I don’t even remember when it started. Maybe it’s always been there. Like a dull hum in the background of everything.”
— Marcus, 48
Case 2, Episode 1: The Story So Far – Listening Beyond the Symptoms
“I’ve been depressed most of my life.
I’ve tried everything.
Therapy. Meds. Meditation. Journaling.
They help for a while, and then… nothing.
So maybe this is just who I am now.”
— Marcus, 48
Follow-Up, Relapse, and Recovery – Holding the Long View
She’s better… but I’m scared. What if this comes back?”
— Sarah’s grandmother, three weeks into treatment
Algorithmic Treatment Planning – If This, Then What?
“I know she needs help. But what if she stops taking the meds? What if it makes her worse? What if she drops out?”
— A concerned grandmother
Differential Diagnosis & Clinical Reasoning – What Are We Really Seeing?
Case 1, Episode 4:
I think my professors are plotting against me. I hear whispers through the vents. It’s like the world’s changed, and no one told me.