psychiatric medication decisions
What are we trying to protect?
A psychiatric medication decision is about more than symptoms or a tapering schedule. It can involve how you think, feel, connect, work, create, function—and experience yourself.
Your capacity matters. Your humanity matters. So does what happens over time.
Dr. Teralyn is not a medical doctor and does not prescribe medication.
psychiatric medication decisions
What are we trying to protect?
A psychiatric medication decision is about more than symptoms or a tapering schedule. It can involve how you think, feel, connect, work, create, function—and experience yourself.
Your capacity matters. Your humanity matters. So does what happens over time.
Dr. Teralyn is not a medical doctor and does not prescribe medication.
YOU MAY JUST KNOW SOMETHING HAS CHANGED.
You may just know you don't feel like yourself.
Maybe you feel less. Care less. Think differently. Struggle to focus, decide, connect, create—or recognize the person you used to be.
Maybe medication is part of the question. Maybe it isn’t.
You don’t need to arrive with an answer. We start with what changed, what it may be costing you, and what matters to you now.
WHY THIS WORK IS PERSONAL
I lived through antidepressant withdrawal. And somehow, I still didn't understand it.
I started taking Zoloft just before I went to graduate school to become a psychotherapist. It had been prescribed as a preventative measure for postpartum depression.
What I never imagined was that I’d end up taking it for approximately six years.
Over time, I experienced changes in my health and in how I felt. And when I wanted to stop taking it, I couldn’t find the help I needed.
So I quit cold turkey.
What followed was nearly two years of trying to recover from an experience I didn’t understand and hadn’t been prepared for.
You’d think going through that myself, especially while pursuing a career in mental health, would have changed everything about how I understood psychiatric medications.
But it didn’t. Not yet.
It wasn’t until I started watching my own clients struggle through withdrawal that I began connecting the dots.
I was hearing experiences that sounded painfully familiar. People struggling with symptoms they didn’t recognize. People who were frightened by what was happening to them. People looking for answers and not finding them.
And suddenly, I was looking at my own experience differently.
How could I have lived through this, become a mental health professional, and still not fully understand what I was seeing?
That question changed the direction of my work.
I started taking Zoloft just before I went to graduate school to become a psychotherapist. It had been prescribed as a preventative measure for postpartum depression.
I started looking more closely at the withdrawal research, questioning assumptions, and listening differently to the people who were trying to come off psychiatric medications.
Today, I bring both my professional experience and my personal history to this work. I understand how complicated these decisions can be, and I know how important it is to have accurate information and meaningful support.
I’m not here to convince you to take medication or stop taking it.
I’m here because nobody should have to navigate these decisions without understanding their options—or feel that stopping abruptly is their only choice.
HOW IT WORKS
Psychiatric medication decisions are about more than the prescription.
The question isn’t simply whether to take, continue, change, or reduce a medication. It’s how to make thoughtful decisions while protecting capacity, agency, and what matters to you.
01
UNDERSTAND WHAT CHANGED
Look at your medication history, health, symptoms, function, and what has changed over time.
02
PREPARE BEFORE YOU BEGIN
Understand withdrawal, risk, uncertainty, and the questions worth addressing before a taper begins.
03
PROTECT WHAT MATTERS
Keep cognition, relationships, work, sexuality, physical health, agency, and long-term capacity in the picture.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
What happens to the person matters.
A psychiatric medication can affect more than the symptom it was prescribed to address.
So the question cannot stop at “Did the symptom improve?”
We also need to ask:
What happened to your capacity?
Your thinking. Motivation. Emotional range. Creativity. Relationships. Sexuality. Work. Physical health. Agency. Your ability to participate fully in your own life.
A treatment outcome should account for the whole person—not just the symptom being measured.
WORK DIRECTLY WITH DR. TERALYN
Build the plan around the person.
Deprescribing isn’t just a dosing problem. Your history, health, function, priorities, and what you want to protect all belong in the decision.
Together we will...
✓ Understand your medication history and what changed
✓ Clarify what matters to you
✓ Prepare before making medication changes
✓ Understand withdrawal, risk, and uncertainty
✓ Keep function and quality of life in view
✓ Adjust as your experience gives us new information
GOOD TO KNOW
Questions before we get started?
Can I use insurance
No. Insurance plans do not recognize this type of brain health consultation as a covered service, so it cannot be billed to insurance.
Can I use my HSA?
HSA cards are accepted as payment. Eligibility and reimbursement depend on your individual plan, so you’ll need to confirm coverage with your HSA administrator.
Is this mental health therapy?
No. This is not therapy or counseling. Rather than providing ongoing emotional or psychological treatment, we focus specifically on your brain health—what may be influencing it, what deserves attention, and what you can do next.
Are you a medical doctor?
No. I have a PhD in Psychology, not an MD. My work focuses on helping you understand the factors influencing your brain health and turn that information into practical action.
Do you prescribe?
No. I have a PhD in Psychology, not an MD. I work collaboratively with your prescriber or in some cases help you to find a new one.
How do I get labs?
I can facilitate access to lab testing through my direct-to-consumer lab partners, but I do not order labs. We’ll discuss which tests may be useful, and you decide what you want to pursue.
A CLEARER WAY FORWARD
When the decision is complicated, think wider.
Psychiatric medication decisions rarely involve one variable. There’s the medication, your history, your health, withdrawal risk, what has changed—and what you want your life to look like on the other side.
My role is to help you examine the whole picture without reducing you to a diagnosis, a symptom score, or a prescription.
WHAT THAT MEANS FOR YOU
✓ 25 years of experience making sense of complicated cases
✓ Medication history viewed alongside the rest of your health
✓ Risks and uncertainties made understandable
✓ Function, cognition, relationships, and quality of life kept in view
✓ Better questions for conversations with your prescriber
✓ Decisions built around your priorities, capacity, and agency
And yes, Linus may still make an appearance.
FROM THE CAPACITY REPORT
Thinking beyond the prescription.
DEPRESCRIBING PSYCH MEDS
When Symptoms Return, the Timeline Matters
Symptoms after a medication change are often assigned one explanation too quickly. A better decision starts by reconstructing what changed, when it changed, and what remains uncertain.
RESEARCH & DEEP DIVES
What a Medication Review Should Reconstruct
A refill confirms that a prescription continued. It does not explain why it still belongs in the plan. A useful medication review reconstructs the decision before making a new one.
READY TO BEGIN?
Start with your questions.
You don’t need to know whether you want to stay on medication, reduce it, or make a change. A 15-minute consultation is a place to talk through what you’re questioning and whether working together makes sense.
15 MINUTES · NO COST TO SCHEDULE
This program is educational not therapy, or prescribing. See Disclaimer below for details.