If you are in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) or call 911.

David Baldes, MD

Topics

What we talk about

General education, grounded in clinical experience, to help you feel more informed and better prepared for conversations with your own care team.

  1. How I practice

    Shared expertise in action: how I listen, explain, and make decisions with the people I work with.

    My approach
    • What “you’re the expert on how you feel” means in practice
    • What asking, explaining, and deciding together look like in a visit
    • How to tell your psychiatrist a medication isn’t working

  2. Medications, explained with you

    Plain-language overviews of how psychiatric medications are talked about: starting, staying on, switching, and stopping. Always as something to talk through with your own prescriber.

    • Questions worth asking when you start a new medication
    • Common terms, explained plainly
    • Why to plan any change or stop with your prescriber

  3. Seeing a psychiatrist: when and how to prepare

    Who does what, when it may be time, what to bring, and how to speak up when something isn’t working.

    What a first visit is like
    • Psychiatrist, psychologist, therapist, primary care: who does what?
    • What to bring to a first psychiatry visit
    • When is it time to see a psychiatrist?

  4. Common concerns, explained plainly

    General explanations of conditions people often ask about. Never individual advice.

    • Mood & depression

      What depression and other mood conditions are, how they’re commonly described, and why persistent changes in mood are worth raising with your own clinician.

    • Anxiety

      Everyday worry versus an anxiety disorder, explained in plain language, along with how to make sense of what you’re reading and seeing online.

    • Treatment‑resistant depression

      What “treatment-resistant” means, and a general overview of the kinds of options that exist, including approaches like TMS and ECT, so conversations with your care team feel more informed.

    • Substance use & mental health

      Why substance use and mental health conditions so often show up together, and why clinicians tend to look at the whole picture rather than one piece at a time.

    • Northern winters & mood

      Why the long, dark months in the Northland can feel heavier for some people, and when changes in mood are worth raising with your own clinician.

  5. When a headline raises questions

    Now and then a news story leaves people worried or confused about their treatment. When that happens: what the research actually looked at, what it doesn’t tell us, and what it means for your conversation with your prescriber.

    • How many people were studied?
    • Was there a fair comparison?
    • Did the study actually test the claim in the headline?

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