Psych Resources and Links

Here’s an expanding list of resources that may be helpful for psych/mental health specialties, general medical information/references, and guidance:

Powerhouse Websites

Medscape: the most comprehensive clinical information and resources essential to physicians and healthcare professionals. Medscape networks also include major websites like WebMD, Medicine.net, & RxList.

Healthy Place: provides information and support to people with mental health concerns, along with their family members and other loved ones. Great place for the general population. Governmental resources are astronomical plus free and you’ll truly be missing out if you don’t check their websites more often:

psychopharmacology

Helpful Resources for Psychopharmacology/Medications

Stahl online and a Free Book! Essential Pharmacology 2nd ed. (it’s outdated but gets you started in the right direction).

5 Nice Resources to Lookup Medications

  1. DailyMed: contains over 92,000 drug listings, including US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved package inserts. The package insert is also linked to ClinicalTrials.gov, which provides data on completed and ongoing studies. Additionally, you can report adverse events to the FDA’s MedWatch program. If you need to identify a medication, then you can do so through the ID tool known as Pillbox.
  2. MedlinePlus: a great consumer health information resource published by the National Library of Medicine and available both in English and Spanish languages. This is a great website to use for patient counseling. MedlinePlus contains information on prescription and over-the-counter medications written in lay language. Herbal product information is also available through the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Let patients know about this resource so that they can become more knowledgeable about their medications. MedlinePlus also contains medication safety alerts from the FDA and health videos.
  3. FDA: website contains a plethora of information that will help keep you up-to-date.  You can also register to receive updates on new medication approvals and drug recalls. Check out the newly designed Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations, also known as the Orange Book. It has been updated to enable you to search the resources more efficiently. The Orange Book shows products that are therapeutically equivalent for generic drug substitution. You can also search for patent information to have a better idea of when generic drugs will be available for specific brand products. There is also a new app called the Orange Book Express allowing you to search easily from your Apple or Android device.
  4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): provide patients with the most up-to-date information. The monthly published Vital Signs report provides pertinent information on a variety of health topics including HIV and injection drug use, prescription drug abuse, and food safety.
  5. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA): check out the fact sheets on various controlled substances and drugs of concern including narcotics, stimulants, and bath salts.  The Pharmacist’s Manual is also available through the DEA website. This outlines the Federal Controlled Substances Act and how it affects the pharmacy practice setting. Keep in mind that it was last updated in 2010, so new laws and regulations may not be reflected in the manual. You can also access all of the current controlled substance laws and regulations through the DEA website. The Question and Answers tab provides valuable information on controlled substance matters including prescription drug monitoring programs, DEA Form 222, and electronic prescriptions.

-Pharmacy Times

Drug Bank (Personal Favorite): a comprehensive, free-to-access, online database containing information on drugs and drug targets. As both a bioinformatics and a cheminformatics resource, they combine detailed drug (i.e. chemical, pharmacological, and pharmaceutical) data with comprehensive drug target (i.e. sequence, structure, and pathway) information.

Additional Rx Websites

Psych Websites and Organizations

Continue Education & Seminars: 

  • Global Medical Education (GME): a medical education company, focusing primarily on psychiatry, that offers information from the world’s leading experts to clinicians around the world, through a variety of formats.
  • INR (Institute for Natural Resources): an organization dedicated to the field of health science, offering over 600 live seminars yearly.
  • Neuroscience Edu. Inst: examine breakthroughs in mental health care and treatment advances. Year after year, Synapse attendees walk away with insights that are clinically relevant to their practice.
  • PESI: has many resources to educate students and professionals to develop their knowledge and skills. Occasionally have psychopharm seminars but some can be very BASIC. Try to sign up for ones where the speaker is a provider.
  • Professional Psych Seminars: providing high-quality continuing education for mental health professionals. They have programs that integrate theory, research, and practice, and offer high-quality, engaging, simple-to-use, and hassle-free online classes.
  • Psych U: comprised of over 36,000 care professionals dedicated to improving the future of mental health care through information, discussion, and collaboration.
  • Vine Education: (formerly known as Cross Country Education) about healthcare professionals with clinical, skill-based continuing education… It’s affiliated with PESI but operates independently.

Networking

  • The International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses (ISBN): is an international social network and also has resources.
  • Facebook/Twitter: you can join psych groups on Facebook and follow mental health news and topics on Twitter. Interact more easily with peers/students and follow trends in mental health.
  • LinkedIn: I have a profile, and although it can be spammy, it’s helpful for networking in general and not just in healthcare.
  • Reddit: it’s a hit or miss but has a very interactive community.

Journals & Articles

-Colleges/Schools should offer these journals & publications for free…

Clinical Assistance/Apps

Medscape Clinical Tool: It’s FREE! check drug interactions, read articles, earn CME’s and so much MORE…other nice high-quality apps include:

  • 5-Minute Consult: great and quick references to over 2000 topics on procedures, tests, and diagnosis. (1-year subscription $120)
  • Epocrates Plus: delivers clinical intelligence, including clinical practice guidelines, in-depth disease content, and alternative medicines. ($174.99/yr)
  • Lexicomp: includes extensive, clinical resources designed to assist various prescribers/caregivers. Content is presented in a clear, concise, point-of-care format and covers a wide variety of patient populations and areas of specialization. (1-year subscription starts at $119)
  • UpToDate:  offers subscribers mobile access options, tools and graphics, complementary patient information articles, and much more. (1-year subscription for $199)

MD Focused/Geared Websites

  • American Family Physician: AFP has information about general health topics that are helpful for physical/medical symptoms…
  • Carlat Reports: provides clinicians with practical, engaging, and unbiased psychiatric education. Some of the products (reports, books, and courses) are $$$ but great up-to-date information, newsletters, and articles written by top mental health leaders.
  • The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: helpful with children or adolescent populations.
  • Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Psychiatry: experienced clinicians and close proximity to thousands of the world’s top clinician-researchers. A lot of groundbreaking information for psychiatry.
  • Doctor Lib: MD resources about everything about the human body and the reading is not easy but very comprehensive.
  • Psycom.net: quality mental health information to better inform patients and the healthcare professionals treating them.
  • Psych Scene Hub: a community of about everything psych-related and very in-depth articles related to mental health. Also, has a great reading community.
  • Stahl Online: the leader of psychopharmacology and the golden standard for learning about prescribing.
  • MD Edge Psychiatry: MD Edge has subcategories (cardiology, internal medicine…) but its psychiatry website has great articles and nice quizzes to test your knowledge and understanding of mental disorders. Also similar in this category is The Carlat Report Psychiatry, which also offers high-quality content.
  • American Psychiatric Assoc. (APA): this organization is related to psychiatrists *it’s not the same as the American Psychology Association (APA), which is related to psychologists.

Honorable Mentions/International Websites

  • American Association of Nurse Practitioners: I wasn’t going to include AANP because they barely recognized Psych NPs or anything about mental health, but I was able to find something in their therapeutic area.
  • American Mental Health Foundation: advocates for improving the quality of treatment, developing more effective methods of research, and making professional treatment available to lower-wage individuals.
  • College of Psychiatric & Neurologic Pharmacists: specialized clinical knowledge and skills, educate and train health care professionals to improve health outcomes for individuals with psychiatric disorders, including substance use and neurologic disorders. They also have resources and tools such as benzo tapering and a journal called The Mental Health Clinician. 
  • Univadis:  a free, time-saving medical news & education community designed exclusively for healthcare professionals. A lot of information that I have yet to explore.
  • Very Well Mind: an online resource that provides the guidance you need to improve your mental health and find balance.
  • Psych Guides: mental health disorder treatment guidelines and consumer guides information for the identification of symptoms and signs of psychological disorders, and effective treatment and recovery.
  • Psychology Today: a group of renowned psychologists, academics, psychiatrists, and writers to contribute their thoughts and ideas. I enjoy the articles because it’s easy reading and not too medical and dense.
  • Daily Mail: very tabloid-like but like Psychology Today, tons of easy reading, in addition to health/medical sections. The Daily Mail (UK-based) and other international websites have great information about mental health but sometimes can have major differences so like everything else always double-check:
    1. The International College of Neuro-Psychopharmacology (CINP) & International Journal
    2. National Health Service– UK, org
    3. Tools– UK
    4. Canadian Mental Health
    5. Different Types of Treatment
    6. Guides and Publications
    7. CANMAT: Canadian network of mood and anxiety disorders
    8. Psychopharmacology Institute: I love their videos about medications and great information that’s primarily free. They also have a YouTube channel.
    9. The British Association for Psychopharmacology & Resources: promotes research and education in psychopharmacology and related areas.
    10. SANE Australia: trustworthy, easy-to-read, evidence-based information on complex mental illness and mental health, for all readers.
    11. SickKids: Canada’s most research-intensive hospital and the largest center dedicated to improving children’s health.
    12. Mind.org: England-based providing advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem.

MISC

Extra Misc. Online

  • Wikipedia & YouTube: similar to Google’s importance, great for anything you need help understanding
  • Khan’s Academy: used it a lot for hard subjects like math, physiology, and chemistry
  • Quizlet: find practice questions, usually free but have premium options
  • Pinterest: a quick fix of information
  • A hospital’s website like John Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, or just about any major hospital or government website has many additional informative links!

Last Updated 11/2023

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