Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Andrew Rosen and Dr. David Gross have spent decades sitting across from people who genuinely want to stop using drugs or alcohol and simply can't. This conversation gets into why that happens, and why willpower has far less to do with it than most people think.

A specific region deep in the brain called the nucleus accumbens gets reprogrammed by repeated drug use, eventually overpowering the logical, planning part of the brain. That's not a metaphor. It's why someone can leave the emergency room after a cocaine-induced cardiac arrest and stop to buy more on the way home.

They walk through what addiction actually means, including the difference between physical dependence and the full picture of compulsive use that derails jobs, relationships, and daily life. There's also a genetic piece that often goes unacknowledged, along with the emotional piece, that quiet feeling that something is missing, which drugs and alcohol can temporarily fill in ways that get remembered.

The conversation also gets honest about what rehab programs often miss. Treating the substance abuse without addressing the underlying anxiety, depression, or other psychological struggles is one of the reasons so many people cycle in and out of treatment. The long-standing tension in 12-step communities around psychiatric medication comes up too, and how that's slowly shifting.

They close on something worth sitting with. The cultural normalization of gummies, edibles, and now psychedelics is convincing a lot of people that certain substances are simply not a problem. Two clinicians who've watched families fall apart over exactly that kind of thinking aren't so sure.

Contact the Docs:
Email: twoshrinksandamic@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Andrew Rosen and Dr. David Gross pull back the curtain on one of the most loaded questions in mental health care: when does someone actually need medication, and who decides that?

The two talk through how the field got here, including decades of therapists and psychiatrists operating in separate silos, rarely talking to each other, and why that siloed approach hasn't served patients well. They're honest about the turf issues that still exist today and why good collaboration between prescribers and therapists remains the exception rather than the rule.

A lot of the conversation centers on what people get wrong about medication. The fear of addiction, the belief that needing a pill means something is seriously wrong, the opposite trap of wanting a quick fix without doing the harder therapeutic work. They also dig into the difference between dependency and addiction, and why that distinction matters more than most people realize.

They get into specific scenarios too, like when someone's anxiety or obsessive thinking is so intense that therapy alone can't get traction, and how medication can quiet the nervous system enough for the real work to begin. There's also a frank discussion about lithium being underused despite being a gold standard, why sleep problems are more treatable than people think, and what a medication plan should actually look like versus a ten-minute appointment ending in a prescription.

The throughline is something they clearly both believe: medication and therapy work best together, referring a patient for a psychiatric consult isn't failure, and most people can get better.

Contact the Docs:

Email: twoshrinksandamic@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

That familiar Monday morning stomachache might be telling you something. Dr. Andrew Rosen and Dr. David Gross sit down with pediatrician Dr. Celina Moore to explore what it really means when a child's emotions show up in their body — and how families can respond before things escalate.

Dr. Moore walks through how she approaches the classic school day stomachache: ruling out medical causes, recognizing patterns, and then asking the bigger questions about stress, separation, and fear. She explains why so many kids simply don't have the words for what they're feeling yet — and why that makes the physical symptoms worth listening to just as carefully as any other sign of illness.

The conversation also travels far beyond the exam room. Dr. Moore shares her ongoing work in Ghana through the Acoma M Tosso Foundation, which she founded with her husband — returning year after year to the same villages to build trust, address children's health needs, and tackle the deeper barriers that keep kids from getting care. She reflects on compassion, clinician burnout, and what keeps her connected to this work across two continents.

Contact the Docs:

Email: twoshrinksandamic@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

Dr. Andrew Rosen and Dr. David Gross sit down with Dr. Ryan Seidman, a child psychologist and clinical director of the Children's Center for Psychiatry, Psychology, and Related Services, to talk about what it actually looks like to raise and treat a child who learns or experiences the world differently.

Dr. Seidman pushes back on the idea that neurodivergent kids fit neatly into any one category. Every child has strengths and weaknesses, she says, and understanding that changes everything about how you approach treatment, school planning, and even parenting itself.

The conversation gets into why public school evaluations can take up to two years in Florida, what private psychoeducational testing actually covers beyond just an IQ number, and how that data gets translated into real support through IEPs and 504 plans. There's also a candid discussion about what happens when the bigger challenge isn't the child at all.

They talk about screens, structure, the loss of the family dinner table, and why so many kids today are struggling to communicate and socialize in ways that feel new and alarming. Dr. Seidman shares that she's navigating some of this herself as a parent, which is very much the point.

The episode closes on what makes the Children's Center model work: not just the range of services under one roof, but the fact that the clinicians actually function as a team, communicating in real time, and treating the whole family, not just the child who walked in the door.

Contact the Docs:

Email: twoshrinksandamic@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

Getting help sounds simple until you actually try to do it. Dr. Rosen and Dr. Gross walk through the less obvious reasons people hesitate, from shame and privacy concerns to the quiet belief that we should be able to handle things on our own. It’s not the same as going to a dentist or fixing a car, and people feel that difference in a very real way.

They also get into what happens once you decide to reach out. Insurance limitations, mismatched referrals, short treatment windows, and medication hurdles can turn the process into something frustrating and discouraging. Even finding the right kind of help can feel like guesswork if you don’t know where to start.

There’s a practical side to this too. Starting with a primary care doctor, ruling out medical causes, and looking for specialists who actually match the problem can make a difference. But even those steps come with tradeoffs depending on cost, access, and availability.

Underneath all of it is something both of them come back to often. Mental health is harder to see, harder to define, and easier to misunderstand. But people do get better. Even when it doesn’t feel believable in the moment, that possibility is still there.

Contact the Docs:

Email: twoshrinksandamic@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

A lot of anxiety comes back to one uncomfortable feeling people don’t always have words for — feeling stuck, like you need to get out but can’t.

Dr. Andrew Rosen and Dr. David Gross sit with that idea and follow it from everyday situations like traffic or crowded spaces to something deeper and harder to explain. That sense of being trapped isn’t just about the moment. It connects to fear, loss of control, and even the way we think about uncertainty and mortality.

From there, the conversation shifts into what actually helps. Not quick fixes, but small, practical things people can try in real life. Exercise, even something as simple as a walk. Meditation, even when it feels like it’s not working. Apps, breathing techniques, and getting outside. They talk honestly about why these things are hard to start, why people resist them, and why they still matter.

They also come back to something they see all the time. People think they’re the only ones feeling this way, or that it means something is wrong with them. It doesn’t.

There’s a steady thread throughout about learning to manage anxiety rather than trying to eliminate it, taking small steps, and finding ways to feel a little more in control again.

Contact the Docs:

Email: twoshrinksandamic@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

This is a conversation that keeps coming up, both in the office and in everyday life, especially as more people start to question whether what they’re experiencing is ADHD or something else.

Dr. Andrew Rosen and Dr. David Gross walk through what they often see when someone comes in convinced they have ADHD, only to realize the picture is more layered. Difficulty focusing, unfinished projects, feeling mentally scattered… it can all look the same on the surface.

But when you slow it down, there’s a difference between a busy mind and a stuck mind. Racing thoughts that jump from one thing to another don’t feel the same as repetitive what if loops that won’t let go. And that distinction starts to matter when you’re trying to understand what’s actually going on.

They also talk about how often ADHD and anxiety overlap, how one can feed the other, and why it’s not always clean or easy to separate. Treatment isn’t one size fits all, and quick fixes are rarely the answer.

The conversation moves into intrusive thoughts too, including the kind that feel scary or out of character. The kind people don’t always say out loud. And what it means when your brain goes there.

At the center of it all is a simple but important idea. Not every thought is meaningful. Sometimes it’s just noise. And learning how to recognize that can shift the way you relate to your own mind.

Contact the Docs:

Email: twoshrinksandamic@gmail.com

Send us Fan Mail

ADHD gets talked about everywhere now, but living with attention struggles is rarely as simple as a label.

Dr. Andrew Rosen and Dr. David Gross take a step back and look at how focus, distraction, and restlessness actually show up over time. They move between childhood and adulthood, where things don’t always look the same but often feel just as frustrating.

They sit with the gray area. The overlap between personality, stress, environment, and diagnosis. The ways people adapt, compensate, or quietly struggle without ever having language for what’s going on.

There’s some humor, some honesty, and a steady thread throughout about how easy it is to miss the bigger picture when everything gets reduced to a trend.

Contact the Docs:

Email: twoshrinksandamic@gmail.com