Personal blog of Dr Alex Mendelsohn

Month: February 2024

The time psychiatry forgot about notation: the 12-hour lithium level

This article is about the recently published article Dr Aftab and I have published in the Psychiatric Times: Future Proofing Lithium Pharmacokinetic Research


I know that lithium pharmacokinetics is not exactly the sexiest subject in the world. I definitely know that the proper use of notation isn’t.

However, improper (or lack of) use of notations in research can cause an otherwise good research paper to be uninterpretable.

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On the big questions

I received an email from a very nice person seeking advice and help about their future career choice. I replied saying that I don’t usually give advice because of how complex individuals can be. One piece of advice that might work for one person, may be detrimental to another. However, what I did do was speak from my own experiences – hoping that themes within them apply to their personal situation. I noted that what I wrote could be complete rubbish!

The email correspondence between us helped me to get some of my thoughts down on paper. And, I would like to put them up on my blog just in case someone else finds value in my experiences. This is the fourth of five blog posts.

This blog post discusses Alex’s personal experiences with anxiety and how it affected their perception of the “big questions” in life. They came to the realisation that framing decision-making based on their mood state rather than logical frameworks made more sense for them. They also believe that answering small questions can lead to a better understanding of the bigger picture. Alex suggests that the big question of “what is free will?” may not be the correct question to ask based on their experience with mental illness.


When I became severely anxious overnight, suddenly, some of the big questions became extremely important. But funnily enough, they all seemed to revolve around death and dying. After my severe reaction, I have given no thought at all as to whether free will exists or the hallmark of a life well lived.

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