Over the last two months, digital mental health unicorn Cerebral has faced a wave of negative media attention. At the crux of these stories are the company’s prescribing practices, particularly its approach to prescribing controlled ADHD substances.

At the American Telemedicine Conference in Boston, Cerebral CMO Dr. David Mou sought to clear the air and address the recent news stories.

“I will say that we have made mistakes,” Mou said. “And I’ll also admit that we will continue to make mistakes and learn.”

In March, Bloomberg published a feature alleging that Cerebral’s focus on medication prescribing and management could lead to providers pushing medications. Again, at the heart of these reports were the prescribing practices of ADHD medications.

In turn, Cerebral’s preferred pharmacy, Truepill, has temporarily stopped Cerebral prescriptions of Adderall, according to a Monday Wall Street Journal report. CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) had previously blocked certain Cerebral prescribers from prescribing Adderall.

The startup is also facing a lawsuit from its former VP of product and engineering, alleging that he was retaliated against after questioning the company’s prescribing practices.

Common ADHD medications Ritalin and Adderall are categorized by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as controlled substances in the same class as cocaine.

Despite the ongoing backlash, Mou noted that treating ADHD is actually a small percentage of the company’s total business. While Mou did not break down the exact percentages, he did say that the “vast majority” of the business is focused on depression, anxiety, PTSD, adjustment disorder and, increasingly, bipolar disorder.

“Of all the patients who come to us and they say, ‘Hey, I have symptoms of ADHD,’ only slightly more than 50% of them are actually diagnosed with it,” Mou said. “Most of the other patients have anxiety disorders with depression, and they confuse their symptoms of inattention with ADHD.”

Mou described several safety processes in place including depression screeners, mandates that clinicians check local prescription monitoring programs and clinical decision support tools. Clinicians also have access to a Curbside Consult feature, which lets doctors talk to a licensed psychiatrist within 30 minutes before prescribing a medication.

“The idea here is that you’re getting support the entire time,” he said.

The direct-to-consumer company has also come under fire for its marketing approach to ADHD medications. Mou noted that the company advertises its services for multiple conditions including insomnia, bipolar disorder and ADHD.

“I will say that I think that [ADHD] gets more attention because it has to do with controlled substances,” he said. “We are very judicious in how we prescribe for substances.”

However, Mou admits that the company has made mistakes in its marketing efforts before.

For example, when the company was quickly growing, it outsourced some of its marketing. This meant that some of its promotional material was no longer reviewed by medical personnel.

The company has since changed this approach and now has the director of quality reviewing the ads.

Cerebral has raised $462 million in venture capital since its 2019 launch, bringing its total valuation to roughly $4.8 billion.

Cerebral isn’t the only direct-to-consumer ADHD prescriber that has recently been in hot water. Fellow digital health company Done has also had some of its prescribers banned from prescribing Adderall at big retail pharmacies.

Additionally the FDA and DEA sent a warning to online pharmacies Kubaphram.com and Premiumlightssupplier.com for “illegally selling Schedule II stimulants.” The agencies allege that the websites sell Adderall online without a prescription.

Mou said that there is still stigma around mental health and telehealth.

“We’ve been very open with our outcomes data,” he said. “We’ve been sharing it with a lot of people. We end up putting telehealth providers on a higher standard because it’s new.”

In addition to its prescribing practices, Cerebral has also faced criticism for its employment tactics.

Earlier this year, the startup changed the pay structure for its W-2 clinicians from salaried to hourly pay. In March, a report also surfaced claiming that Cerebral planned to outsource its care coordinator roles to the Philippines.