Prescribing Medication
No refills will be given without a visit. Patients who are established with me may be given paper scripts for several months worth of medication after they have demonstrated an ability to remain stable on what they are taking and an ability to engage proactively in their care plan.
If there is an emergency and you cannot make it in and still need a refill, I will selectively refill one week’s worth of scripts and you will be charged for an office visit which insurance will not cover.
WHY DON’T YOU PROVIDE XANAX, CONVERSION THERAPY, 24 HOUR CRISIS COUNSELING, OR MEDICAL MARIJUANA?
The reason why I do not prescribe Xanax or similar medications in the benzodiazepine family, otherwise know as sedative hypnotics or anxiolytics, is that for routine use, these are extremely habit forming and it has been my experience that they create more problems than they solve. For PTSD, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorders there are many more effective and sustainable treatments available. I am happy to discuss these if you wish. The most recent evidence supports psychotherapy and an antidepressant class called SSRI’s for the effective treatment of anxiety disorders and PTSD.
Conversion therapy is contraindicated and not considered standard of care by the American Psychiatric Association. You may find some providers still willing to offer this, but I am not one of them. My position on homosexuality is that it is a normal variant of the human sexuality spectrum.
There are 24 hour crisis counseling services available in most communities which can be accessed by calling 911 and requesting a mobile crisis unit for evaluation or a severe imminent mental health crisis. There is only one Dr Goldman (one Doctor period) at Whole Human Psychiatry, and to do my best work for my identified patients I make myself available for SCHEDULED appointments only. If I were to be instantly available at all hours by phone, I would soon become sleep deprived and put myself into a mental health crisis of my own. If you are having a life threatening emergency that cannot wait for the next available office or tele-psych appointment with me please call 911, state that you are having a mental health crisis and ask for help, or take yourself physically to the nearest full service hospital.
The jury is still out in the uses and abuses of cannabis products, including medical marijuana. Some states in the US permit marijuana use recreationally, and in Arizona this is permitted medically with a card. Since the federal laws governing marijuana use are still adverse to the prescription of medical marijuana and because I value my medical license, I have decided to recommend that those wishing a recommendation for medical marijuana continue to look elsewhere. Until federal and state laws on marijuana converge, I will not be prescribing it.