Policies

Payment

General Policies

I am licensed in Arizona and able to serve Arizona residents, age 18 and above.
Each person must contact me themself. I won't accept referrals from insurance companies. Please do not try to force your grown child, your spouse or your mixed up friends to come see me. I only see people who actually want to come in and see me.
I do not take any insurance or Medicare. All my patients pay out of pocket for my services.
If you want information on how to bill YOUR OWN insurance company for reimbursement, let me know, I can show you how to get started. But I won't do it for you.
Safety and privacy are top priorities for me when working with patients. Please do not be in a moving car, sitting in Starbucks, or in a cubicle surrounded by coworkers when it is time for our appointments. Be in a place where you feel safe, where you have uninterrupted privacy and a good internet connection or wifi service during our visits.
I don’t prescribe any Xanax, Valium, or similar medications, and if you were terminated by another doctor who used to prescribe these things for you, I am still won't prescribe these medications for you.
All prescriptions and refills are managed within an office visit. There are no refills without an office visit. Please plan ahead so that you don't run out of anything before your next visit
I offer telepsychiatry, which is easy, confidential and saves gas, thus protecting the planet and your privacy.
I run a small, independent, patient-centered low-overhead, psychiatry micro-practice. I have no answering service and no office staff. When you contact Dr Goldman, you get Dr Goldman.
If you emailed me and I didn't respond, I might have missed your email. Text me instead, at (520)235-5259, if you haven't received a response within 2 business days. If you still don't hear back, text me again.
I do not run a suicide hotline. I do not provide 24 hr emergency care, only outpatient psychiatry.
For current rates, please see the "Fees" section, using tabs at the top.
I am a strong advocate for physician self-care, and I practice this myself. I turn off my phone at night so I can sleep. I believe all human beings deserve to have time to rest, relax and recharge.
If you are having a psychiatric emergency and need immediate help, please contact the National suicide hotline. https://988lifeline.org or call 988.
If you are experiencing a mental health crisis in Pima County, please contact the Crisis Response Center at (520)622-6000.
I charge for phone calls lasting longer than five or ten minutes, as well as for extra paperwork one requests me to fill out.
If you miss an appointment you will still be charged a no-show or late cancelation fee. (See the "Fees" page). By calling 24 hours in advance this can be avoided.

General Policies

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, or 24 hour crisis counseling?

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. For some people SSRI's are not that great, but there are many other non-benzo medications and behavioral therapy techniques we can use.

Diet, Exercise, & Sleep

Diet, Exercise, & Sleep, plus why I do not offer "conversion therapy" or "emergency services", and what is the meaning of life.

Credible scientific studies point to the importance of overall physical wellness to support mental health. This makes sense when you consider that the brain is the seat of human cognitive function and is tied in with other systems of the body including the body’s systemic nervous system (notably the autonomic nervous system which contains the fight/flight sympathetic subsystem; the rest/digest parasympathetic nervous system; and the newly discovered enteric nervous system). Our emotions exist in our heads, our hearts and our guts thus making the mind-body connection incontrovertible.

Conversion "therapy" is an attempt to turn a person who has homosexual "urges" into a straight person. I don't practice this because I believe it's harmful. 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.

Some folks wonder why I don't offer crisis counseling for everybody. 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.

Nobody has the right to tell you what the meaning of your life is. Anyone who thinks they can tell you the meaning of life is either lying or fooling themselves. But we can take some guesses.

Neuroscientific evidence confirms that "the mind" cannot be "localized" to a specific structure in the brain. Combined with quantum physics, this suggests we are not brains riding around in a box, but actually we are non-localized, non-material entities of pure consciousness, wearing the "coat" of the human body, and electing courses as "human beings" in the specific time-space coordinates of the present time and place on the planet earth. We are "spawned" here, this is not the only "game" but it is important to play the game you are in.

We are here for "XP", we are here to learn how to love and to serve. What comes after this life (or before it) can be dictated by religion, culture, etc, but none of us are hear to be dictated to. I reject dogma and embrace collaboration. I enjoy being a coach and an expert consultant who trods the road of life alongside each of the unique humans I serve, in my persona as Dr Goldman. My purpose, and the meaning of my current life is to build a more joyful world, through building the connections between all life forms and all beings in the natural world. I do this by serving one human patient at a time. I enlist my skills, formal training as a psychiatrist and my life experience to serve human beings, and to relieve suffering.

Suicide

Suicidal thoughts, impulses or plans....

What should I do if I'm feeling suicidal?

First, consider if you are in immediate danger. If so, please drop whatever you are doing and call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
Reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 1-800-273-TALK or www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
In Pima County, call the Crisis Response Center at (520)301-2400.

Non lethal crises between visits

In certain rare situations, an established patient may want to call me between visits, knowing that they are not in an immediate life threatening danger of harming themself or anyone else.
I can and I do take calls between scheduled appointments when it does not impose on other time obligations I have, and the fee for this service may shift over time, as my rates have changed since the time I opened my practice. For the most up to date fee schedule, please check the "Fees" tab at the top.

First Responders