Dr. Goldstein completed a fellowship in Psychopharmacology, which is the study of properties of drugs and their effects on the mind and body. While any medical doctor can prescribe medicine, a psychopharmacologist is able to analyze what happens to a drug when it enters the body, and what its effects are on the various systems in the body. This is extremely important in calculating how one drug reacts with another drug when both are taken by the same person, since most patients are on more than one medicine. And it is even more critical when the medicines are prescribed by different doctors in different specialties.

For example, a patient with heart problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, glaucoma, or other serious medical problems might have severe complications when various drugs are taken. A drug that is harmless by itself may have different properties when combined with other drugs, or may cause other drugs to have properties they didn't have when taken alone. And a trained specialist will take into consideration the age, height, weight and other factors when tailoring a dose to a patient, rather than just following package directions on how many pills any patient should take.

The same idea applies to natural products. Most people think that because something is natural, it is harmless. Nothing is further from the truth. Some herbs are like speed. Some are like downers. And natural products can interact with each other as well as with prescription drugs. So-called "Intuitive" healers may give stimulants to someone and trigger a panic attack or a manic episode. High colonics can leech essential bacteria and vitamins and minerals from the digestive tract. It takes someone with medical training and experience to utilize these methods correctly and safely.

Another advantage to specialized knowledge of psychopharmacology is knowing the risks or advantages of certain drugs. Long before the government receives enough test information to remove a harmful drug from the market (such as in the case of VIOXX recently), a psychopharmacologist may have recognized the harmful properties and kept her patients away from that drug. Dr. Goldstein was warning patients away from Phen-Fen back in the early 1990s. (But do you think most of them listened to her?)

On the other hand, a psychopharmacologist may recognize benefits to a drug above and beyond the purpose for which it is marketed. For example, certain drugs that were approved for treatment of seizures were found to be useful in treating bipolar illness, and were used by knowledgeable doctors long before the government granted approval for this additional indication. Early antidepressant drugs were developed to treat tuberculosis. Think of the benefits of having safe, effective treatment with fewer (or no) side effects -- and how an expert can minimize risks while improving treatment.