Posted by Larry Hoover on April 20, 2009, at 8:34:54
In reply to Re: psychopharmacologist vs. psychiatrist, posted by Zana on April 20, 2009, at 7:54:25
> Psychopharmacologists do their residency in psychopharm.
> Psychiatrist do their residency in psychiatry-- treating patients with talk therapy.
> Psychopharm docs may also train in general psychiatry.Although that may generally be true, there is no recognized American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology subspecialty in Psychopharmacology.
http://www.abms.org/Who_We_Help/Physicians/specialties.aspx
There is an organization called the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology, which confers the honorific ASCP upon doctors who pass the qualifying exams, but this is a non-board sanctioned professional organization. Although the qualifications require a medical specialization, that specialization could be anything, e.g. family medicine, orthopedics....
http://www.ascpp.org/pages.aspx?PanelID=1&PageName=What_is_Psychopharmacology
Patients must investigate the educational background of anyone claiming to be a psychopharmacologist. There are residency programs in psychopharmacology, but the board certification could not be in that subspecialty. It's a loop-hole, perhaps, but any doctor could claim this specialization at present, unless they have ASCP certification. But I'd still want to know how they got there.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:891608
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090416/msgs/891747.html