Katelenn Lawrence
Ronald Reagan IB
Grade 12
Should psychologists be granted prescription privileges?
Katelenn Lawrence
Ronald Reagan IB
Grade 12
Should psychologists be granted prescription privileges? Currently in today’s mental health care people see psychiatrists for medication management and brief appointments, and they see other professionals, such as psychologists and social workers, for intense, ongoing needs. The debate in the psychology field about prescription privilege for psychologists has been going on for about two decades now. It all began in 1989, presently The American Psychological Association (APA) officially considering the matter beginning in 1989. (NW, 800, & 20005, 2014) Recent …show more content…
According to the National Register of health service psychologist, it says” the APA established a task force to evaluate the "desirability and feasibility of psychopharmacology prescription privileges for psychologists. The task force proposed three levels of training in psychopharmacology, including recommended focus areas and curriculum requirements: (1) Level One - basic education; (2) Level Two - collaborative practice; and (3) Level Three - prescription privileges (Association, 2016). The task force concluded that psychologists who provided mental health services should at least have access to level one training, and recognized an evolving "subspecialty of psychology with comprehensive knowledge and experience in psychopharmacology" that has the potential to dramatically improve patient care and treatment. In 1995, the APA Council of Representatives formally announced its objective to obtain prescription privileges, and called for the drafting of model legislation and training curriculum (Schroeder, 2014). The current APA model program for prescription privileges, in addition to completing an accredited doctoral program in professional psychology, requires a minimum of 300 contact hours of didactic instruction and supervised treatment of 100 patients, with no specified …show more content…
The inherent risks, they believe it should take more than a one year course to validate someone to do something like prescribe medication (Rae, Jensen-Doss, Bowden, Mendoza, & Banda, 2008). It should be left to Psychiatrists. If you want to prescribe medication, what’s wrong with going to medical school? Psychology today states the following argument. Since most people already go to their primary care physician (PCP) for psychotropic medications, why not allow psychologists, who are trained in the treatment of mental illness to provide similar services? (SPECT scans and Dr. Daniel 2008) Furthermore, given the deaths of psychiatrists in certain areas of the country (particularly in rural areas), why allow psychologist to fill the gap? (“Why medication should be left to psychiatrists,”
Ronald Reagan IB
Grade 12
Should psychologists be granted prescription privileges?
Katelenn Lawrence
Ronald Reagan IB
Grade 12
Should psychologists be granted prescription privileges? Currently in today’s mental health care people see psychiatrists for medication management and brief appointments, and they see other professionals, such as psychologists and social workers, for intense, ongoing needs. The debate in the psychology field about prescription privilege for psychologists has been going on for about two decades now. It all began in 1989, presently The American Psychological Association (APA) officially considering the matter beginning in 1989. (NW, 800, & 20005, 2014) Recent …show more content…
According to the National Register of health service psychologist, it says” the APA established a task force to evaluate the "desirability and feasibility of psychopharmacology prescription privileges for psychologists. The task force proposed three levels of training in psychopharmacology, including recommended focus areas and curriculum requirements: (1) Level One - basic education; (2) Level Two - collaborative practice; and (3) Level Three - prescription privileges (Association, 2016). The task force concluded that psychologists who provided mental health services should at least have access to level one training, and recognized an evolving "subspecialty of psychology with comprehensive knowledge and experience in psychopharmacology" that has the potential to dramatically improve patient care and treatment. In 1995, the APA Council of Representatives formally announced its objective to obtain prescription privileges, and called for the drafting of model legislation and training curriculum (Schroeder, 2014). The current APA model program for prescription privileges, in addition to completing an accredited doctoral program in professional psychology, requires a minimum of 300 contact hours of didactic instruction and supervised treatment of 100 patients, with no specified …show more content…
The inherent risks, they believe it should take more than a one year course to validate someone to do something like prescribe medication (Rae, Jensen-Doss, Bowden, Mendoza, & Banda, 2008). It should be left to Psychiatrists. If you want to prescribe medication, what’s wrong with going to medical school? Psychology today states the following argument. Since most people already go to their primary care physician (PCP) for psychotropic medications, why not allow psychologists, who are trained in the treatment of mental illness to provide similar services? (SPECT scans and Dr. Daniel 2008) Furthermore, given the deaths of psychiatrists in certain areas of the country (particularly in rural areas), why allow psychologist to fill the gap? (“Why medication should be left to psychiatrists,”