Title: Explain To Me Again Why Psychologists Can’t Prescribe Meds? | Thought Broadcast
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Explain To Me Again Why Psychologists Can’t Prescribe Meds?
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Content: As a result, despite whatever experience or insight Dr Moore may have in the diagnosis of mental illness, he’s forbidden from prescribing a drug to treat it. I recently gave a presentation to a Continuing Education program sponsored by the California School of Professional Psychology . My audience was a group of “prescribing psychologists”—licensed psychologists who have taken over 500 hours of psychopharmacology course work in addition to the years to obtain their psychology PhDs. By virtue of their core training, these psychologists do not see patients as “diseases” or as targets for drugs. Although they do receive training in psychiatric diagnosis (and use the same DSM as psychiatrists), neuroanatomy, and testing/assessment, their interventions are decidedly not biological. Most of them see psychotherapy as a primary intervention, and, more importantly, they are well versed in determining when and how medications can be introduced as a complement to the work done in therapy. Most states, however (including my own, California) do not permit psychologists to obtain prescribing privileges, resulting in a division of labor that ultimately affects patient care. Let’s return to the scenarios: in scenario “A,” Dr Moore could not prescribe William any medication, although he followed William through two brief antidepressant trials prescribed by William’s primary care physician (with whom, incidentally, Dr Moore never spoke). When Dr Moore referred William to me, I was happy to see him but didn’t want to see myself as just a “prescriber.”