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: In reality, however, Dr Smith’s “training” in psychotropic drugs most likely came from a drug rep (and his use of samples was a telltale sign), not from advanced training in psychopharmacology. When one considers that the majority of psychotropic medication is prescribed by non-psychiatrists like Dr Smith, it’s fairly safe to say that much use of psychiatric drugs is motivated by drug ads, free samples, and “educational dinners” by “key opinion leaders,” and provided without much follow-up. Furthermore, Dr Smith’s training in mental health most likely pales in comparison to that of Dr Moore. Psychologists like Dr Moore have five or more years of postgraduate training, 3000 or more hours of clinical supervision, research experience, and have passed a national licensing exam. But they’re forbidden from using medications that have been FDA-approved for precisely the conditions that they are extraordinarily well-equipped to evaluate, diagnose, and treat. A satisfactory alternative would be an integrated behavioral health/primary care clinic in which professionals like Dr Moore can consult with a psychiatrist ( or another “psychiatric prescriber”) to prescribe. This arrangement has been shown to work in many settings . It also allows for proper follow-up and limits the number of prescribers. Indeed, pharmaceutical companies salivate at the prospect of more people with prescribing authority—it directly expands the market for their drugs—but the fact is that most of them simply don’t work as well as advertised and cause unwanted side effects. ( More about that in a future post.)