Recently there has been quite a bit of debate in the legal and mental health fields regarding proposed bills that would grant licensed psychologists the ability to write prescriptions.
So, what do you think? Is it a Godsend, allowing those without access to, for whatever reasons, a psychiatrist?
-or-
Is it just another step in the overmedication of Western society?
I’ll check back in tomorrow with my own opinions in response to the replies.
-Yd
Ack, my very first GD thread and I forget to preview!
That should read: “Is it a Godsend, allowing those without access to a psychiatrist, for whatever reasons, medications?”
I’ll say no.
First of all, psych drugs have medical indications and contraindications, interactions, and adverse effects. A psychologist is not trained to prevent, recognize, and treat these effects the way a physician would be. Granted, the main drugs these folks would be prescribing are the SSRIs (Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, etc.), which have relatively few interactions and side effects, but I would still want anyone on them to be under a doctor’s care. Other psych drugs, like lithium or antipsychotics, absolutely require medical supervision.
For another thing, the “separation” between psychiatrists and psychologists is comforting to some patients. They think that they need to “talk to someone”, but they’re uncomfortable with the idea of being prescribed drugs, and they’d rather not go to someone who thinks that way. I heartily disagree that our society is “overmedicated”, and I think that anyone who could benefit from psych drugs should be on them, but patients have the right to feel otherwise. Plus, there are also patients who need counseling and psychotherapy more than they need drugs, and a psychologist is going to be the best option for them.
I understand why they want to be able to prescribe–psych drugs are immeasurably better than ever, and they keep getting better. However, med school takes as long as it does for a reason.
Dr. J
Also no.
What I’m seeing is a person going in for counseling with a specialist who is neither a psychiatrist or psychologist and this person sending the client to their family doctor for medications. The family doctor prescribes the medications but if the medication doesn’t help or work as desired he send the patient on to a psychiatrist. The patient doesn’t continue seeing the psychiatrist but goes back to the original counseling person.
If the individual is a child, a psychologist may become involved to do testing.
In the HMO situation the family doctor sends the patient to the HMO’s psychiatrist, medication and treatment seems to be determined there but the continued treatment goes back to the family doctor and counseling.
Seems to be a lot of safety in this “triangular” arrangement.
Jois