The tide rises.

Abstract

Much as the professional school movement of 30 years ago was first considered misguided by opponents and ultimately became a valuable part of the profession, so too will prescriptive authority for psychologists. One major step was APA's Council of Representatives' adoption as formal policy attaining prescriptive authority. Training models in psychopharmacology for psychologists have emerged around the country. Even in advance of a state's adoption of prescription privileges statute, participation in such training results in enhanced scope of clinical competence and practice. A substantial body of data has emerged about psychologists' practice of pharmacotherapy. Four independent evaluations of the DoD psychopharmacology fellowship demonstrated that psychologists can be trained to safely and effectively prescribe medications and integrate pharmacotherapy into psychological practice.