FOCUSING ON SOCIETY REAL NEEDS - RESPONSIBILITY AND PRESCRIPTION PRIVILEGES

Professional psychology has the obligation and opportunity for contributing significantly to society. The prescription privilege agenda is a case example. During the past decade, considerable support has developed within the field, particularly among practitioners, for obtaining this clinical responsibility. The federal sector has demonstrated that our profession can prescribe competently and safely and that viable training modules can be developed at the postdoctoral level. There is a clear and pressing need for ensuring that psychotropic medications are used in a safe and effective manner. Nevertheless, at both the state and national levels, those psychologists involved in seeking this privilege have experienced intense opposition from organized psychiatry. It is crucial that the profession control its own destiny.