Should psychologist be allowed to prescribe drugs? What could be
the positive and negative side of this provision? This has been one of the most controversial issues in town. Will the psychologists prove to the psychiatrists that they also have the power to prescribe medication or will they failed to do such action on treating the mental-ill persons? Going through the articles and by total comprehension I go after the position of forbidding psychologist on prescribing medication to mental-ill person and that psychiatrists have the greater power to give medications. Psychologists are also professionals on examining how human beings sense, think, learn, know, communicate and interact. They are also constant on collecting facts about behaviour and experience and organizing facts into psychological theories still their training is deficient of assurance that they could successfully treat patients using medication. Psychologists often work closely with psychiatrists and treat many of the same kinds of patient but I don’t think they are well trained in medicine. The range of training and expertise is lacking. On the other hand, psychiatrists are by nature experts and have specialized in mental disorders. They do not only diagnose and treat mental disorders but also conduct researches directed at understanding and preventing them. They are the doctors of medicine who has had postgraduate training in psychiatry. Generally, their task is to account for the diverse sources and manifestations of mental illness. Patients are in need of a doctor who has an “extensive" psycho-pharmacological experience and training to advise and distribute medication. Looking through the background of psychologists they are not well trained about the pros and cons of using medications. The greatest risk on allowing them would be in the lack of training and diagnostic testing that would leave patients at too great a risk. Few psychologists understand the psychopharmacology. Psychologists are primarily trained to do therapy. The medication and combinations of medications prescribed for mental ill people are too dangerous if dosages are not administered correctly. Psychiatrists and psychologists play very different specialized roles in a manic depressants life and I believe they should remain separated. Recommendation: I am not against the expertise of psychologist it is just that their training and awareness on drugs is lacking. If psychologists will insist to ask for a license on drug prescription then they should have further training and specialized on psychopharmacology. The best circumstance is to have a psychiatrist handle your meds and a psychologist to do your therapy. Many medications have side effects and need to be combined with other meds to counteract these side effects which the psychiatrists are expert in. A psychologist neither has the knowledge, training or experience for this nor could make a serious mistake.