Recognition for mental health

Happy Australia Day.

Good news comes in the recognition of an eminent psychiatrist Professor Patrick McGorry as Australian of the Year. Probably not many people outside of the mental health field will have heard of Professor McGorry and so it's great to see, in this award, that some recognition is going to the importance of mental health issues.

24 hours post award, Professor McGorry has already ruffled some feathers with his comments on Australia's detention centres as factories for mental illness'. Read more here.

Psychologists as Prescribers

The debate rages on here. Well, perhaps not rages but is, at least, current.

Should psychologists prescribe medication? I have to say that I'm not keen on this move forward.

Why?

Even with the provision of more in-depth psychopharmacological training, I don't believe the level of knowledge would be sufficient to account for all the variables that need to be considered in medicating someone. From a personal point of view, I think a medical background is essential.

I also think that many patients prefer their psychologists as non-prescribers, especially those that don't want to go down the medication route. I'm not adverse to medication at all and patients who are intially resistant to the idea will often reconsider as an interim measure if they're having trouble doing psychological work. When that happens, both the patient and I seem comfortable having either the patient's doctor or a psychiatrist involved.

What do you think? Drop a comment or tick off a box on the poll in the side bar.