The intersection of counseling pychology and the prescriptive authority for psychologists movement: a qualitative exploration at the level of the professional organization

Psychology and psychiatry represent two distinct models of mental health care. Whereas psychologists primarily use psychosocial interventions like psychotherapy, psychiatrists are physicians who specialize in treating mental illness with medication. However, a growing movement advocates for training psychologists to also prescribe medication. The prescriptive authority for psychologists (RxP) movement has culminated in psychologists in the United States prescribing at both the state and federal levels. Yet, the RxP movement remains controversial, and both supporters and opponents continue to disagree over its future.

Counseling psychology, a specialty within the field of professional psychology, has not officially discussed the RxP movement since 1994. Given the developments in the RxP movement since then, this study endeavored to investigate current views of prescriptive authority among the leadership of counseling psychology’s professional organization, Division 17 of the American Psychological Association. Researchers interviewed current and former members of the leadership of Division 17 and generated conclusions from their responses. Participants shared qualified support of prescriptive authority, despite indicating no interest in prescribing, and they reported that they saw prescriptive practice as consistent with the professional identity of counseling psychology. Participants also suggested that Division 17 could move forward with the RxP movement by developing a task force devoted to investigating prescriptive authority among its members. The conclusions of the study indicate that the leadership of Division 17 is well positioned to address prescriptive authority by creating an organizational task force to further explore the issue for counseling psychology.