1. To the Editor:
This is in response to the June 4 letter to the editor regarding the psychology prescribing bill (SB2187)
that affects the vulnerable citizens of Illinois. I am a board-certified psychiatrist. I have worked closely
with physicians and psychologists for 15 years. Psychiatrists learn about all medications, their uses and
their side effects in four years of medical school. They then learn more about the proper diagnosis of
psychiatric disease in their four-year residency after medical school. They also learn more about the
medications that are used: their risks, their benefits, and how they interact with each other and other
medications a patient may be taking. This includes laboratory testing, interpretation and medical
communication with other physicians. Psychiatrists also are trained in psychotherapy. In my practice,
I provide psychotherapy and medications, and only when each is needed. Psychologists learn about
behavioral disorders in their training. They do not get extensive education or experience in choosing
psychiatric drugs. They get basically no training in the side effects of these medications, or their
interaction with other medications. Psychologists are our valuable colleagues in the treatment of patients
with psychiatric disease. But they are not trained to prescribe psychiatric medications, plain and simple.
If there is a shortage in psychiatric practitioners in Illinois, or any other state, let’s fix that. But asking
professionals untrained in those medications to prescribe them is no fix at all. It’s a quick and dirty
patch that will end up hurting, not helping, the patients involved.
Shalini Varma
Journal Star June 28 2103
http://www.pjstar.com/opinions/forum/x987154178/Forum-Psychologists-should-not-prescribe-drugs