Finally, the task force considered specific implications of the APA's (2002b) Ethics Code for psychologists' involvement in the practice of pharmacotherapy. Medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and the pharmaceutical industry have all generated guidelines relevant to the practice of pharmacology, and these were reviewed as well. This document was updated with more recent publications on the topic. The literature review began with a document titled Policies of Other Organizations and Background Materials: Pharmaceutical Marketing, Gifts, and Financial Support (APA, 2002c), which provided primary sources addressing the relationship between prescribing professionals and the pharmaceutical industry. Members of the task force reviewed relevant literature and participated in formulating the content of the guidelines. The task force also included representation from Division 18 (Psychologists in Public Service). Four of seven task force members were psychologists with prescriptive authority in the civilian or military sector, while three supervised postdoctoral programs in clinical psychopharmacology for psychologists. Beth Rom-Rymer, president of the division at that time, convened a task force to explore the issue. In response to a series of articles describing the professional challenges faced by psychologists as they become prescribers (e.g., Antonuccio, Danton, & McClanahan, 2003 Buelow & Chafetz, 1996 DeLeon, Robinson Kurpius, & Sexton, 2001 McGrath et al., 2004), it was recognized in discussions among members of the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 55, the American Society for the Advancement of Pharmacotherapy, that the implications of the APA (2002b) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (the Ethics Code) specifically for psychologists' involvement in pharmacotherapy merited clarification. With similar legislative agendas emerging in a number of other states, the number of states offering prescriptive authority to psychologists will inevitably increase further. Appropriately trained psychologists are now eligible for prescriptive authority in two states (Louisiana and New Mexico) as well as in the military. Another factor is the movement for prescriptive authority within psychology. According to VandenBos and Williams (2000), practicing psychologists on average estimated that 43% of their current patients were using psychotropic medications. A national survey of physician records suggested the proportion of the population using antidepressants increased from 6.7% in 1990 to 15.1% in 1998, an increase of 125.4% even after adjusting for population growth (Skaer, Sclar, Robison, & Galin, 2000). One is the increasing use of psychotropic medications for the treatment of psychological disorders, a clinical practice which will be referred to as pharmacotherapy in this document. ![]() ![]() ![]() Several factors have converged that will inevitably increase psychologists' involvement in the medication management of the individuals they serve.
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