What is it about?
Over the past 30 years psychologists have become increasingly involved in the medications used to treat psychological disorders. Psychologists' involvement ranges from prescribing the medication to making recommendations to other prescribers, tracking therapeutic response and side effects as part of a multidisciplinary team, and/or publishing research about medication. This expanding scope represents a significant change in expectations for psychologists. This highlights the need for updated professional practice guidelines to help psychologists navigate the changing ethical, legal and practical landscape. The article summarizes 14 Guidelines that encompass considerations that include collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, appropriate scope of practice, the influence of bias, expanded consent procedures, and shared decision-making strategies. The present guidelines represent an update of those first published in 2011 by the American Psychological Association.
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Why is it important?
This article helps psychologists identify the level of knowledge needed to appropriately engage in practices related to medication. The article defines three levels of involvement. Level 1 describes psychologists who provide information to the medical decision maker (prescriber). Level 2 describes a higher level of engagement in which the psychologist collaborates with medical decision maker. Finally, Level 3 refers to when the psychologist is the medical decision maker/prescriber. These Guidelines help psychologists consider their obligations and boundaries with regard to medications used to treat psychological disorders.
Perspectives
The expansion of psychologists' scope of practice to include prescribing medication (or collaborating with prescribers) in multiple states and several federal agencies is arguably one of the most significant changes in the field of psychology for many decades. With this expanding scope comes new responsibilities, liabilities, and other important considerations that necessitates the need for guidance to navigate this evolving professional landscape. The Professional Practice Guidelines summarized here provide a framework for psychologists aspiring to best practices in this area of patient care.
David Shearer
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Practice guidelines regarding psychologists’ involvement in pharmacological issues., American Psychologist, June 2026, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/amp0001707.
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