Prescriptive authority for psychologists: A consensus of support

Prescriptive authority for psychologists became a preeminent practice issue for the psychological community during the 1990s. Scope of practice, relationships with other health care providers, and perhaps even a change in identity of the profession are subsidiary issues bound up in the prescription privileges debate. The authors surveyed Maryland psychologists on this topic and examined 2 decades of opinion surveys regarding prescription privileges. A consistently high level of endorsement of prescription privileges for psychologists has been found over the past decade. At this point, the profession of psychology strongly favors the acquisition of prescription privileges by appropriately trained professional psychologists.