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Can Psychoanalysts prescribe medicine?


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October 18, 2010 5:21AM

Psychoanalysts who are not MDs or DOs cannot prescribe. Psychiatrists can prescribe medicine (due to their four years of medical school training, followed by four years of psychiatry residency training, in both psychopharmacology and psychotherapy).

Psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychologists and social workers do not have the medical training required to prescribe medications, order the necessary lab tests to monitor them, and order ancillary tests (CTs and MRIs when indicated, EEGs, etc.) as well as perform physical exams in the hospital setting, when necessary.

That being said, there are two states, New Mexico and Louisiana, which allow for psychologists to prescribe psychotropic medications (after training in psychopharmacology) as long as they are under the supervision of a licensed physician.