Meeting the Psychopharmacology Training Gap in APA-Accredited Programs
Presented by Robert M Foltz, PsyD and Kenneth Fogel, PsyD, MSCP
Recorded on Friday, March 15th, 2024
Access provided upon registration on “My Courses” page
Psychotropic medications are commonly used across psychological disorders and across the lifespan. Indeed, more people are on more psychotropics today than ever before. To further complicate this issue, many individuals are taking multiple medications to address myriad behavioral and emotional conditions. Medications play a critical role in the treatment outcomes of our clients and because psychologists often play a key role in the multidisciplinary delivery of treatment, a fundamental knowledge-base in psychopharmacology should be a necessity in their training.
The American Psychological Association has established basic expectations of training within a graduate curriculum. At present, psychopharmacology is not considered a requirement for accreditation and, consistently providing coursework in this area faces challenges. As a result, most APA-accredited programs are failing to provide the fundamentals in psychopharmacology to students. This, obviously, can have a direct impact on the provision of psychological services, treatment outcomes, and client satisfaction. This discussion will provide results from a survey of APA-accredited programs on the availability of psychopharmacology coursework, challenges faced in providing those courses, and exploration of the impact when this information is not available to psychologists entering the field.
When attended in full, this program offers 1.0 APA CEs for Psychologists.
Psychotropic medications are commonly used across psychological disorders and across the lifespan. Indeed, more people are on more psychotropics today than ever before. To further complicate this issue, many individuals are taking multiple medications to address myriad behavioral and emotional conditions. Medications play a critical role in the treatment outcomes of our clients and because psychologists often play a key role in the multidisciplinary delivery of treatment, a fundamental knowledge-base in psychopharmacology should be a necessity in their training.
The American Psychological Association has established basic expectations of training within a graduate curriculum. At present, psychopharmacology is not considered a requirement for accreditation and, consistently providing coursework in this area faces challenges. As a result, most APA-accredited programs are failing to provide the fundamentals in psychopharmacology to students. This, obviously, can have a direct impact on the provision of psychological services, treatment outcomes, and client satisfaction. This discussion will provide results from a survey of APA-accredited programs on the availability of psychopharmacology coursework, challenges faced in providing those courses, and exploration of the impact when this information is not available to psychologists entering the field.
After attending this intermediate-level program, participants will be able to:
- Describe their understanding of the APA’s basic expectations for training in Psychopharmacology.
- Describe their understanding of the availability of Psychopharmacology content across APA-accredited programs.
- Analyze the implications on psychological services when a fundamental knowledge of Psychopharmacology is absent from one’s training.
This program meets APA’s continuing education STANDARD 1.3: Program content focuses on topics related to psychological practice, education, or research other than application of psychological assessment and/or intervention methods that are supported by contemporary scholarship grounded in established research procedures.
This program meets APA’s continuing education GOAL 1: Program is relevant to psychological practice, education, and/or science.
Robert M Foltz, PsyD, Associate Professor, The Chicago School
Dr. Foltz is an Associate Professor at the Chicago School, in the Department of Clinical Psychology. Areas of focus include Psychopathology, Pediatric Psychopharmacology, and Trauma-Informed care. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Foltz spent over 15 years working as a clinician and administrator in residential treatment settings with children and adolescents. In this work, he began focusing on the integration of psychopharmacology with psychotherapy strategies in more severe conditions. He has maintained a private practice for over 20 years and does training and consulting for a range of groups including treatment providers, federal agencies, and professional organizations.
Kenneth Fogel, PsyD, MSCP, Associate Professor, The Chicago Schoo
Ken Fogel, Psy.D., MSCP, is an associate professor in the Clinical Psychology Department at The Chicago School, College of Professional Psychology, where he has been teaching for over 15 years. Dr. Fogel provided consultation services to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services for 15 years. In addition to his work at The Chicago School, he maintains a part-time private practice for adult individual psychotherapy. Dr. Fogel’s professional interests include biological bases of behavior, psychopharmacology, and ambivalence manifested in various areas of functioning. He is presently working as an item writer for Part 2 of the Examination in Professional Psychology Practice for the Relational Competence domain. Dr. Fogel completed a postdoctoral masters degree in clinical psychopharmacology at Alliant University and is working toward obtaining prescriptive privileges in Illinois
Foltz, R., Fogel, K., Kaeley, A., Kupchan, J., Mills, A., Murray, K., Pope, A., Rahman, H., & Rubright, C. (2023, March 16). The Psychopharmacology Training Gap in Accredited Clinical Psychology Programs. Training and Education in Professional Psychology. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tep0000442
National Alliance on Mental Illness. (2017). The doctor is out: Continuing disparities in access to mental health and physical health care. https://www.nami.org/parityreport
National Council for Behavioral Health. (March 28, 2017). The psychiatric shortage: Causes and solutions. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from: https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Psychiatric-Shortage_National-Council-.pdf?daf=375ateTbd56
Rodriguez-Menendez, G., Shelton, S., Steinman, J., Barr, M., Cunningham, A., Glaser, D., Masson, T., McGrath, B., Nealon, M., Bray, J., DeLeon, P., Moore, B. A., and Rom-Ryer, B. N. (2022). Toward a new predoctoral model: Education and training in clinical psychopharmacology. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 30 (1), 90 –105. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000514
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2020). Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: Results from the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Target Audience: Psychologists and Psychology students.
Psychologists. This program, when attended in its entirety, is available for 1.0 continuing education credits. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is committed to accessibility and non-discrimination in its continuing education activities. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is also committed to conducting all activities in conformity with the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles for Psychologists. Participants are asked to be aware of the need for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program. If program content becomes stressful, participants are encouraged to process these feelings during discussion periods.
Non Psychologists. Most licensing boards accept Continuing Education Credits sponsored by the American Psychological Association but non-psychologists are recommended to consult with their specific state-licensing board to ensure that APA-sponsored CE is acceptable.
*Participants must attend 100% of the program in order to obtain a Certificate of Attendance.
If participants have special needs, we will attempt to accommodate them. Please address questions, concerns and any complaints to [email protected]. There is no commercial support for this program nor are there any relationships between the CE Sponsor, presenting organization, presenter, program content, research, grants, or other funding that could reasonably be construed as conflicts of interest.