Other later psychopharmacology programs are more tailored to practicing psychologists' training needs. Medical v. psychological Training psychologists to prescribe offers an alternative to a medical model approach. Further, this model presumes the reductionistic presence of a discrete illness, equates health with the absence of disease, and insofar as surgery is not appropriate, assumes medication is the intervention. It presumes a continuum of function and dysfunction, equates health with integrity of function and adaptability and, to the extent that medication is appropriate, assumes it is but one aspect of treatment. A good patient is a compliant patient.
Treatment anticipates an active, problem-solving approach by the client.
These differences in the two models are expected to create practical differences in how medication is used. For example, in the medical model, there is often no alternative treatment other than medication. In a psychological model where medication is only one of a number of possible interventions, pharmacotherapy is more likely to be combined with other interventions. Relatedly, collaboration between prescriber and client may lead to more discussion, explanation and psychoeducation supporting the use of medication than in the medical model. Also, when other treatments are available, with a psychological model, the power to prescribe is also the power to not prescribe.