QUES: Critics say that is not nearly enough compared with other prescribers, such as M.D. psychiatrists or nurse practitioners who have at least six years' medical education and clinical experience. Neither Davison nor most other RxP opponents doubt the efficacy of medications. Their greatest objection is to the notion of turning psychology into a prescribing profession. In a field that has struggled long and hard to prove that mind, mood and behavior can be studied empirically, the past decade, Davison says, has seen "exciting developments" that demonstrate the validity of various psychotherapeutic interventions and the psychosocial-behavioral models on which they are based. "The timing is peculiar to abandon psychological science or to convert it to a medical science," explains Elaine M. Heiby of the University of Hawaii, who chairs a committee of the 1,000-member American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology that is concerned about the medicalization of psychology. "Making sure that practicing psychologists are giving patients interventions based on the best available psychological science should be the APA's priority," argues Emory University's Scott Lilienfeld, president of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology (SSCP). More than any philosophical betrayal of psychology, RxP opponents fear that the movement will undermine the science they love. They believe that if prescriptive authority becomes the norm, biomedical requirements will inevitably seep into the psychology curriculum, at the expense of traditional psychological science and methodology. Lilienfeld feels that many clinical psychologists already receive inadequate training in fundamentals such as research design and evaluation. RxP opponents charge the APA with pushing its prescription-privileges agenda without adequately assessing support for it in the field. The 300-member SSCP is the only group within the APA to have taken a formal stance against prescription privileges. The APA has scheduled 30 minutes at its meeting in August for an RxP debate, but its leadership believes it already has an accurate sense of support for its RxP policy. "Except for this small vocal minority, we have just not gotten a lot of groundswell against this from members," says APA president Philip G. Zimbardo of Stanford University. With prescription privileges now a reality in one state, some RxP opponents concede that it may be too late. This year four states besides New Mexico -- Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois and Tennessee -- have pending legislation for psychologist prescription privileges. Over the past decade, 14 state legislatures have considered such laws. Between 1991 and 1997, a U.S. Department of Defense psychopharmacology demonstration project involving two to four years' training produced 10 military psychologists who can write prescriptions.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: What field has struggled long and hard to prove that mind, mood and behavior can be studied empirically?

QUES: There once was a guy named Kevin and girl named Erin. They really liked spending time together. One day, Kevin traveled from his home in the United States of America to Erin's house in England. They then thought to take a sudden trip around the world. They first traveled by plane around Europe, where they saw many different people and sights. They then took a boat to Africa and Asia, where they went on a trip through the mountains. Later in the month, they traveled to China by train and were allowed to see how different life was over there. Next they took another plane to Australia, where they had a lot of fun seeing kangaroos and a different type of English speaking people. After spending a week in Australia, Kevin and Erin took a really long plane ride to North America, where they drove across the land. They saw everything from the mountains to forests. They even got to visit the beach! Because they had so much fun, Kevin returned home with Erin to England where they hung out and spent the next few days and months talking about all of the neat things they saw and did on their trip.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: Who looked spending time with Kevin?

QUES: If you have a mass of 50 kg on Earth, what is your weight in newtons? An object with more mass is pulled by gravity with greater force. Mass and weight are closely related. However, the weight of an object can change if the force of gravity changes. On Earth, the force of gravity is the same everywhere. So how does the force of gravity change? It doesnt if you stay on Earth. What if we travel to another planet or moon in our solar system? Look at the photo of astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. taken by fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong in the Figure. They were the first humans to walk on the moon. An astronaut weighs less on the moon than he would on Earth. This is because the moons gravity is weaker than Earths. The astronauts mass, on the other hand, did not change. He still contained the same amount of matter on the moon as he did on Earth. If the astronaut weighed 175 pounds on Earth, he would have weighed only 29 pounds on the moon. If his mass on Earth was 80 kg, what would his mass have been on the moon? [Figure 3]
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION: Who are the astronaut that weighed less on the moon?

QUES: The Washington Supreme Court is asking the Legislature to approve a $90 surcharge on a court filing fee to help provide legal help for the poor in civil cases, Chief Justice Gerry Alexander said Wednesday. "Some might say, why should we support this when we face tough financial times?" Alexander asked in his State of the Judiciary address to a joint session of the Legislature. "It seems to me in America, where we rejoice in the fact that we are a nation devoted to the rule of law, we should not ration access to justice." The recommendation comes from the court's Task Force on Civil Equal Justice Funding, created in 2001 to look for ways to cope with the sparse amount of money available for such cases. As the task force was studying the issue, $900,000 was cut from state support for civil equal justice services. That prompted the state's two main legal services providers - Columbia Legal Services and Northwest Justice Project - to cut their staffs, Alexander said. The change would increase the cost of filing a lawsuit in Superior Court to $200. The total fee would be split, with 54 percent going to counties and 46 percent going to the state for a newly created equal justice account. Alexander also requested money for five additional Superior Court judgeships and one additional District Court judgeships, arguing that increased caseloads require more judges. Two of the Superior Court judges and the District Court judge would be in Clark County, with one Superior Court judge added in the joint district that serves Benton and Franklin counties and one each in Kittitas and Kitsap counties.
Do you have any questions?
MY QUESTION:
What prompted the state's two main legal services providers to cut their staffs?