THE DEPARTMENT-OF-DEFENSE PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY DEMONSTRATION PROJECT - AN EVOLVING PROGRAM FOR POSTDOCTORAL EDUCATION IN PSYCHOLOGY

In 1991, the Department of Defense (DoD) initiated a program designed to train doctoral-level psychologists to prescribe psychotropic medica tions. The program is housed in the psychology department at Waiter Re ed Army Medical Center (WRAMC); trainees receive didactic instruction at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and clinic al training through the departments of psychology and psychiatry at WR AMC and Malcolm Grow Air Force Medical Center. Since its inception, th e training curriculum has evolved from a standard medical school, basi c sciences sequence to a tailored program designed specifically to mee t the goal of training psychologists to become proficient in the indep endent use of psychopharmacological agents. To date, the program and i ts curriculum have not been described in detail in the literature. Thi s article provides an archival reference of the DoD program by means o f a review of successive versions of the curriculum and a comparison o f these versions to other published models for training psychologists to this end.