This guide examines the struggle of psychologists to acquire the authority to prescribe psychotropic medications. The authors of each chapter, all psychologists at the forefront of the movement for prescriptive authority, recount the academic, political and organizational issues that must be addressed to make this expansion of psychological practice a reality. The book compares the history of the efforts of psychologists to acquire prescriptive authority with that of other healthcare professions, such as medical doctors, who, at the beginning of the 20th century, competed with nurses and pharmacists for the right to prescribe. The authors provide details on the structure of existing prescriptive training programmes as well as political strategies that advocates have used to advance legislation. It examines the future of prescriptive authority and how psychologists can integrate it into their treatment armamentarium to achieve the goal of becoming primary providers of behavioural healthcare services.