The Current Status of Prescribing Psychiatric Drugs for College Students: A Nascent Science or a SNAFU?

In recent years psychiatric medications have been prescribed for college students and the general public in burgeoning numbers. The vast majority of these prescriptions are written by non-psychiatrists. In the opinion of the author, psychiatric prescriptions are too often written under duress by physicians seeking a quick fix for distressed patients. As a result, college students who receive prescribed psychiatric drugs are not only poorly monitored but are given little advice or direction as to how to wean themselves from the medication. This chapter examines and evaluates the general quality of psychiatric prescription drug delivery services on the contemporary college campus.