Department of Defense Psychopharmacology Demonstration Project: Fellows' perspectives on didactic curriculum.

Abstract

Involvement in the Department of Defense Psychopharmacology Demonstration Project (PDP) was a fascinating process for those psychologists immersed in the novel health science curriculum based in a traditional model of medical education. The PDP may be viewed as the compression of several years of medical school and residency training into a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship for practicing psychologists. In this article, 2 graduates describe the evolution of the PDP didactic curriculum, characterize the PDP paradigm, contrast it with a psychological model, provide comparisons with emerging civilian programs and the American Psychological Association's model curriculum, and highlight "lessons learned" during their 1st year in the PDP.The Department of Defense (DoD) Psychopharmacology Demonstration Project (PDP) is a training program unique in the country. Established by congressional mandate, the PDP provides psychology with an unprecedented opportunity to explore the feasibility of incorporating pharmacotherapy into psychological practice. Pursuant to the congressional directive to establish a program to train military psychologists to independently prescribe psychotropic medications, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs tasked the Office of the Surgeon General of the Army to implement the project. A multidisciplinary Blue Ribbon Panel and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology were engaged as consultants in curriculum development and evaluation. Incorporating this input with suggestions from the PDP fellows, the curriculum evolved into a novel health science curriculum. It was based on a fairly traditional model of medical education and taught within a military setting. Successive versions of the PDP curriculum have been reviewed elsewhere (Sammons & Brown, 1997), and evolution of the didactic curriculum will be DEBRA LINA DUNIVIN received her PhD in clinical psychology from St. John's University in 1981. After 11 years in independent practice and a Congressional Science Fellowship in the office of Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI), she entered the United States Army through direct accession into the Psychopharmacology Demonstration Project (PDP). Following graduation, she joined the staff of the Psychology Department at Eisenhower Army Medical Center, where she serves as a prescribing psychologist and faculty member for the psychology internship and psychiatry residency programs. ELAINE ORABONA received her PhD in clinical psychology from Nova University in 1988. She began a career in the United States Air Force (USAF) with an internship at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB). After 7 years as an active duty USAF officer, she entered the PDP. She is currently chief of the

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“…The argument over the adequacy of the training model is complex. In an article written by two graduates of the Department of Defense Psychopharmacology Demonstration Project (PDP), Dunivin and Orabona (1999) indicated that although the total number of contact hours for the PDP program was 660 and for the APA training model was only 350, the APA training model included prerequisite courses not required by the PDP. This made it more difficult to make the proverbial "apples-to-apples" comparison of the two training programs.…”

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“…We say no; the sky is not falling, it's just horizons broadening. As Dunivin and Orbana (1999, p. 518) eloquently concluded:…”

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“…The PDP has already been described in great detail elsewhere (Dunivin & Orabona, 1999; Sammons & Brown, 1997), so it is only outlined here. On the basis of congressional action in 1988, the Department of Defense trained 10 psychologists—approximately equally divided between the Army, Navy, and Air Force—in pharmacotherapy between 1991 and 1997.…”