Wren54

Hello, sorry it's taken me a while to get back- Psych NP's get a master's in their specialty and sit for a certification exam. We can do mental health assessments, therapy and medication prescriptions. Many Psych NP's work in community mental health centers, where they mostly do medication management. Therapy sessions do not pay as well, so these centers hire licensed social workers to provide therapy for clients. However, many NP's are interested in providing therapy, and so many will move to private practice to have this opportunity. I don't see many Psych NP's working in acute hospital settings, which is too bad as we are an underutilized resource in this setting. Psych NP's are also needed at schools of nursing to help mentor students in these settings. I hope this helps, good luck.

Yes? You have questions?

Dear friends, This is my first post, excuse me if it's a bit wordy. Anti-psychotic meds are used for their effects on the dopamine system, but they also have strong anticholinergic side effects. Along with dry mouth and constipation, they can cause quite a lot of drowsiness. Now, dopamine is usually activating, so there is a tug of war with these meds between activating effects and sedating effects. When a med like Seroquel is given in low doses, the anticholinergic effects win. In higher doses, the dopimanergic effects win. Seroquel is frequently used off label in low doses as a sleeping agent, so not every patient who takes this med for sleep has psychotic problems. A person can develop tolerance to the drowsiness, just like tolerance to Benadryl when it's used for insomnia. However, many take this medicine for long periods and find it very helpful for sleep. And now, I'm going to catch some zzz's myself!