"I simply don't believe it is an accurate perception [that UHS overmedicates]," Kadison says. "Our medication policies are similar to other student health services, and a lower frequency than many. We work hard to individually assess the needs of each student and provide appropriate care."

Kadison says psychotherapy is the preferred method of treatment and doctors only turn to medication when there is a medical need.

"They'll try to do a careful history. We try to gear the issue to what the student needs to work on," Kadison says of UHS procedure. "There's no rush to medicate people."

UHS psychiatrist Joseph P. Glenmullen, who is stationed at UHS' Law School satellite and has a private practice in the Square, recently published a book chastising doctors nationwide for over-prescribing pills.

Prozac Backlash details the dangers involved with the most heavily prescribed drugs--Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil--and argues that medication should only be used in conjunction with psychotherapy.

"You can't use [drugs] as the sole form of therapy," he says. "It doesn't address the underlying issue."

While he says he has not encountered over-prescription at UHS, he says it is particularly a problem at the college-age level.