In the areas where I'm interested, NPs have a significant advantage over PAs in getting employed in psych, I even spoke with a PA who wanted to practice in psych but had a hard time getting hired because of billing problems. This could be region specific.
Plus, I do want to be trained in providing therapy, which NPs are licensed to provide, and PAs get virtually no structured training in whatsoever. I know the NP training is minimal, but my program does teach us individual, group, and family therapy, and we have to get a minimum number of supervised hours. I know of no PA programs that do this. Plus, I want the psych specific training and coursework, not general training. I'm also interested in teaching and research, and opportunities abound in nursing for that kind of work.
I think the pissing match between PAs and NPs should end, as there are viable reasons to choose either field, which was the entire point of my first post. You can say that independent practice is a stupid reason to pursue NP, but the psych NPs I knew who had their own practices did very well (both of them are not taking new patients because they are inundated) and it's a compelling career opportunity for someone like myself, later down the line.