Thank you Salon. This is excellent reporting.

It is very important that this whole issue be given an airing. Very dangerous road to be going down.

This kind of reporting is why I just renewed my Salon membership.

The APA has been caught doing something very bad. For shame.

Thank you Salon for this vitally important story.

Like kudzu choking a stand of trees, this government's will to totalitarianism is slowly strangling one institution after another, one conscience after another.

I'd be more despondent, but I want to live long enough to someday see some Very Important People in The Dock.

Thank for posting a follow-up on this story. It would probably have taken me much longer to even find out about this issue although I'm a member of APA. While reading up on this issue, I found this particular tidbit, which bothered me:

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/27/ap/health/mainD8J4G7F0A.shtml

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060727/ap_on_he_me/psychologists_torture_1

"The American Medical Association last month adopted what many view as a stronger stand against physician involvement in prisoner interrogation, echoing a position held by the American Psychiatric Association, whose members are medical doctors. The U.S. military has indicated it will therefore favor using psychologists, who are not medical doctors and are not bound by the other groups' policies."

Would it be possible to post or link to APA's released 6-point response? I'd be curious about the original entire text. By the way, here's a link to the online petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/483607021?ltl=1150467493.

There is no standard oath or ethical statement that psychologists take, as opposed to psychiatrists or other physicians, for the obvious reason that psychologists are not medical doctors. For physicians, of course, agreeing to the code of medical ethics gives them the permission to practice methods and techniques that are not legally available to the non-physician.

The licensing regulations vary dramatically around the country as to who may offer therapy and what is expected of that person. I ought to note here that "psychologist" is a protected title, with specific requirements for licensure; however, almost anybody can apply the techniques of psychology as a counselor and, presumably, use their knowledge to aid in the application of torture. This would be the case even if the APA rejects the participation of psychologists in torture. This is a shortfall in my opinion, and should be corrected-- but for the time being we can gain some insight by looking at the kinds of oaths that psychology students do take. This should help us to understand how anyone who would like to apply the methods of psychology should be held to the same ethical standards that psychologists proper must submit. The one below is for educational psychology doctoral students, from U of Washington:

I pledge to strive throughout my career for the highest level of professionalism in the practice of school psychology. I will be an advocate for children and youth and seek creative and constructive ways to serve as many as I can while upholding the standards of best practice. I will abide by the spirit as well as the letter of the federal special education laws. However, my role extends beyond being a gatekeeper for special education. I will become actively involved as a consultant and intervention specialist to facilitate the learning, behavior, and social/emotional development of all students. I will try to deliver the highest level of professional services to teachers, parents, and administrators. I will keep current in my knowledge of the research and professional literature on the diagnosis and treatment of developmental, learning, behavioral, and mental disorders that affect school performance of children and youth. As a scientist-practitioner, in my practice I will draw upon science and a deep commitment to all human beings and respect for diversity. I pledge to uphold the ethical standards of the National Association of School Psychologists and the American Psychological Association.

A couple of things stand out to me: "deep commitment to human beings," "advocate," and "standards of best practice." I'm going to go out on a limb here and figure that most psychology students would or could understand the detrimental effects of torture on the psyche; they would also probably agree with statements like the above. Knowing that, and seeing that professional psychologists (like doctors) swear to keep their patient's health foremost, I argue that it is unacceptable for psychologists, counselors, therapists, etc., to participate in torture.

Very long post, sorry.

The fact that psychologists or anyone else can "debate" their participation in torture is yet more proof that America has gone completely insane.

Debate it all you want people. It's wrong. Even if they are "evil", even if they use "human shields". What claim to moral superiourity does America have left?

when an organization like the APA thinks torture is a legitimate issue to debate. I'll certainly think twice before I ever consider counseling again. The only possible resolution is for decent, humane psychologists to leave the APA en masse and form a new organization untainted by this repellent controversy.

This story underlines the absolute pointlessness of debate on this issue. The torturers are completely convinced that they are doing the right thing... And they are supported in their application of torture by the congress, the legal profession, the president, the military, the APA, and the majority of public opinion. Since all of the harm is being done right now to people who are being tortured this very minute, and none of the solutions or remedies will take effect until years from now when everybody is thoroughly satisfied that we have debated the all of the issues enough, basically we just have to learn to live with torture like the British did during the war in Ireland or like the Isrealis do right now.

If the British caught an IRA member back in the 80's, they did the exact same sorts of things that we do now to farmers from Afghanistan. Torture. If the Mossad catches a Hezbollah soldier, they do the exact same things that we do. Torture. In fact, it's the British and Israelis who taught us these techniques in the first place, techniques which the British perfected during the war in Ireland and the Israelis perfected throughout the war with the Palestinians in the 70's and 80's.

Terrorists are like drug dealers: they are not a political constituency, so just as there is no drug dealer vote, there is no terrorist vote. Who is the brave congress person who would ever risk being characterized as "soft on terror" by voting against the majority on this issue?

I think we can fairly trace the future trajectory of how we will deal with torture in America, therefore, by going back and reading about how the British delt with it in the 1980's.