Letters to the Editor
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Reasons Why the APA is Lagging
In my opinion, from the inside (though rather peripherally so, so take this with a grain or five of salt), we're lagging behind other organizations in condemning the administration's torture policy and establishing concrete consequences for members who participate in it because:
1) We are less secure about ourselves and our role in the medical community. We are not medical doctors, unlike psychiatrists, and tend to be lower on the totem pole in clinical settings. Also, our work is usually based on social rather than hard science which, at least in my experience, tends to make us a bit sheepish and tentative in the shadow of those other organizations. This also makes us vulnerable to the scientific equivalent of fuzzy math, which less ethical individuals can hide behind to protect their well-paying government jobs and political connections. Ahem.
2) The degree to which a psychologist who is not working in a clinical setting with obvious patient/doctor relationships is really a healer versus a researcher, assessor, or some other type of independent agent is very unclear (and sometimes it's not so clear even where there is a patient/doctor type relationship). The APA is not solely comprised of people dedicated to the betterment of humankind through a healing relationship with an individual.
3) The APA is afraid of losing influence as an organization both in the psychological community (as the article points out), and in the culture of the current political elites, who would probably not blink an eye if the opportunity to support an alternative organization came around; we've made some decisions as an organization that, to say the least, conservatives do not like. But we do very much want to stay in their good graces enough to be the exclusive licensor of therapists working in government facilities, hence reserving the cushiest positions for those who have attended our sanctioned schools and passed our sanctioned exams, now don't we? Ahem and ahem.
These are by no means excuses, but they may help to explain some of the chickenshit-itis that we seem to be displaying. That and I wonder about how many of us are Democrats (myself included) and are hence getting rather too used to chickenshit-like behaviors in general.