Jane Mayers new book, The Dark Side, has refocused attention on psychologists’ participation in Bush administration torture and detainee abuse. In one chapter Mayer provides previously undisclosed details about psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen’s role in the CIAs brutal, “enhanced interrogation” techniques. These techniques apparently drew heavily on the theory of “learned helplessness” developed by former American Psychological Association President Martin Seligman. Seligman’s work involved tormenting dogs with electrical shocks until they became totally unable or unwilling to extract themselves from the painful situation. Hence the phrase “learned helplessness.”

Soldz, Olson, Reisner Arrigo and Welch: Torture After Dark – Read more…

From Dennis Fox: Here are three events at next month’s APA convention in Boston (please pass this along to others who might be interested):

1. CRITICAL/RADICAL PSYCHOLOGY DINNER

Thursday, August 14, 7 PM – time is tentative, location to be determined later.

RSVP if you plan to attend so I can let you know the restaurant location and any time change. Also, I need to know how many people are interested before I make a reservation. This is a pay-your-own-share event (not much grant money for this sort of thing!). It’s a dinner, not a meeting, to connect with like-minded people before descending into convention overdrive.

2. PROTEST FOR AN ETHICAL APA

Saturday, August 16, 1-3 PM in the park at the front entrance of the Convention Center.

Check the Ethical APA website for more details about this interrogations-focused demonstration and related events, including a possible time change:

<http://www.ethicalapa.com/2008_convention_demonstration.html>

3. CRITICAL PSYCHOLOGY ISSUES CONVERSATION HOUR

Sunday, August 17, 11:00-11:50 AM, Boston Convention Center, Meeting Room 103.

Thomas Teo and Dennis Fox will start off a general discussion (not read papers) about philosophical, political, stylistic, pragmatic, and other issues facing and sometimes dividing critical psychologists. Please help us all figure out where critical psychology is at, including how critical psychology and radical psychology (are they the same thing?) connect with social justice

If you let me know of other convention events of interest. I’ll send out an updated list in August and also distribute it through the RadPsyNet listserv (http://radpsynet.org).

Semi-Related Brag Note. As many of you know and have had a hand in creating, the second edition of Critical Psychology: An Introduction is now at the publisher’s, scheduled for February 2009 publication (co-edited by me, Isaac Prilleltensky, and Stephanie Austin). You can see the Table of Contents here: <http://dennisfox.net/critpsy/second_edition.html>. Perhaps there will be a brochure about it at the Sage booth.

Thanks to Paul Doecki at Vanderbilt for pointing out this article. Some excerpts:

Psychologists have moved to the center of this controversy for diverse reasons. First, the Pentagon’s stated intention to rely on psychologists rather than psychiatrists fits well with the American Psychological Association’s stated belief in contributing to detainee interrogations to prevent terrorism.

In stark contrast to these enforceable protections and standards [of laboratory animals], the American Psychological Association decided against adding enforceable standards for psychologists’ work with detainees. Why refuse to give detainees the enforceable ethical mandate of humane treatment that the code explicitly accords to laboratory animals?

Psychology prides itself as being a scientific discipline that is empirically grounded and open to questions. In addition to the other questions raised in this article, it is worth carefully considering the answers that the American Psychological Association provides for such fundamental questions as: What methods did it use to determine that “psychologists knew not to participate in activities that harmed detainees”? In addition, what methods did it use to determine that psychologists’ behavior would not, however unintentionally, depart from such knowledge?

Finally, the president of the American Psychological Association wrote in 2007: “The Association’s position is rooted in our belief that having psychologists consult with interrogation teams makes an important contribution toward keeping interrogations safe and ethical.” Over the years that the detainee interrogations have been conducted, what methods of assessment has the association used to determine that the interrogations have been kept safe, causing no harm to detainees, and what methods has the association used to determine that the interrogations have been kept ethical, in accordance with the detainees’ human and legal rights?

Read the the entire excellent article here:

American Psychological Association & Detainee Interrogations: Unanswered Questions

Attached you will find a letter from the Nordic Psychological Associations to the American Psychological Association. This letter politely but firmly challenges the APA’s position on psychologists’ involvement in interrogations and detainee treatment, and exposes just how far the APA’s position is from the ethical standards of other psychological and health professional organizations, here and abroad.

torture-nordic-psych-assoc-letter-to-apa

Video of the May 3 Torture and the American Psyche: Blurring the Boundaries Between Healers and Interrogators forum in Brookline MA is now available. This forum featured Stephen Soldz, David Sloan-Rossiter (Boston psychoanalyst and Curriculum Director at the Boston Institute for Psychotherapy & the Massachusetts Institute of Psychoanalysis, Leonard Rubenstein (President of Physicians for Human Rights), and Eric Fair (former interrogator in Iraq).

Psyche, Science, and Society » Video: Torture and American Psyche forum

Stephen Soldz’s recent critique of the APA’s Ethics Director Stephen Behnke’s recent letter to the ACLU.

Stephen Soldz: APA Supports Psychologist Engagement in Interrogations

Stephen Soldz writes about the NY times article that exposes the horrifying conditions at the Guantanamo prison and the continued role of Psychologists there. Will APA act?

Psyche, Science, and Society » Isolation driving Guantanamo detainees insane: Will APA act?

A Torture Debate Among Healers | Rights and Liberties | AlterNet
The APAs annual meeting is this summer, in Boston. Expect interrogation to be the major issue confronting the members gathered there. Final voting for the APA president starts in October. The APA and the United States will determine their next presidents at about the same time. In both elections, a thorough debate on torture should be central.

New in Mother Jones magazine.  The Enablers - The psychology industry’s long and shameful history with torture. 

The APA has recently offered its most detailed description of its position on the issue of psychologists and abusive interrogations, in a document placed prominently on the APA Website, entitled “Frequently Asked Questions Regarding APA’s Policies and Positions on the Use of Torture or Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment During Interrogations” (FAQ).We at the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology see the FAQ as a unique opportunity for us to provide, in a single document, a thorough refutation of the APA’s position. Through the following link, you will find an extensively referenced Commentary on the FAQ.