The American Psychological Association approves of these psychologists?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

".........Followers of this blog, or of the role of psychologists in abusive interrogations, will be familiar with the Names of James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, reported by Mark Benjamin , Katherine Eban , and Jane Maye r to be the CIA's principal torture teachers. Evidently these two psychologists, through CIA contract to their firm Mitchell Jessen & Associates, was key in the translation of SERE techniques into the routine torture utilized in the CIA black sites. Eban further describes how these brutal interrogation techniques were copied at Guantanamo and elsewhere, becoming standard operating procedure for US torturers........." (continued) http://www.spokesmanreview.com/tools/story_breakingnews_pf.asp?ID=10496


And a former AP president is an owner of the firm that came up with the drowning and other tortures:
http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/torture_former_apa_prez_tied_to_cia_torture_firm.htm

[murray hill farm]

1. No profession is without it's sociopaths!

Sociopaths are often high achievers...and the field of psychology is an appealing one for such persons. Not a suprise.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. The APA needs to revoke their membership for life. nt

[Supersedeas]

4. or be marked historically as complicit with torture

[Sarah Ibarruri]

10. Absolutely! nt

[murray hill farm]

8. Membership in the APA is not a requirement for..

obtaining or maintaining a license to practice. APA ethical guidelines would not allow membership to be maintained if they engaged in torture, but that would have little or no effect on their license or their being able to continue in the field or in private practice. This is really new terratory legally..although the govt has had consultants from the behavior sciences probably going back to the 1940s,much of it, I am sure, dealing with some form of psychological torture or another.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

9. True, but they should not be provided the privilege and apparently at least one (maybe more) of

the waterboarding designer(s) and implementer(s) is/are members of the APA whose name(s) appear on the APA website.

[murray hill farm]

11. hey..I agree with you completely!

I am a retired person from "that" business. But, as one of them, I will tell you this..reaching for what "should be" is never even close to "what is"...always you must start from the reality of
"what is" and go from there. I have presented you only with the "what is" and it is important to recognize the "what is" if you want to move the what is to the what should be.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

12. Thanks :) nt

[cbayer]

3. Actually, they do not and have made that very, very clear.

http://www.apa.org/releases/faqinterrogation.html

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. I looked at the website, thank you. However, I noticed....

that R. Scott Shumate, one of the APA’s Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS)'s psychologists that allegedly devised prohibitions against torture, is also one of the psychologists named as responsible for these tortures in many articles.

See segment below.

Also, when are the psychologists involved in devising torture methods going to have their APA membership revoked permanently? Or has it already been done?

.....................................

Q. Isn’t it true that APA’s prohibitions against torture apply only when psychologists act as health service providers?

A. No, this is precisely the position rejected by the APA’s Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS) in its June 2005 report. Also, both the 2006 and 2007 APA resolutions emphasize that the prohibitions against torture and abuse apply to psychologists in all settings and in all roles.

Q. Who were the members of the PENS task force and did any of them have ties to the military establishment?

A. The task force was composed of psychologists from varied backgrounds, including forensic, behavioral and clinical psychology. The members were:

Olivia Moorehead-Slaughter, PhD - Chair
Jean Maria Arrigo, PhD
Army Col. Morgan Banks, PhD
Robert A. Fein, PhD
Michael G. Gelles, PsyD
Army Col. Larry C. James, PhD
Navy Capt. Bryce E. Lefever, PhD
R. Scott Shumate, PsyD
Nina K. Thomas, PhD
Michael G. Wessells, PhD
In addition, there were two liaisons from the APA board of directors: Barry S. Anton, PhD, and Gerald P. Koocher, PhD.
As indicated by the above titles, three of the task force members are active duty military. Several other members have consulted to various military agencies. Other members of the Task Force had no ties to the military. The diversity of professional expertise and experience among the task force members enabled them to analyze the issues effectively and make informed recommendations.
........................................................................

[cbayer]

6. I honestly don't know the answer to that question.

But i do know that this issue was huge at their 2007 meeting and caused them to take the very hard stand that they have taken.

In general, these organizations will expel members who do not follow the ethical guidelines. So my guess would be that they are not members at this time.

But clearly, the American Psychological Association has taken a very admirable and clear stand.

[alfredo]

7. Torquemada had doctors present during torture sessions.