Speaking against torture, Dr. Gerald P. Koocher, sitting President of the American Psychological Association makes a long statement concerning abuses of medicine and psychology that might occur at the hands of mental health professionals in this lengthy letter accompanying the reports and other official statements on the matter of this past week. Summary: torture is awful, psychologists who participate are unethical, and, oh yeah, it probably didn’t happen:
A number of opportunistic commentators masquerading as scholars have continued to report on alleged abuses by mental health professionals. However, when solicited in person to provide APA with names and circumstances in support of such claims, no data have been forthcoming from these same critics and no APA members have been linked to unprofessional behaviors. The traditional journalistic dictum of reporting who, what, where and when seems notably absent.
Read the full APA report here.