A Letter to Dr. Sharon Stephens Brehm, APA President

The following letter was sent to the President of the American Psychological Association, following the call by this blog for action to support the proposed moratorium against using psychologists in national security interrogations, since they have been compromised by copious reports and evidence of torture.

Dear Dr. Brehm,

I write to support Dr. Reisner's proposed moratorium. There is more than adequate evidence to demonstrate that psychologists have been involved in unethical and probably illegal interrogations, especially those related to work in Special Forces and BSCT teams.

I know of at least two specific instances of documented, direct psychologist misconduct during interrogations. Additionally, Former Army Surgeon General Kiley wrote in his report that BSCT hires from 2004 were primarily psychologists. If you put this simple fact together with the latest report from the International Red Cross on ongoing torture and misconduct concerning treatment of detainees and interrogations at Guantanamo, you have a high likelihood of psychologist misconduct.

The moratorium also must go with a greater openness and an end to secrecy surrounding the activities of the BSCT teams. Redacted documents should be released in unaltered form, and APA must demand this.

The future of the APA hangs by a thin thread, and it would be folly not to recognize this. I am an APA member, and talking with other members, I know that unhappiness with APA leadership on this question is wide-spread.

I also know that you have a tough job, and that many APA members support the current situation, including many in Division 19, but not only inclusive of them.

The history of professional, especially academic, psychology in collaborating with government entities in the preparation of interrogations that use torture is a sordid part of our history. It must end now if psychology is to emerge in the 21st century as a progressive and positive scientific force.

Otherwise, it will be anathemized and become, in the public's mind, congruent with the worst elements of human nature. If you think this is impossible, I ask you to reflect upon the Lysenko scandal among geneticists in the old Soviet Union.

Psychology may suffer soon the same fate. It will take leadership and courage to lead our guild away from this terrible future. I pray you have the wisdom to follow this course.

Sincerely,
XXXX XXXXXX, Ph.D.
San Francisco, CA

Thanks to All Supporting Campaign to Pressure APA on Interrogations

Voltaire began his campaign to stop torture practices left over from the days of the Inquisition when he was already well into his 70s. I'm only in my 50s, so I figure I have a lot of catching up to do. (Of course, our torture practices are left over from our own version of the Inquisition... the Cold War.) I have a link to yet another new letter from a psychologist to the Sharon Brehm at the American Psychological Association (APA). It was posted over at Stephen Soldz's Psyche, Science, & Society.

Dear Dr. Brehm:

You have an opportunity to make things right.  You have an opportunity to restore integrity to the APA with respect to its activities that have supported the immoral, illegal, and unethical interrogations of innocent human beings in U.S. detention centers around the world.

I ask you to push APA toward prohibiting psychologists' involvement in the interrogations of detainees happening in Guantanamo and other detention centers.

I ask you to remove the "Nuremberg" defense (Standard 1.02) from our Ethical Principles.

I ask you to let the world know by your actions that psychologists are not a bunch of barbarians; that we truly care and are compassionate and strive to be healers not destroyers of human psyches.

What will you say to your children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren when they ask you what you did to stop the torture of human beings  in U.S. detention centers?

What would you say to the children of the detainees who have been tortured under the guidance of psychologists?

Do you have the compassion and courage to stop this evil?

Art Eccleston, Psy.D.

For those of you who don't know yet, Sharon Brehm is the new President of the American Psychological Association (APA). The APA remains the only health-care related association that continues to allow its membership to participate in national security interrogations such as occur or did occur at Guantanamo Bay Naval Prison, at Abu Ghraib, Baghram, and numerous other sites.

The interrogations that took place, and continue to take place at these prisons, are notorious for using techniques of psychological torture that require the participation of medical and mental health personnel. We have a special opportunity to squelch the participation of psychologists, who have been crucial to Pentagon and CIA staffing at interrogation sites, and slow down, if not stop much of the torture practices the U.S. is undertaking. How? By supporting the moratorium being promoted by APA membership to stop participation in national security interrogations abroad. For more on the hows and whys behind this campaign, read the original call here.

Much thanks to all who have promoted and helped circulate this call to action. I intend to keep the pressure on all the way to the APA convention in San Francisco this August. If you want to know more how to help, e-mail me at sfpsych at gmail dot com. (Spelled out because the spam situation is getting out of hand.)

Write or call the APA:

American Psychological Association
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
(800) 374-2721
(202) 336-5500

Write and call, now. Let them know how upset you are.

Send an email to the Public Affairs Office of the APA, expressing your outrage:

public.affairs@apa.org

Phone the Ethics Office directly at (202) 336-5930 or use APA's toll free number (800) 374-2721, extension 5930, and give them a piece of your mind.

And finally, write to the President of the APA, Dr. Sharon Stephens Brehm. Be nice, be polite, but be firm (this is true for ALL communications).

Dr. Brehm has a web page, Ask the President. Follow the link to leave an email message directly for her.

If we apply enough pressure, it might make the APA stand up and take notice. Don't forget to write your congressman/congresswoman and senator, too!

WE CAN DO IT!

We don't have to be powerless. We aren't helpless. Write, call, email today. Copy this diary's URL and send it to your friends.

I want to see APA inundated with thousands of messages saying "Stop torture. Stop psychologist participation in coercive interrogations.