Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Analysis

Contrasting ethical policies of physicians and psychologists concerning interrogation of detainees

BMJ 2009; 338 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b1653 (Published 30 April 2009) Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1653

Rapid Response:

American Psychological Association Unmasked

Thank you Drs. Pope and Gutheil for your careful analysis of the role
of the
American Psychological Association (APA) in creating a supportive
environment for those psychologists who were involved in the creation,
implementation, monitoring and overseeing of nothing less than torture--
carried out in the name of the security needs of the United States.

APA members were informed by public statements from the Ethics
Office,
without substantiation, that psychologists who were present at
"interrogations" exerted a humanizing influence and could intervene if the

interrogations were deemed too severe. The truth seems to have been the
opposite. Psychologists apparently used their behavioral and clinical
skills to
design methods of psychologically cruel interrogation as well as methods
that
can only be called "torture."

When pressed, the APA crafted numerous policy statements that
repudiated
various forms of harsh interrogation and seemed to prohibit the
participation
of psychologists in a wide variety of activities that many would term
"torture."
Each successive iteration of these policy statements appeared to close
more
loopholes and appeared to make the APA's position more ethical and more
restrictive against torture in all its forms. However, as Drs. Pope and
Gutheil
explain, none of these policy statements were enforceable by the APA's own

Ethics Code. Thus, the APA gave the appearance of taking a stand against
torture but failed to modify its Ethics Code to make that stand
meaningful.

As with its failures, discussed by the authors, to stand against the
Nazis, this
becomes another shameful chapter in the history of the American
Psychological Association.

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

05 May 2009
Martin H. Williams
Forensic Psychologist in Independent Practice
95037