In what seems to be the ongoing Young Curmudgeon series, I explain why I can no longer maintain my American Psychological Association membership without losing self-respect: the APA seems more interested in shaping national politics than offering practical resources to a lowly clinician like myself.
Their recent stance on global warming is the last straw for this little shrink. The APA is out to change your behavior whether you like it or not. They are, like, more smarter than you and stuff.
I am right there with you Iron Shrink, having left the APA this year after being a member for 14 years. But unlike you (yes, I realize you are being tongue-in-cheek), I do not find the APA's behavior smart in any way. They have spent their time alienating many clinicians who do not toe their party line and seem frankly, stuck in a 60's time warp. Hardly sounds like intelligence to me.
Wow! That is one scary post. The APA believes they have the right to change your behavior without your consent. I hope members leave in droves.
ReplyDeleteI left the APA after hearing this story.
ReplyDeleteThe man who crafted the APA's taking homosexuality off the diagnosis list, I forgot his name, was well loved by the association. And rightly so.
He stood up to speak at an APA meeting and the woman running the meeting, a lady who had sex with one of her patients and yet was lauded after that by the APA, told the past president to sit down since he had nothing to offer as a white man.
I think I heard that story here, and I sent them a letter of resignation. I do miss having Psychinfo, but I appreciate not paying dues to an insane organization.
Trey
Dadvocate,
ReplyDeleteI agree, Iron Shrink's post really made me think about how Orwellian the APA is getting without even realizing it. I doubt too many people will leave, because many members feel the same way. My guess is that new members may be harder to attract. The average age of APA members is mid fifties or older meaning that new members are not coming in.
Trey,
I think you mean Nicholas Cummings, we interviewed him for a podcast on his book, Destructive Trends in Mental Health. He has a new book out on why the profession of psychology is no longer the field it once was. I have been meaning to order it.
Associations, like Government, tend to get way too big and exude way too much power. I have dropped all of my affiliations except the one with the human race.
ReplyDeleteHow many licensing bodies don't have a problem with leftist capture? The various state and national bar associations certainly do.
ReplyDeleteLeftists capture, producers move elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteTrey
Professional / guild-style organizations are almost unanimous in preferring political advocacy and activism to advancing the skills and responsiveness of the trades they represent. The overwhelming majority of them are signed up with the Left -- that is, with increasing government intervention in the economy, which they appear to believe will advance their trades' fortunes as well. It's a sermonette about the hazards involved in uncritical "joining."
ReplyDeleteI left the APA, and the field of psychology, in the mid-80s after about 10 years in the profession. The reality of what I saw in no way resembled the idealistic reasons for choosing the profession. What I saw made me somewhat sick to my stomach and very disillusioned.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I support you and Iron Shrink, I find it an sad indictment of so many professional and social groups. The AMA has issues, the ALA has many problems (librarians), the APA as you have noted, among many others.
ReplyDeleteAs well, Think tanks often tank into leftism and charities quite often fail by being over-run by radicals. Within Christianity, the collectivists seem hellbent on fomenting government strictures on our actions and extreme taxation to punish "bad behavior", transfer wealth, and depress the economy directly, while trying to tell us what to do with our refuse, thoughts and words, and beliefs, often with advice that is contrary to what is written or while themselves disbelieving in God.
I had hoped that the cultural war would heat up and a winner would be decided. I think, now, that it will remain, causing only chaos and decline, until something cataclysmic ends it while creating a whole new set of problems. Tomorrow or 300 hundred years from now, it's hard to tell. One can hope for change though. (horrid, I know... took way too long to get to a stupid punch line)
Okay, so I am definitely an outsider to psychology. I know very little about it. I do, however, know a little about trade groups. I know that they can be a useful tool when trying to find qualified professionals. But I also know that they lobby governments for protection from competition, engaging in practices that hurt the very people that they're supposed to be serving.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: if psychologists were to abandon the APA en masse, what tools for finding qualified psychologists would be available to us lowly non-psychologists? Do people ever complain about psychologists to BBBs? I would be hesitant to look to state oversight agencies when those same agencies can't keep sex offenders from working at daycare centers and schools.
If the APA has exclusive licensing authority like the AMA and ABA do, psychologists can't abandon it. The APA literally holds their livelihood in its hands.
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about the APA, but it sounds like a bunch of hooey.
ReplyDeleteI really can't stand the AMA. They do everything they can to keep foreign doctors out of the country. Of course, this keeps doctor's salaries high, and medical bills even higher.
Personal interest, backed by government power, masquerading as the public interest. ARGhghgh!
Huh, sounds like the APA is poised to declare "skepticism of anthropogenic global warming" a mental illness.
ReplyDeleteI may need a good shrink, then...
The APA leaders (in particular the president) seem to be bloated, condescending windbags who know everything.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, the Academy of Earth and Climate Scientists has issued a position paper on how to heal anxiety and panic attacks.
ReplyDeleteAnd the sad thing is ... I would much more likely trust scientists who delve into psychology to say something interesting or insightful than the other way around.
ReplyDeleteA physics professor can develop very in-depth knowledge of Mayan culture, for instance (Feynman), but a humanities or liberal arts person is not likely able to learn physics to an in-depth degree.
But the people who know the least are sometimes the biggest know-it-all gas bags.
"But the people who know the least are sometimes the biggest know-it-all gas bags."
ReplyDeleteAmen brother.
Trey
Is skepticism of the psychiatric profession as a valid science a mental illness?
ReplyDeleteNone of this is surprising. It's the natural result of the science (many might say pseudoscience) of psychology.
ReplyDeleteWhat has man done with the physical sciences? Mankind has used them to manipulate and alter the physical world to our will. Why would the social sciences be used differently?
That is why most of the social sciences are inherently fascist. Just as physical scientists and engineers are not content to leave physical events up to the random workings of nature, the majority of socisl scientists will never be content to leave human events up to the myriad personal choices of free people. While there may be a small minority interested in pure inquiry out of intellectual curiosity, for most people, there is little desire for understanding that will not be utilized.
There's nothing new here.
ReplyDeleteIronShrink is clearly psychotic and should be committed. To do less is to break the Hippocratic oath.
Because he claims that there is debate that anthropogenic global warming exists, he is clearly delusional and represents a danger to himself, and to others.
Such a person should not be allowed loose in society. We would be doing IronShrink a great disservice if we allowed that.
The solution to IronShrink's psychosis is clear: He should be institutionalized and, failing a cure, labotomized.
You know, to prevent him from being a harm to himself, or others by denying reality.
It's simple, really.
Sincerely,
Nurse Ratched
This is how the radicals took over the school system. All the sensible people left.
ReplyDeleteI've not really kept up with this field, but I hope someone is developing a sane alternative as a professional organization.
The social sciences have always been about improving human living conditions - not studying the world as it is, but "making the world a better place." That the APA spends its time and resources on political matters simply acknowledges this activist tendency.
ReplyDeleteLike politics, psychology is yet another field in which we need to free ourselves of the dominance of "60s people" and begin to explore new ideas and new directions.
You're better off joining the Association for Psychological Science. Many APA-types left in droves after the Rind debacle in the late 90's.
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