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This paper comments on Cushman’s “The Earthquake That Is the Hoffman Report on Torture,” placing the paper in the broader context of discussion of the ethics of psychologist involvement in national security interrogations and other military operations. In a preliminary discussion of the Hoffman Report, a few details that Cushman does not get quite right are pointed out. It then discusses the reasons for American Psychological Association leaders’ behavior in this episode and the mechanisms used to deflect attention from what was really happening. Broader issues regarding the appropriate ethical roles for psychologists in national security operations, or “operational psychology,” are then discussed. Along the way issues are raised regarding the appropriate Telos or goal of psychology as a profession and the distinction between science and scientism. While strongly defending science, Cushman’s call for a re-moralizing of psychology is endorsed. The paper ties it all together with a call for a Truth Commission to create a permanent record of the involvement of psychologists and health professionals with the national security state in the wake of 9/11 and to make sure that lessons are learned for future generations of psychologists and citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author discusses their fight against torture and against psychologists who were involved in the torture program of the administration of U.S. President George Bush. He examines the policies of the American Psychological Association (APA) concerning the role allegedly played by psychologists in national security investigations at prison facilities like the one in Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. He claims that their work is supported by the Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) Campaign Against Torture.

United States abuses at Guantanamo and other detention centers, including the CIA's “Black Sites,“ have a long history. In the Cold War period, the CIA pursued an extensive research program on “coercive interrogations,“ which became codified in torture manuals used to train Latin American military leaders who utilized torture against their populations. Also during the Cold War, the U.S. military developed the Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (SERE) program to train U.S. military personnel in resisting torture. When the U.S. government turned to torture after 9/11, they turned to SERE psychologists to develop their interrogations strategies. This occurred, first at the CIA secret Black Sites, and then at Guantanamo and elsewhere. Psychologists helped develop, implement, and standardize U.S. torture techniques. The American Psychological Association (APA), rather than oppose this use of psychologists, provided cover for U.S. interrogation abuses. They formed a task force on Psychological Ethics and National Security—stacked with a majority of members from the military-intelligence establishment, several with possible involvement in abusive interrogations. This task force supported psychologist participation in detainee interrogations. Various APA antitorture statements since then have not changed APA's pro-participation stance. As a result, a movement of psychologists arose to oppose these APA policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares the 12-month changes in substance use following admission to substance abuse treatment in Massachusetts between adolescents enrolled in Medicaid managed care and other publicly funded adolescents. Two hundred and fifty-five adolescents were interviewed as they entered substance abuse treatment and at 6 and 12 month follow-ups. Medicaid enrollment data were used to determine the managed care enrollment status. One hundred forty two (56%) adolescents were in the managed care group and 113 (44%) comprise the comparison group. Substance use outcomes include a count of negative consequences of substance use, days of alcohol use, days of cannabis use, and days of any substance use in the previous 30 days. Repeated measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to assess change with time of measurement and managed care status as main effects and the interaction of time and managed care included to measure differences between the groups over time. Although several changes across time were detected for all four outcomes, we found no evidence of an impact of managed care for any of the outcomes. The results of our study do not support the fears that behavioral managed care, by imposing limits on services provided, would substantially reduce the effectiveness of substance abuse treatment for adolescents. At the same time, the results do not support those who believe that the continuity of care and improved resource utilization claimed for managed care would improve outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a comparative research on therapist effects. The study by Irene Elkin, et al., yielded absence of variables showing significant therapist effects. On the other hand, the study by Bruce E. Wampold, et al., yielded a significant therapist effect for only one variable, which is the Beck Depression Inventory. Variance in research findings is attributed to differences in statistical analysis, measures, and samples.

The therapeutic process of 89 members in time-limited group psychotherapy was investigated using a group modification of the Vanderbilt Psychotherapy Process Scale (GRP-VPPS) applied to the most focused on member, or Main Actor, in each 30-minute group segment. The means of each patient's GRP-VPPS scores during those segments in which he or she was Main Actor were subjected to Principal Component Analysis, resulting in three factors: Therapeutic Participation, Negative Reaction and Ease of Self-Expression. Exploration of the relation of process to outcome found that Therapeutic Participation was positively related to therapeutic benefit as judged by patients, therapists, and independent raters. Negative reaction was negatively related to change on two scales, while ease of self-expression was negatively related to improvement in self-esteem. For several outcome variables there was an interaction indicating that more resistant behavior was related to better outcome for patients who were main actor only a few times, whereas the relationship was reversed for more active patients. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Focuses on a discriminant function analysis method which can be used to treat alcoholics, heroin, cocaine and polydrug addicts. How method is conducted; Interaction between psychopathology and drug abuse; Characterization of the cocaine addict; Results and discussion of method.

In the article, the authors discuss the importance of psychology to both advance and prevent the causes of peace, social justice, human rights and ecological sustainability. They cite the various problems that demand the use of responsible psychology including multiple wars, social and economic inequality and insufficient access to health care. They report that such issues were tackled during the conference of the Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR) in Brookline, Massachusetts in the summer of 2010.