My Anti-Torture Writing

Over much of the past two decades, along with colleagues in the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology and other “dissident” psychologists, I’ve been actively involved in (1) advocating against health professionals’ complicity in abuse and torture and (2) working to restore the American Psychological Association’s commitment to do-no-harm ethics. 

My new book Doing Harm: How the World’s Largest Psychological Association Lost Its Way in the War on Terror addresses many of these issues. In addition, here are some of the essays I’ve written on these and related topics:

The American Psychological Association Takes Another Step—Backward (Counterpunch, August 17, 2023)

Censorship at the American Psychological Association (Counterpunch, May 22, 2023)

Ron DeSantis: Yet Another Cog in Guantanamo’s Torture Machine (CommonDreams, April 16, 2023)

Apology and Reparation: Two Steps the American Psychological Association Should Take Today (July 28, 2022)

U.S. Psychology’s Unfinished Journey from 9/11 (Counterpunch, September 3, 2021)

Psychologists Should Now Lead the Call to Close Guantánamo (Psychology Today, February 1, 2021)

Silencing Our Veterans: A Bridge Too Far (Counterpunch, September 25, 2019)

Is the American Psychological Association Addicted to Militarism and War? (Counterpunch, April 19, 2019)

Another Crossroads for the APA (Psychology Today, July 23, 2018)

Facing History: My Reply to APA CEO Arthur Evans (Psychology Today, October 25, 2017)

Psychologists Are Facing Consequences for Helping with Torture. It’s Not Enough. (Washington Post, October 13, 2017).

Heart of Darkness: Observations on a Torture Notebook (Psychology Today, January 4, 2017)

Standing Firm for Reform at the APA (Psychology Today, June 20, 2016)

When Psychologists Deny Guantanamo’s Abuses (Psychology Today, December 1, 2015)

Making a Choice: APA Reform or Business as Usual? (Psychology Today, October 29, 2015)

Reflections on a Historic APA Convention and the Road Ahead (Psychology Today, August 13, 2015)

How the American Psychological Association Lost Its Way (Los Angeles Times, July 30, 2015)

The APA Relied on the CIA for Ethical Guidance (Truthout, May 4, 2015)

Cast Into the Depths: Perilous Waters for the American Psychological Association (Truthout, January 12, 2015)

New Evidence Links CIA to APA War-on-Terror Ethics (Psychology Today, October 14, 2014)

Psychology Association’s Torture Link Fails “Do-No-Harm” Ethics (Truthout, March 7, 2014)

Torturing the Truth and Whitewashing Hell (Psychology Today, February 14, 2013)

The Torture Debate Echoes: An Army Psychologist’s Job Search (Psychology Today, January 16, 2013)

Dr. Frankenstein and the APA’s Decade of Monstrosities (Truthout, September 24, 2012)

Protecting Psychologists Who Harm: The APA’s Latest Wrong Turn (Truthout, April 7, 2012)

Four Psychologists at the Gates of Hell: A Fable for Our Time (Truthout, January 29, 2012)

Dismantling the Master’s House: Psychologists and Torture (Psychology Today, December 7, 2011)

“Safe, Legal, Ethical, and Effective”?: It’s Time to Annul the PENS Report (Psychology Today, October 21, 2011)

How Americans Think About Torture–and Why (May 10, 2009)