Thursday, September 18, 2008

Psychologists Vote to End Interrogation Consultations

The vote, 8,792 to 6,157 in a mail-in balloting concluded Monday, may help to settle a long debate within the profession over the ethics of such work. Psychologists have helped military and C.I.A. interrogators evaluate detainees, plan questioning strategy and judge its psychological costs. The association's ethics code, while condemning a list of coercive techniques adopted in the Bush administration's antiterrorism campaign, has allowed some consultation "for national security-related purposes."

This is far from being binding; it has to first be put into the APA Ethics Code and then adopted into state licensing statutes. But it's a first step, following the physicians of the American Psychiatric Association.

I have seen first hand the value of what we get from interrogation-- it's an important part of war-- but I don't think licensed health care professionals should be involved.