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I’m afraid to publish my blog using my real name when talking about controversial issues in psychology. I really wish this wasn’t the case, and maybe some day I’ll have the guts to do it. Frankly, it’s a big risk to state opinions against the mainstream in certain areas of psychology.
Take a look at what happened to Michael Campion, Ph.D., just for being a board member the Illinois Family Institute, a conservative Christian group that espouses conservative viewpoints. This is not just about the APA here, it’s about society and power associated with the political correctness movement.
Frank McNeil, who was a city council alderman reported that he told the mayor, “I went to Tim and said, ‘Hey, this guy’s gotta go.’ ”McNeil recalls. “He’s out of touch with the mainstream. He has an absolute right to his conservative views, and we have an absolute right to change reviewers.” This is absolute discrimination based on political viewpoints, and Dr. Campion was fired from his position of providing evaluations for firefighters who were seeking employment with the Minneapolis Fire Department. The Illinois Times has a story in which this quote appears.
The field of psychology is so rampant with liberal political beliefs that other psychologists feel completely free to espouse their liberal beliefs in the company of other psychologists, as-if, other psychologists will automatically agree with them. I remember one professional conference I attended, where all of the psychologists at the table were freely deriding president Bush and talking in glowing terms about liberal politicians. They seemed completely oblivious to the possibility that anyone sitting at the table might have a different point of view, which I did. I just kept my mouth shut and marveled at the lack of ‘diversity’ in the field, a field which acts like it champions diversity. There was rarely a day that passed in graduate school when I did not encounter similar talk from professors, and very often more extreme. Anyone with a conservative viewpoint was viewed as ‘uneducated’ and frankly stupid. Worse yet, were those who professed belief in God.
What has always eluded me is, why would anyone enter a helping profession if they do not believe in God? When you are a shrink, you encounter such great misery on the part of those you treat, and quite frankly, there are better ways to make money. Sometimes, I think it is just a comfortable outlet for liberal political agendas, and this can sometimes be a draw for folks going into the field. I view my job as promoting the American dream, the ability to live life, have liberty, and pursue happiness without undue distress. Does this make me biased? Probably. But somebody needs to provide a little balance to a completely unabalanced field.
I’m not a member of the APA (the American Psychological Association), because the APA is extremely active in the political arena promoting liberal causes and agendas. They attempt, through political activism, press releases, and even their code of ethics, to push their morality onto society and practicing psychologists.
On Homosexuality
See the following official Q&A portions taken from the APA’s website:
Is Sexual Orientation a Choice?
No, human beings can not choose to be either gay or straight. Sexual orientation emerges for most people in early adolescence without any prior sexual experience. Although we can choose whether to act on our feelings, psychologists do not consider sexual orientation to be a conscious choice that can be voluntarily changed.
Can Therapy Change Sexual Orientation?
No. Even though most homosexuals live successful, happy lives, some homosexual or bisexual people may seek to change their sexual orientation through therapy, sometimes pressured by the influence of family members or religious groups to try and do so. The reality is that homosexuality is not an illness. It does not require treatment and is not changeable.
However, not all gay, lesbian, and bisexual people who seek assistance from a mental health professional want to change their sexual orientation. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual people may seek psychological help with the coming out process or for strategies to deal with prejudice, but most go into therapy for the same reasons and life issues that bring straight people to mental health professionals.
What About So-Called “Conversion Therapies”?
Some therapists who undertake so-called conversion therapy report that they have been able to change their clients’ sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. Close scrutiny of these reports however show several factors that cast doubt on their claims. For example, many of the claims come from organizations with an ideological perspective which condemns homosexuality. Furthermore, their claims are poorly documented. For example, treatment outcome is not followed and reported overtime as would be the standard to test the validity of any mental health intervention.
The American Psychological Association is concerned about such therapies and their potential harm to patients. In 1997, the Association’s Council of Representatives passed a resolution reaffirming psychology’s opposition to homophobia in treatment and spelling out a client’s right to unbiased treatment and self-determination. Any person who enters into therapy to deal with issues of sexual orientation has a right to expect that such therapy would take place in a professionally neutral environment absent of any social bias.
There are some incredible statements in here (people cannot choose their sexual orientation, homosexuals cannot change, and therapy should take place in the absence of any social bias). I’ve worked with a number of homosexuals who did in fact, choose their sexual orientation. I won’t make a blanket statement like the APA does, but there are homosexuals who do in fact choose this lifestyle. Sometimes after living many years as a heterosexual. Now take homosexuals cannot change. This is another remarkable statement from the organization that purports to be at the pinacle of knowledge on changing behavior. They reject studies showing that homosexuals can change by criticizing the research methodology. At the same time, almost anyone who would try to conduct rigorous studies in a university setting would be ostracized and likely labeled as unethical. I don’t mind them criticizing research, that’s fine. But to flatly answer NO to the question of whether people can change their sexual orientation is nothing less than pure politically biased ideology. That brings me to the third remarkable statement, “Any person who enters into therapy to deal with issues of sexual orientation has a right to expect that such therapy would take place in a professionally neutral environment absent of any social bias.” First of all, there does not exist a neutral environment, absent of any social bias. Second, if you took the approach advocated by the APA, you would be taking the approach of a liberal political bias. To translate, they are saying, you had better not believe that homosexuals can change, or have the right to seek change. To do so would be “social bias.”
On Abortion
The APA thinks it’s a good thing. Why, look at this study purporting to show that having an abortion has no effect on a person’s well-being, but being an unwed mother (i.e., not choosing to have an abortion) has the biggest negative effects on well-being. Having worked with women who have had abortions, I can tell you that at least sometimes, they carry a heavy burden of guilt and regret that may be expressed in complex psychological forms not necessarily tapped by asking a question about their emotional well-being (as an example psychosomatic symptoms).
The APA is against parental consent in the case of an adolescent seeking an abortion. More on the APA’s support for abortion here with the admission that the mental health effects of abortion are irrelevant because abortion is a “civil right.”
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