Charleston SC Peace March 3-17-07
From: Andrew Phelps <no-action@cwnet.com>
To: justiceforcautran2003@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tue Aug 19 12:00 PDT
Subject: CJA PsySR blog
Hi
Psychologists for Social Responsibility
(PsySR) is an organization of psychologists dedicated to "peace psychology" (building cultures of peace,) and linked to Div. 48 Peace Psychology of the American Psychological Ass'n. They are actively involved in the effort to have "interrogation" torture involvement of any kind (except human rights defense of detainees) banned for psychologists by the APA. The Ethical APA group was on Amy Goodman on Monday and they did a demo at the Boston APA meeting last Saturday.I've been working with PsySR for years and trying to bring the "treatment can be torture" perspective to them as a working project. Last Tuesday I was able to have them publish a
blog "Creative Maladjustment and Learned Helplessness" by myself and Lynne Stewart (not the attorney but the Riverside client who was 1st coordinator of the California Network of M.H. Clients).The idea they are saying is that "psychology has lost its soul" and they are trying to come to grips with the character of Martin Seligman. He's the psychologist who tortured dogs and developed the idea of "learned helplessness." Today's torture techniques are built around the ideation of "learned helplessness." Seligman eventually "recoiled in horror" and has been trying to teach people how to OVERCOME learned helplessness. The Ethical APA folks talk about the "strategic helplessness" of the APA. That means that coming to grips with torture involves broader accountability and reworking of the process beyond just clearing up this one stain on the integrity.
Andrew Phelps