Psychologists For Torture

Psychology has a relatively short but tarnished history. In the Soviet Union, present-day China, and other countries, the supposedly poor “mental health” of political prisoners has been used as an excuse to incarcerate them indefinitely into mental wards. Psychology and psychiatry have also furnished us with dangerous drugs for “mental disorders”. Ritalin, for example, has similar effects on the brain as cocaine. And antidepressants are increasingly causally linked to suicidal and homicidal behavior – by the internal documents of the drug companies themselves. It may not be a coincidence that every single school shooter has been on antidepressants.

But let us not waste our breath on the history of psychology, for we can merely look at what psychologists are doing now: effectively endorsing torture. A recent APA meeting did, thankfully, ban psychologists from actually torturing victims. However, the APA refused to ban participation in torture centers such as Guantanamo Bay. A Colonel at Guantanamo argued against the ban, saying "If we remove psychologists from these facilities, people are going to die,” to which a psychologist for the ban rightfully replied, "If psychologists have to be there so detainees don't get killed, those conditions are so horrendous that the only moral and ethical thing is to leave." The participation of psychologists at torture facilities clearly abets the practice of torture, keeping victims alive to endure even more unspeakable evils. Most of these victims are, of course, completely innocent. Look at the number of those released from Guantanamo without any charges whatsoever. Psychology has a tarnished history, but even bad men can redeem themselves. It is time for psychologists to find a conscience.