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Torture is outside scope of practice, psychologists agree

It wasn’t much of a debate for the American Psychological Association’s Council of Representatives to decide to disallow psychologists from participating in national security interrogations.

According to an August 7 press release, the APA, in a unanimous decision, voted to bar psychologists from being a party to interrogations that are associated with national security. The only dissenting vote came from a military psychologist at Guantanamo Bay.

The vote, which was 157-1 in favor of the ban, comes on the heels of a report that found the APA worked with the Pentagon and the CIA torture programs.

The “Hoffman Report,” a detailed 550-page independent review, cited evidence which discredited APA denials that a portion of its members were involved in interrogations which included torture. As a result of the findings, several top APA officials resigned.

Read the APA’s press release here.