There is this split in the APA between those who believe that practice should be guided by data and those who believe that practice should be guided by anecdote.
I'll leave it to the list members to decide which group has become dominant, but I'm letting my membership lapse.


At 5:28 AM -0500 12/3/04, Allen Esterson wrote:
I have no reason to doubt that Gerald Koocher, president-elect of APA, has
many admirable qualities, but a Google search brings out what to my mind
is a worrying association with people who promote some doubtful views
about supposed memories of childhood sexual abuse, including satanic
(ritual) abuse, arising in the course of psychotherapy. I have in mind
particularly
one individual, David L. Calof, a contributor to a special issue of the
APA journal "Ethics and Behavior" (Vol. 8, No. 2, 1998): "The Science and
Politics of Recovered Memory", based on the the proceedings of a symposium
chaired by Gerald Koocher. See http://fmsf.com/ethics.shtml

In relation to this symposium Dr Koocher is quoted as referring to
"skilled, thoughtful, well-trained clinicians" who "are too often tarred
with the same brush that should be reserved for the quacks of
psychotherapy." However, David Calof, a contributor to this very
symposium, has acknowledged that his highest qualification is a High
School diploma. See the transcript of Calof's testimony in the case of:
Robin Avis et al V. John Laughlin et al at King County Superior Court,
State of Washington, given on 2 February 1998:
http://www.stopbadtherapy.com/experts/calof/calof.txt

I suggest TIPSters note particularly Calof's testimony in relation to a
book published in collaboration with Mary Lee Lou, and ask if this is the
kind of psychotherapist that should have participated in the symposium
chaired by Dr Koocher, the proceedings of which were published in the APA
journal "Ethics and Behavior". Judging by his testimony at the King County
Superior Court, Washington State, David Calof seems to be precisely the
kind of therapist who deserves to be "tarred with the same brush that
should be reserved for the quacks of psychotherapy".

See also information about Calof's two videos, "Rage Reduction: Working
with Difficult Alters", available at the bargain price of $295 for the
pair:
http://www.cavalcadeproductions.com/david-calof.html

See also an interesting commentary on the special issue of "Ethics and
Behavior" cited above at:
http://www.geocities.com/therapyletters/science.htm

Some comments on the this publication from the point of view of the False
Memory Syndrome Foundation can be found in a FMSF newsletter:
http://www.fmsfonline.org/fmsf99.127.html

Allen Esterson
Former lecturer, Science Department
Southwark College, London
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.human-nature.com/esterson/index.html
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=10
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=57
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=58
http://www.psychiatrie-und-ethik.de/infc/1_gesamt_en.html

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"No one in this world, so far as I know, has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people." -H. L. Mencken


* PAUL K. BRANDON                    [EMAIL PROTECTED]  *
* Psychology Dept               Minnesota State University  *
* 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001     ph 507-389-6217  *
*        http://www.mnsu.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html        *

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