Tag: APA standards

Dr. Ford  — accuser of   Kavanaugh — flunks  basic  decency standards  including  APA guidelines for  psychologists.   That is, don’t exploit or harm others & avoid relationships that could reasonably impair their professional performance.

What about the legal standards of presumption of innocence and preponderance of evidence?   A research Ph.D. psychologist knows how to add up the overall picture of “facts” of her case. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s facts — best we know — are weak.

Ford, a  registered Democrat who signed a letter opposing Trump’s immigration  policies, joins other   Democrats & progressives  who turn  American due process upside down. See Presumption of Guilt published in the Wall Street Journal 9/22/18.

American Psychological Standards (APA)  standards for psychologists  are not put on  akin to a business suit for   the 8 to 5 day.

For many professionals what they do – whether  doctor, lawyer, psychologist  becomes interweaved with the essence of who they are as a person  and  how they interact  in general  with people.

Read in their entirety, APA ethical guidelines and standards  expect psychologists  to show care towards all persons equally  and to  provide options and ways for persons to  respond back.  The  thinking  that underlines guidelines for  psychologists and  doctors:    do no harm

Concerning  the APA  ethical guidelines:

• Psychologist Ford failed to treat persons equally by a)  failing to notify  all parties  e., President Trump, Republicans, the Judiciary Committee.   Dr. Ford is a registered  Democrat who  only notified other Democrats.
• Psychologist  Ford failed to provide the entirety of  her Therapist Notes for general inspection by neutral parties.  Her therapist notes state 4 boys   and Dr. Ford opines fewer.    No  names are included in the therapist notes.
• No highly specific identifiable information is provided   i.e., what the boys looked like,  their clothing,  the color of  room, how Dr. Ford   got there or got home (as she did not drive)

Self-care by Psychologists is   is part and parcel to providing care towards others:

Dr. Ford states in her publications that mentoring future psychologists is her primary goal.  Dr. Ford presumably has professional /  clinical interactions with her students.    For trauma Dr. Ford states that  she  incurred sometime in 1983-85, Dr. Ford first  sought professional help roughly six years ago.

What were  the  Therapist  Treatment Goals related to the trauma Dr. Ford  says she  experienced 36  years ago?   Diagnosis is the flip side of treatment.     If you go to a MD and he/she determines that you have a torn ligament and not a broken leg then there’s one treatment and not another.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may have been the diagnosis?   If that was the diagnosis, what were the treatment goals and are they in the clinical notes  of the therapist Dr. Ford and husband  saw in 2012 or so  for couple’s therapy?   Those clinical  notes could and should be released by Dr.Ford.

Aptos Psychologist opines:

Dr. Ford  fails to meet basic  decency standards as well as  general APA  guidelines for  psychologists.   Do no harm, take care in all your interactions with people and provide multiple means for feedback are part and parcel of  APA guidelines and standards.

Dr. Ford is a research/ clinical  psychologist.  Psychologists measure — carefully –small differences  using standardized tests in conjunction with  behavioral observations and  other information.    Finding commonality  in all of  the information (standardized test data,   reports from different sources and  behavioral observations)   is the hallmark of what clinical / research psychologists do best.   It’s what psychologist  are particularly trained to do.

What  psychologists are trained to do best — fit together the “big picture” from all  available information — Dr. Ford fails to do.     I give Ford an F.

written by Cameron Jackson, Ph.D.   Monterey Bay Forum