American Psychological Association

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This Election Is Really Stressing Everyone Out
This Election Is Really
Stressing Everyone Out
THE RUNDOWN

This Election Is Really Stressing Everyone Out

77% of respondents to APA survey say future of US is a source of significant stress this election cycle

(Newser) - If the looming election has given you a perpetual knot in your stomach, you might be glad to know you're not alone. Per the American Psychological Association's "Stress in America" report for 2024, 77% of adults surveyed say the future of the United States is a significant...

Americans Are Majorly Stressed Out
Americans Are
Majorly Stressed Out
SURVEY

Americans Are Majorly Stressed Out

87% say mental health has faltered under 'constant stream of crises without a break' since 2020: APA

(Newser) - Feeling stressed out more than you were, say, in 2019? Makes sense, according to a new survey from the American Psychological Association, which says that a COVID-fatigued America now grappling with higher prices at the pumps and supermarkets, as well as gruesome images from a war overseas, is being hit...

Psychologists Warn About 'Traditional Masculinity'

APA report says old-school traits could be wreaking havoc on male mental, physical health

(Newser) - There's an ideology out there affecting boys and men, and the American Psychological Association says it's "harmful." The Los Angeles Times reports on the APA's first official warning on the toxicity of "traditional masculinity," which "has been shown to limit males' psychological...

Psychologists: We Won't Help With Interrogations

Major group bans participation after Bush-era controversy

(Newser) - The nation's biggest group of psychologists is done helping the US conduct interrogations. The American Psychological Association yesterday banned any more assistance after scathing criticism of its actions during the Bush-era interrogations overseas, reports NPR . Among other things, the group was accused of helping the administration justify sessions that...

Psychologists Aided Torture Program: Report

American Psychological Association details behavior in new report

(Newser) - Accusations have been flying for a while now about the role of the American Psychological Association in justifying US interrogation techniques now considered to be torture. So much so that the group's own board commissioned the most extensive review to date about its work with the CIA and Pentagon...

Report: Psych Group Helped Bush Justify Torture

APA propped up Bush administration's interrogation program, critics say

(Newser) - The Senate Intelligence Committee's report on CIA prisoner torture caused a massive stir in December, and now that pot is boiling over once more. A report by a group of what the New York Times calls "dissident health professionals and human rights activists" claims that the American Psychological...

Not Having a Job Could Warp Your Personality
Not Having a Job Could
Warp Your Personality
STUDY SAYS

Not Having a Job Could Warp Your Personality

And potentially prevent you from getting a new job: researchers

(Newser) - New research suggests being unemployed may actually alter a person's "core personality" for the worse, making it harder to secure new employment, per the American Psychological Association . A study published in the APA's Journal of Applied Psychology looked at nearly 6,769 German adults who took a...

Texas GOP Backs Gay 'Reparative Therapy'

Other states' bans on conversion treatment a 'freedom issue'

(Newser) - Texas Republicans are officially in favor of "treatment" to turn gay people straight. "We recognize the legitimacy and efficacy of counseling, which offers reparative therapy and treatment for those patients seeking healing and wholeness from their homosexual lifestyle," the party says in its newly approved platform. New...

Studies Agree: Happiness Comes With Age

Mental health keeps improving even into one's '90s

(Newser) - Greater happiness and better mental health may be the big payoff for aging. Exceptions abound, of course, but people generally get happier as they get older because they've learned how to tune out all the negative stuff, say researchers. A spate of new studies suggests that older people have better...

Therapy to 'Cure' Gays Is Bogus: Shrinks

(Newser) - Claims that sexual orientation can be changed through therapy have no scientific credibility, finds a new report by the American Psychological Association. The group reviewed 83 journal articles published over several decades and found that many studies purporting to show successful changed sexuality "contain serious design flaws." The...

Interrogation Debate Divides Psychologists

Should they be present for questioning? 'Soul' of profession at stake

(Newser) - The use of psychologists to aid government interrogations at places such as Guantanamo Bay has triggered an acrimonious ethical debate as the American Psychological Association considers banning the practice altogether, the New York Times reports. Some say psychologists are used to “break” detainees—in some cases illegally—while others...

Women Don't 'Outgrow' Bisexuality
Women Don't 'Outgrow' Bisexuality

Women Don't 'Outgrow' Bisexuality

Study finds females are 'more fluid with their sexuality'

(Newser) - A new study rejects the idea that women can be "bisexual until graduation," ABC News reports. Utah professor Lisa Diamond followed 79 women between 18 and 25 who identified as "lesbian, bisexual, or 'unlabeled'" for a decade. Throughout, she found that few changed their self-categorization. Diamond argues...

Psychologists Won't Impose Gitmo Ban

Group votes to list interrogation techniques it won't help with

(Newser) - The American Psychological Association has voted not to ban members from assisting with interrogations at Guantanamo and other military prisons, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Instead, the group approved a measure listing specific procedures members won't help with, including sleep deprivation and water-boarding. "If we remove psychologists from these...

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