Psychologists

By Peter Aldhous for Buzz Feed - They were ridiculed and sidelined by the leadership of the American Psychological Association, which they accused of complicity in human rights abuses. When the association voted to ban psychologists from these activities on Friday, the rebels scored an improbable — and emotional — victory. They call themselves “the dissidents.” Officially, they are the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology. In reality, they’re just six psychologists united by a shared moral outrage at their profession’s involvement in torture. Last month, these tenacious rebels were vindicated by a damning independent report, which concluded that the American Psychological Association (APA) colluded with the Pentagon to allow psychologists to help U.S. military interrogators employing brutal methods on terrorist suspects. On Friday morning, amid emotional scenes, the APA’s governing Council of Representatives overwhelmingly backed the dissidents’ proposal to ban psychologists from taking part in national security interrogations.