Society for Clinical Psychology

Society for Clinical Psychology
Name	Society for Clinical Psychology
Founded	1945
Founder	David Shakow
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Leader title	President
Leader name	Alan E. Kazdin
Parent organization	American Psychological Association

Society for Clinical Psychology is a division-level organization within the American Psychological Association devoted to the advancement of evidence-based practice, research, and training in clinical psychology. It connects clinicians, researchers, and educators from institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of California, Berkeley. The society interacts with professional bodies including the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, the American Psychiatric Association, the National Institute of Mental Health, the World Health Organization, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

History

Founded amid post-World War II reform movements, the society emerged in the context of initiatives by figures like David Shakow, Lightner Witmer, B.F. Skinner, Sigmund Freud, Carl Rogers, and Wilhelm Wundt. Its development paralleled debates involving American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and institutions such as Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Michigan, University of Chicago, University of Minnesota, and University of California, Los Angeles. Early controversies referenced work by Paul Meehl, Hans Eysenck, Donald Hebb, Mary Cover Jones, and Joseph Wolpe. The society’s milestones have coincided with landmark publications and events like the DSM-II, DSM-III, DSM-5, the Boulder Conference (1949), the Vail Conference (1973), and legal decisions touching professional practice such as Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California.

Mission and Objectives

The society promotes standards aligned with reports from the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and recommendations from the Surgeon General of the United States. Objectives include enhancing clinical training influenced by the Boulder Model, advancing treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, exposure therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and supporting research paradigms utilized at National Institutes of Health sites, Veterans Health Administration clinics, and research centers like Massachusetts General Hospital, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, McLean Hospital, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Membership and Governance

Membership comprises fellows and members drawn from universities and agencies including Princeton University, Brown University, Duke University, Northwestern University, Rice University, Emory University, University of Pittsburgh, University of California, San Diego, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and University of Texas at Austin. Governance uses structures similar to boards at American Psychological Association divisions, with elected officers such as presidents who may have affiliations with Columbia University Medical Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, University of California, Davis, University of Southern California, and Indiana University. Committees collaborate with external groups like the American Board of Professional Psychology, the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers, the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology, and advocacy organizations such as Mental Health America and National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Programs and Activities

The society organizes programming at annual meetings hosted within conferences like the American Psychological Association Annual Convention, symposia featuring researchers from Karolinska Institute, King's College London, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, McGill University, University of Toronto, and partner events with European Federation of Psychologists' Associations. Activities include continuing education tied to credentialing bodies such as the American Board of Professional Psychology and workshops influenced by methods from Aaron T. Beck, Marsha Linehan, Joseph Wolpe, Albert Bandura, and Martin Seligman. Training initiatives connect to practicum sites including Child Mind Institute, Boston Children's Hospital, Seattle Children's Hospital, and specialty centers like Samaritans, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Publications and Communications

The society sponsors and contributes to journals and newsletters alongside publishers and titles such as American Psychologist, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Clinical Psychological Science, Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Therapy and Research, Psychotherapy Research, Archives of General Psychiatry, Journal of Clinical Psychology, Clinical Psychology Review, Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, and communications via channels like APA PsycNET, PsycINFO, PubMed Central, Social Science Research Network, and platforms used by institutions including National Library of Medicine and CrossRef.

Awards and Recognition

Awards honor contributions comparable to prizes and recognitions given by institutions like American Psychological Association, National Academy of Medicine, MacArthur Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and society-specific awards echo the prestige of named honors associated with figures such as David Shakow, Aaron T. Beck, Albert Ellis, Marsha Linehan, Joseph Zubin, Hans Eysenck, and Paul Meehl. Recipients often hold appointments at hospitals and universities including Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Yale School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Stanford School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, and research centers like Salk Institute.

Influence and Criticism

The society has influenced policy discussions in forums like the U.S. Congress, advisory panels at the National Institutes of Health, guidelines from the World Health Organization, and clinical standards referenced by the Veterans Affairs system and insurance regulators such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Criticism has arisen in debates over evidence hierarchies highlighted in exchanges involving Paul Meehl, Thomas Szasz, Irving Kirsch, Steven Hyman, E.O. Wilson, Noam Chomsky, Richard Lerner, Elizabeth Loftus, Jonathan Haidt, and controversies intersecting with works like the DSM controversy and methodological disputes exemplified by cases at Reeves v. United States-style hearings and scholarship critiqued in venues such as Nature, Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, and The British Medical Journal.

Category:American Psychological Association divisions