Norine G. Johnson, Ph.D.
President-Elect, American Psychological Association
To be a psychologist in this new millennium is to walk into a world
wide open to you filled with opportunity and promise. All of my 2001 Presidential
Initiatives share the vision of a collaboration of psychology with the public, policy
makers, and other professionals to promote health in the broadest sense of the world.
Psychology's success in the last hundred years defined a significant part of the world in
which we live today. And the promise of a healthy tomorrow comes from the contributions of
psychology scientists, practitioners, educators, and public policy advocates working
together to find solutions to the health needs of individuals, families and communities.
Presidential Initiatives
The 2001 Presidential Initiatives are:
Psychology Builds a Healthy World: Healthy Workplaces, Healthy
Families, Healthy Communities, with Dorothy Cantor; Carol Goodheart, co-chair; Rodney
Hammond, co-chair; Susan McDaniel; Richard Price; Michael C. Roberts; and Ronald Rozensky
, co-chair. An ad hoc council on health is being assembled made up of
representatives from APA divisions, state associations, and APAGS.
The Expanding Opportunities in Psychology Practice Task Force is
Barry Anton, co-chair; Jean Carter; Jean Chin, co-chair; Roxanne Manning (APAGS
representative); Ruperto Perez, and Karen Zager, co-chair. This task force also has
liaisons from all the divisions.
The Expanding Opportunities in Psychological Science Task Force
is Norman Anderson; James Callan,co-chair; Wayne Camera.; Marlyn Kilbey, co-chair; Dennis
Park; and Cheryl Travis, co-chair.
The initiatives are fortunate to have task force members who are
eminent scholars in their area of expertise and who represent the diversity of American
psychology.
Mission of the Initiatives
We want to translate the language of psychology and health into
everyday, useful language that promotes healthy lives. The mission of the initiatives is
threefold: 1) Inform our members of the cutting-edge research and practice psychologists
are conducting and expanding opportunities in psychology practice and psychology
science.2) Inform the public of psychology's contributions to health. 3) Provide
leadership in expanding partnerships with the public, policy-makers and other
Professionals that promote new approaches to health research and health-care delivery.
All the initiatives will provide cutting-edge programming as part of
the Presidential Miniconvention at APA's Convention in San Francisco, Aug. 24-28. Each
initiative is also developing a component that uses new technology. The "Healthy
World" initiative will sponsor an interactive program with psychologists and parents
of children with cancer that will be available as streaming video on APA's Web site for
cancer parents around the country. The "Expanding Opportunities in Psychology
Practice" is developing online consultation services so psychologists may discuss
with experts new approaches to practice. The Expanding Opportunities in Psychology Science
is considering providing web-based information to psychological scientists on research
opportunities in a variety of non-traditional and non-academic settings.
Social and biobehavioral approach to health
Today despite the volumes of statistics demonstrating the benefits of
removing the line between mental health and health, the percent of the health dollar spent
for mental health is down. Emotional conditions affect physical health. Women who
experience major depression have a nearly fourfold risk of developing breast cancer within
the next 13 years. Primary physicians and specialists often are unaware of the emotional
distress of their patients. For example, mental health disorders have been found to be
present in 1 in 5 women who make routine visits to their obstetrician/gynecologist. Yet,
psychology has been unable to be reimbursed for appropriate involvement with patients with
primary health problems. The Practice Directorate has been working on this and
Psychology's leadership in the health field.
National leaders like Ruth Kirschstein, NIH Acting Director
unequivocally listed social and cultural factors as central for the prevention and
treatment of disease. The Surgeon General's report on Health People 2010 stresses the role
of social and behavioral factors in disease. The time is right for psychologists to come
together in partnerships with the public, policy makers, and other health professions that
promote new approaches to health research and health care delivery. There are signs that
the current system is failing. The public is disenchanted with managed care and concerned
about the quality and accessibility of health services.
Empowerment
Most of my professional life has been about empowerment. For 18 years I
was the Director of Psychology at Kennedy Memorial Hospital for Children in Boston where
we serviced children and families with multiple disabilities- neurological, psychiatric,
orthopedic- from the multi-ethnic neighborhoods of Boston. Most of our families received
public services and had limited financial resources. I was radicalized to demand quality
health care for all peoples and loving, quality mental health treatment for children that
included their families and communities. My most recent writing have been on the
empowerment of women and girls and gender issues in psychotherapy with men. Two recent
books are Beyond Appearance: A New Look at Adolescent Girls, 1999, edited with
Michael C. Roberts and Judith Worell and Shaping the Future of Feminist Psychology,
1997, edited by Judith Worell and myself. Women helping men: Strengths of and
barriers to women therapists working with men clients in The New Handbook of
Psychotherapy and Counseling with Men edited by Gary Brooks and Glenn Good, is in
press.
I never cared for bullies. I think aspects of the current health care
system act like a bully, denying services to many, under-servicing more, and disrespecting
and under-compensating dedicated health care professionals and under-funding education and
research. You have an opportunity to make changes, to help build a healthy world. I hope
you will join me this next year in laying the foundation for psychology to come together
with the public to create healthy workplaces, healthy families, and healthy communities.
This article first appeared in the Fall 2000 Edition of the APAGS
Newsletter, Vol. 12(3)
