I am a native New Yorker. I attended Brooklyn College, where I majored in psychology and graduated in 1974. My initial graduate training was at the State University of New York, where I studied experimental psychology and psychophysics. I completed a PhD at the University of Mississippi, a clinical psychology internship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and a clinical psychology residency at U.S. Dewitt Army Hospital in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. From 1978 to 1983, as a psychologist and major in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps, I provided mental health services to active-duty military personnel and their families. Throughout my military service, and during all of my professional life, I have maintained a deep commitment to the men and women in the military, veterans and "wounded warriors."
In 1983, I began a clinical practice in Alexandria, Virginia, and I have been a licensed clinical psychologist in the state for 30 years. In 1984, my specialty work turned to police psychology when I became the first consulting police psychologist for the Arlington County Police Department in Arlington, Virginia, a position I held for 15 years. In this capacity, I developed and implemented the department's first psychological services unit, which provided pre-employment psychological screening for police applicants, screening for special units such as SWAT, and counseling services for officers. I also volunteered hundreds of hours riding in police cars to get firsthand exposure to police work. I have been the police psychologist for numerous departments through the years, including the Alexandria Police Department, the Alexandria Sheriff's Department and the Arlington County Sheriff's Office. My professional and personal commitment to members of law enforcement is strong and enduring.
From 1989 to 1995, I served as the director of psychology of the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute in Falls Church, Virginia. At this state psychiatric facility, I supervised a staff of psychologists and provided direct psychological services, including individual and group therapy and sanity evaluations. I chaired the institute's first restrictive programs committee, which monitored the use of seclusion and restraint (physical and chemical) in the hospital. I also performed human rights investigations pursuant to allegations of patient abuse.
In 2001, I graduated from the George Mason University School of Law, and completed a clerkship with the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Virginia. Since law school, I have written or edited five books on psychology and legal topics. These have included textbooks such as "Forensic Psychology," "Malingering, Lies, and Junk Science in the Courtroom" and the "Handbook of Police Psychology."
Currently, I maintain a private practice in clinical and consulting psychology, teach psychology and law at various universities, and engage in scholarly writing. I also continue to be very supportive of prescription privileges for properly trained psychologists, as has been successfully evidenced within the Department of Defense.
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Kitaeff's candidate statement
At a basic level, psychologists must continue researching, practicing and teaching about the interaction of emotional and behavioral factors affecting physical illness. Examples include obesity, diabetes, stress-induced illnesses, anxiety, depression (including postpartum depression) and addictions.
We must ensure that psychologists are recognized as full-fledged health providers from both statutory and health insurance standpoints. This would include increased training programs in psychopharmacology with the eventual goal of appropriately trained psychologists achieving prescriptive authority in every state. The success of such privileges has been demonstrated in the Department of Defense programs. We must also reaffirm our commitment to active-duty military personnel, returning veterans, first-responders and wounded warriors.
In graduate training programs, we must adapt to the changing demographics (cultural and language) of this country. We must also take a more serious and contemplative look at distance learning psychology training programs.
APA should invest as much energy as possible in reducing the proliferation of xenophobic-like behavior in America and the unfortunate increase in hate-related crimes. The causes of mass violence in schools and in the workplace need to be understood and prevented, and coping strategies put into place.
We need to attend to psychology applied to the law, and the law applied to psychology. This includes a commitment to police psychology and the men and women in law enforcement. Unconfirmed and uncorroborated phenomena, such as repressed memories, and unscientifically derived psychological syndromes must be seriously examined.
Finally, we need to listen to psychologists who have not traditionally been involved in APA governance. We owe immeasurable gratitude to members of our ranks who have taken leadership positions and spearheaded initiatives benefiting all of us. But we need more psychologists to take an active role and have a voice in our association.