As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"
This question echoed throughout APA's 2016 Annual Convention in Denver, Aug. 4–7. This year's convention occurred during a time of great divisiveness in our country. Racial conflicts have erupted into violence. Some insist our system must change, while others wish to return to earlier times and approaches. APA's Council of Representatives focused on civil discourse as we debated proposed policy.
Even so, all this comes in a year when we may finally see major progress on mental health care reform. U.S. Congressman and psychologist Tim Murphy, PhD, (R-Pa.) addressed the council about his mental health reform bill, which passed with a stunning vote in the House of 422-2, and is now in the Senate. This is but one example of how psychologists are contributing to the public good, rising to the occasion in the most difficult of circumstances, working for basic human rights that include health/mental health and well-being, freedom from violence, and equal opportunity for education and employment.
Human rights were also a major focus of the International Congress of Psychology in July in Yokohama, Japan, attended by more than 500 APA members as well as psychologists from around the world. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement for this meeting:
By helping people overcome depression, trauma, and emotional pain, by offering hope to those that have none, and by carrying out numerous other interventions that quite literally save lives, psychologists play a fundamental role in reducing this pattern [of decreased life expectancy] and they are, in that sense, human rights advocates. As such, every society owes [you] a debt of gratitude... He added: My appeal is for a more deliberate bringing together of human rights and ethical standards, with human rights serving as the ultimate measure of the appropriate treatment of persons interacting with mental health service providers, including psychologists.
Within APA, we are working to bring our association's structures into the 21st century while responding to the organizational issues raised by the Independent Review related to ethics procedures, conflicts of interest, civility and human rights. We are searching for a new CEO, and we amended the Guidelines for Council Resolutions to ensure that our resolutions are consistent with APA's core values.
The challenge now is to use our science, core values and ethical principles to help communities that are struggling. Can we come together to promote psychology and improve the lives of our people? Can we model solutions that carry us all forward? These issues are complex and challenging, and I believe psychologists are up to the task.
