Question 1
According to its Vision Statement, APA aspires to be a "principal leader and global partner promoting psychological knowledge and methods to facilitate the resolution of personal, societal and global challenges in diverse, multicultural and international contexts." How would your presidency and presidential initiatives further this vision?
Many of the challenges psychology faces and potential solutions transcend national boundaries. I am a strong advocate of global outreach and collaborate extensively with colleagues around the world. I do yearly workshops for Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies and the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust in England, and assist with projects in India, Indonesia and the Netherlands. We drew heavily upon expertise at the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to develop clinical practice guidelines for APA. As president of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology, I strengthened ties overseas and will do the same for APA.
Question 2
APA has been grappling with a number of recent challenges. What is the single greatest challenge facing the association and how would you address it during your presidency?
The reimbursement landscape is about to change. Government agencies like Medicare are going to move to "pay for performance" that focuses on outcomes, and third-party payers likely will follow. No country depends more on medication than the United States, yet the empirical literature is clear that psychotherapy is at least as effective and longer lasting for most patients. It will be to the advantage of the profession of psychology for APA to work with other disciplines, like psychiatry, to generate clinical practice guidelines that the public can trust to accurately reflect the many advantages of psychotherapy over medications.