I’ve spent years criticizing therapists who let their politics interfere with treatment.
asserted
politics → spend → treatment
Now a congressional investigation suggests the problem may reach the leadership of my own profession.
uncertain
problem → suggest → profession
According to the House Education and Workforce Committee, the American Psychological Association removed references to terrorism from its statement on Hamas’s October 7 massacre after objections from an affiliated organization.
uncertain
Association → accord → organization
When Jewish psychologists raised concerns about antisemitism, the association’s then-chief diversity officer reportedly answered one complaint with a dismissive “Sigh!”
uncertain
officer → raise → Sigh
Another official complained about “the Jews who are so angry at us.”
asserted
who → complain → us
If the report is accurate, the hypocrisy is hard to miss.
asserted
hypocrisy → miss → ?
Therapists spend years learning to recognize bias, including their own.
asserted
Therapists → spend → own
Yet some leaders in the profession seem comfortable making excuses for theirs.
asserted
leaders → seem → theirs
The report also describes resistance to recognizing a Jewish ethnic psychological association, with some opponents arguing that Jews benefited from white privilege and didn’t face the same disadvantages as other minority groups.
asserted
Jews → describe → groups
Apparently, some psychologists have become so attached to their ideas about privilege that they can’t recognize prejudice when it doesn’t fit their theory.
asserted
it → become → theory
This is what happens when people become more committed to a worldview than to the people they’re supposed to understand.
asserted
they → happen → people
Rather than questioning their assumptions, they dismiss experiences that challenge them.
asserted
that → question → them
The APA disputes the report’s findings, saying it unequivocally condemns antisemitism and has held listening sessions with more than 120 Jewish psychologists and stakeholders.
asserted
it → dispute → psychologists
But listening sessions don’t explain why they dismissed the concerns in the first place.
asserted
they → explain → place
I see the consequences of political bias in my own practice.
asserted
I → see → practice
A Jewish patient came to see me after leaving a therapist who made her uncomfortable discussing antisemitism.
asserted
her → come → antisemitism
She had been anxious about its rise and wanted help managing her fears.
asserted
She → want → fears
Instead, when she brought up Israel, her therapist began criticizing the country’s military actions in Gaza.
asserted
therapist → bring → Gaza
She left those sessions feeling that she had to justify why she was upset in the first place.
asserted
she → leave → place
Other Jewish patients have told me similar stories.
asserted
patients → tell → stories
One described becoming reluctant to discuss her Jewish identity and family connections to Israel because she worried that doing so would lead to another political argument.
asserted
doing → describe → argument
She began avoiding subjects that mattered deeply to her, even though those were precisely the things she needed help working through.
asserted
she → begin → help
I think of the pattern as selective empathy: People are quick to sympathize with suffering that fits their political beliefs and more skeptical when it doesn’t.
asserted
it → think → beliefs
Mental health professionals aren’t immune to this tendency, but they should be better at recognizing it.
asserted
they → recognize → it
In therapy, empathy doesn’t mean agreeing with everything a patient says.
asserted
patient → mean → everything
I’ve challenged plenty of patients when I thought their thinking was distorted or their conclusions were unsupported.
asserted
conclusions → challenge → patients
That’s part of doing the job well.
asserted
That → ’ → job
But if a therapist’s political opinions are getting in the way of understanding a patient, something has gone wrong.
asserted
something → get → patient
The therapist’s job is to help patients examine their thoughts and feelings, not steer them toward the therapist’s preferred political conclusions.
asserted
patients → help → conclusions
Patients shouldn’t have to calculate which subjects are safe to bring up or worry that expressing the wrong political opinion will change how their therapist sees them.
asserted
therapist → have → them
Therapy depends on trust, and that trust is difficult to maintain when patients feel they’re being judged through a political lens.
asserted
they → depend → lens
And this isn’t limited to Jewish patients or disagreements about Israel.
asserted
this → limit → Israel
A black patient once described how his previous therapist repeatedly tried to connect his anxiety to experiences of racism, even though the patient didn’t believe racism was contributing to his problems.
asserted
racism → describe → problems
He wanted to discuss other pressures in his life, but his therapist kept returning to race.
asserted
therapist → want → race
Instead of listening to the patient, the therapist seemed more interested in fitting him into a category than understanding what was troubling him.
asserted
what → listen → him
A therapist who makes patients afraid to speak openly is failing at the most basic part of the job.
asserted
patients → make → job
Mental health professionals spend years studying bias and how people justify their own behavior.
asserted
people → spend → behavior
You’d think they’d be especially good at recognizing their own prejudices.
asserted
they → think → prejudices
But understanding bias doesn’t make someone immune to it.
asserted
someone → understand → it
Sometimes it just makes them better at explaining it away.
asserted
them → make → it
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
