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Public Education Media Committee Updates

PUBLIC EDUCATION AND MEDIA

BY:
Richard Levak, Ph.D. 
Amanda Borlenghi, Psy.D. 
DATE: 6/21/18

LETTER TO UNION-TRIBUNE
Submitted 6/20/18

Lasting Effects of Separation Trauma

Most of us who have listened to the sound of a detained child wailing for their parent, and seen the photograph of the Honduran girl sobbing in fear as her parent is frisked, have experienced distress, anxiety, and even outrage. This is because humans are wired to attach emotionally to others. Distressed children evoke a caretaking response in most of us, making a crying child hard to ignore. We instinctively want to comfort, and when we can’t we become angry. 

Our parents are our first attachment figures, and how safe and secure we felt in these relationships has lasting effects throughout our adulthood. If an adult grew up with an unreliable, narcissistic or absent parent they have difficulties feeling secure and safe in their adult attachment relationships, and tend to suffer from a lowered sense of self worth. Warmth and physical affection in the early years are critical to the development of self-soothing ability and healthy attachments in adulthood.

Research has shown that children in distress need physical comfort. Being held and rocked is a biological need. In some cases, young children who are not hugged and held because they are separated from their parents can die from what has been called anaclitic depression. We hope it is fake news, but if it is true that detained children cannot be hugged and comforted physically, then we are damaging children irreparably. Research on children separated from their parents during World War II revealed that children separated from their parents in the critical period of early childhood, when bonds are developing, go through a number of stages of loss. The first stage is protest evidenced by crying, wailing and begging for the parent, essentially protesting the loss. Vigorous protest is what we hear and see in the children detained at the Mexican border. If the parent initially doesn’t respond to this protest, the child goes into despair, evidencing a sobbing, quieter, less vocal response. If the parent is still not available, the child eventually detaches and evidences the haunted, vacant look seen in war ravaged refugees. Detachment brings relief but it is a sign of severe, sometimes irreversible, trauma. From birth to age three is considered a critical period for attachment, the worst outcomes are seen when a child suffers attachment trauma during these years. 

While watching children in anguish is painful, for psychologists it is particularly distressing, as we know that once a child detaches, (in other words, no longer cares) it is hard to recreate the attachment and switch it back on. The resulting detachment has been called “affectionless psychopathology,” that is, an inability to care. Healing such a disorder can take years as the child goes through severe anxiety, anger, clinging and rejecting behavior. Some children will become numb and uncaring, with periods of uncontrollable rage. In certain cases, traumatized children develop serious personality disorders that make it difficult for them to become responsible members of society. Society does not need more people broken in their ability to care for others. While the degree of impact will vary from child to child, most separated children will undoubtedly experience trauma with resulting anxiety, depression and distrust of adults. The effects can last for years and determine how the child relates to loved ones as an adult. 

The searing images of children separated from their parents also ruins the reputation of the United States in the eyes of the world. This is part of the reason that, while previous administrations have grappled with the problem of illegal immigration, no previous administration, republican nor democrat, has seriously considered parent-child separations a viable option. Regardless of politics and opinions, we must find a better way to deal with the migrant problem. Furthermore, certain legal precedent reflects the understanding of the harm caused by parent-child separation. There have been divorce cases in which it has been deemed child abuse for one parent to cause a separation between the child and the other parent. Regardless of the reason or entity responsible for a separation, putting a child’s personality structure and ability to form attachment bondsat risk is not just bad for children but for society in the long run. This cannot continue.

 
PUBLIC EDUCATION AND MEDIA

BY:
Richard Levak, Ph.D. 
Amanda Borlenghi, Psy.D. 
DATE: 2/18/18

The San Diego Union-Tribune published last week an article entitled "Is Psychology a Real Science".  The author suggested that it is not. Read below.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/sd-is-psychology-a-real-science-20180207-story.html

Richard Levak, Ph.D. ABPP and Amanda Borlenghi, Psy.D. of our PEM Committee provided the following response for publication:

The article titled “Is Psychology a Real Science?” in the February 8 edition evidenced the lack of rigor and objectivity that the author suggests ails psychology. It is true that social science has internal wars, but this is how science progresses from paradigm to paradigm. Research continuously refines past thinking so some accepted hypotheses are later rejected. For example nutritional science is experiencing a war between those who support the calorie-in-calorie-out hypothesis for weight loss and those who support the insulin theory hypothesis. Medicine recently changed its definition of high blood pressure to above 130. Controversy continues in the climate sciences, and in physics about the origin of the universe. Psychological research offers help to understand our susceptibility to flimsy arguments. 

The author, while claiming that psychology lacks the rigor of science, engages in unscientific “cherry-picking” of debunked studies to support his claim that psychology is not a science and, worse, is self-serving. He failed to compare the frequency of debunked studies in sciences to those in psychology so the reader could compare apples to apples. His approach appeared prejudiced from the start. While some psychologists don’t follow the scientific method and do bad research, this occurs in every field.  It is dangerous to brand all psychologists as fuzzy-thinking and self-serving purveyors of unscientific myths.  Numerous double blind studies show the effectiveness of psychotherapy in alleviating many mental conditions.  Casting doubt on the field of psychology may prevent people from seeking help and potentially do unnecessary harm. It is also unscientific.

PUBLIC EDUCATION AND MEDIA

BY:
Richard Levak, Ph.D. 
Amanda Borlenghi, Psy.D. 
DATE: 2/9/18

U-T ARTICLE "IS PSYCHOLOGY A REAL SCIENCE" - PEM RESPONSE

The San Diego Union-Tribune published last week an article entitled "Is Psychology a Real Science".  The author suggested that it is not. Read below.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/sd-is-psychology-a-real-science-20180207-story.html

Richard Levak, Ph.D. ABPP and Amanda Borlenghi, Psy.D. of our PEM Committee provided the following response for publication:

The article titled “Is Psychology a Real Science?” in the February 8 edition evidenced the lack of rigor and objectivity that the author suggests ails psychology. It is true that social science has internal wars, but this is how science progresses from paradigm to paradigm. Research continuously refines past thinking so some accepted hypotheses are later rejected. For example nutritional science is experiencing a war between those who support the calorie-in-calorie-out hypothesis for weight loss and those who support the insulin theory hypothesis. Medicine recently changed its definition of high blood pressure to above 130. Controversy continues in the climate sciences, and in physics about the origin of the universe. Psychological research offers help to understand our susceptibility to flimsy arguments. 

The author, while claiming that psychology lacks the rigor of science, engages in unscientific “cherry-picking” of debunked studies to support his claim that psychology is not a science and, worse, is self-serving. He failed to compare the frequency of debunked studies in sciences to those in psychology so the reader could compare apples to apples. His approach appeared prejudiced from the start. While some psychologists don’t follow the scientific method and do bad research, this occurs in every field.  It is dangerous to brand all psychologists as fuzzy-thinking and self-serving purveyors of unscientific myths.  Numerous double blind studies show the effectiveness of psychotherapy in alleviating many mental conditions.  Casting doubt on the field of psychology may prevent people from seeking help and potentially do unnecessary harm. It is also unscientific. 
PUBLIC EDUCATION AND MEDIA

BY: Richard Levak, Ph.D.   
DATE: 8/1/17

PEM COMMITTEE

The PEM Committee was revitalized as part of the SDPA commitment to strengthening the brand of the association.  Its purpose is to give SDPA members a chance to interact with the media and, in the process, to promote their practice, the field of psychology and the SDPA.  In order to provide our members with as much support as possible, we have begun a successful case conference series, now called Cases & Cuisine, where members can discuss cases in a relaxed dinner environment.  We are also providing training on how to interact with the media and we are developing relationships with the media in order to raise awareness of how psychologists can provide consumers information on psychological matters.  The Committee is in the process of operationalizing a system that would allow psychologist experts to provide commentary on current newsworthy issues.  


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