Journal of Controversial Ideas

(ISSN: 2694-5991) Open Access Journal
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Controversial Ideas 2024, 4(2), 13; doi: 10.35995/jci04020013

Is Clinical Psychological Science Infected by Racism and White Supremacy?

1 Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA;
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 27 Jun 2024 / Accepted: 19 Sep 2024 / Published: 30 Oct 2024
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Abstract

The psychological clinical science paradigm holds that mental health problems should be treated with therapies having the strongest evidence for their efficacy. For the past several decades, clinical scientists have conducted randomized controlled trials identifying specific treatments that best alleviate symptoms of many psychological disorders, as confirmed by objective, reliable assessments. However, a growing number of psychologists, exemplified by Rodriguez-Seijas et al. (2024), argue that the paradigm fosters a racist, White supremacist subdiscipline. They urge clinical scientists to embrace an antiracist agenda by promoting equity (i.e., equal outcomes) for minority and majority groups in access to doctoral programs, publications in high-impact journals, faculty positions, and grants. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the arguments and evidence bearing on the claim that the paradigm is infected with racist, White supremacist ideology, and to defend the meritocratic standards that have underwritten the success of clinical science.
Keywords: Clinical science; antiracism; White supremacy; meritocracy
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CITE
McNally, R.J. Is Clinical Psychological Science Infected by Racism and White Supremacy? Controversial_Ideas 2024, 4, 13.
McNally RJ. Is Clinical Psychological Science Infected by Racism and White Supremacy? Journal of Controversial Ideas. 2024; 4(2):13.
McNally, Richard J. 2024. "Is Clinical Psychological Science Infected by Racism and White Supremacy?" Controversial_Ideas 4, no. 2: 13.
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