Science and Pseudo Science in Clinical Psychology and the Courtroom
A One-day Conference for Attorneys, Mental Health Professionals, Policy-Makers, and Law Enforcement Personnel
Saturday, April 17, 2004
University of Washington School of Law
William H. Gates Hall
Seattle
5.75 General and .50 Ethics CLE Credits (6.25 total)
Priority (Paid by April 2, 2004) $200
Standard (Paid after April 2, 2004) $220
New Attorney Discount $154 (30% off standard registration for attorneys
admitted to the Wash. State Bar after 12/31/01)
Full-Time Public Defender and Non-Attorney $75
Sponsored by:
University of Washington School of Law
Washington Law School Foundation
and
EducationPlus+
A One-day Conference for Attorneys, Mental
Health Professionals, Policy-Makers, and Law
Enforcement Personnel
Saturday, April 17, 2004
5.75 General and .50 Ethics CLE Credits (6.25 total)
Priority (Paid by April 2, 2004) $200
Sponsored by:
Learn science intensive litigation methods
Human endeavors, though motivated by the best of intentions,
often fall short of desired ends. Attempts made to alleviate
suffering sometimes actually cause injury and harm. When
physicians inadvertently and unintentionally cause, rather than
cure disease, the result is an iatrogenic (from the Greek, doctorgenerated)
disorder. Often the result of unwanted side-effects of
medication or treatment, iatrogenesis is always a concern for the
ethical, prudent practitioner.
Well-intentioned experts in mental health have sometimes claimed
to be doing science while ignoring the cardinal rules of the
scientific methodÐreplicable findings, verifiable data, objective
confirmation of evidence and the concerted effort to control
prejudices and any biasÐ with devastating consequences.
Pseudoscientific assumptions, methods, and ways of thinking
increase the prevalence of iatrogenesis. Over the past several
decades, clinical psychology and allied disciplines (e.g.,
psychiatry, social work, counseling) have experienced a widening
gap between science and practice as a growing number of
clinicians appear to be basing their therapeutic, assessment, and
diagnostic practices primarily on clinical experience and intuition
rather than on research evidence.
The proliferation of unsubstantiated techniques which have never
been subjected to scientific scrutiny is cause for alarm when
considered with the trend towards greater utilization of mental
health professionals as expert witnesses in legal proceedings and
increased attention being given by the courts to serious social
problems, such as child abuse, sexual harassment, and domestic
violence. The use of behavioral science and mental health expert
testimony has expanded considerably over the last few decades to
include such issues as competency to stand trial, diminished
capacity, mitigation and aggravating factors at sentencing, the
accuracy of eyewitness testimony, claims of psychological injury
or neuropsychological impairment, the veracity of child sexual
abuse allegations, and prediction of violent behavior.
This conference will address the legal and professional standards
pertaining to the admissibility of expert testimony by mental
health professionals and behavioral scientists, and attempt to
distinguish scientifically appropriate and scientifically
inappropriate uses of such testimony. Participants will learn to
distinguish scientific from pseudoscientific claims in clinical
psychology and to identify the most frequently exhibited features
of pseudoscience, including absence of self-correction, evasion of
peer review, reversed burden of proof, emphasis on confirmation
rather than refutation, use of obscurantist language.
By attending this conference you will gain an insight into how
conviction rates can be improved by incorporating scientific
epistemology into clinical psychology and forensic practice.
Registration Welcome and Introduction: Ethics,
Psychology, and the Law: Perspectives of an Educator
Patricia C. Kuszler, Associate Dean for Faculty Research and
Development, University of Washington School of Law, Seattle
The Scientist-Practitioner Gap in
Psychology: Where it came from and Why it
Matters in Courts of Law
Carol Tavris, Ph.D., Social Psychologist, Writer, Lecturer
Break Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical
Psychology
Scott O. Lilienfeld, Ph. D., Department of Psychology, Emory
University, Atlanta
Lunch (on your own) Bridging the Gap between Science and
Practice
R. Christopher Barden, Ph.D. (U. of Minnesota, U.C. Berkeley,
Palo Alto V.A./Stanford); J.D. (Harvard Law School) Attorney at
Law (Minnesota) Licensed Psychologist (Minnesota and Texas)
Refreshment Break Panel Discussion; Questions and Answers Closing Comments and Issuance of
Certificates of Attendance
R. Christopher Barden, Ph.D., J.D., LP, has often been
introduced as 3the only licensed psychologist and licensed
attorney in America to receive two national research awards in
psychology and a law degree with honors from Harvard Law
School.2 Dr. Barden has obtained world record verdicts and
settlements in a number of cases involving reform of the mental
health system. He received his training in psychology from the
University of Minnesota, the University of California at
Berkeley, and the U.S. Veterans Administration/Stanford
University Medical Center. As a result of his research and
publishing efforts in the field of psychology, Dr. Barden received
several Fellowships from the National Institute of Mental Health.
He has published in, and/or served as an editor or reviewer for,
several of the most highly regarded journals and texts in
psychology, medicine and law including Developmental
Psychology, Child Development, Psychological Bulletin,
Ambulatory Pediatrics, Advances in Child Clinical Psychology,
the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of
the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the Journal of
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the Harvard Journal of Law
and Public Policy, and the Harvard Journal on Legislation. Dr.
Barden has been invited to give national addresses to the
American Bar Association, the American Psychological
Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the U.S.
Surgeon General1s Conference, the International Assn. of Plastic
and Reconstructive Surgeons and many other groups.
Dr. Barden currently practices both law and psychology and
serves as an expert witness/consultant in both fields. As an
expert witness and speaker, Dr. Barden has educated courts,
national professional associations, state legislatures and the
media on the validity and reliability of social science theories,
methodologies and information. As an attorney and consultant,
he has won several landmark cases resulting in record setting
jury verdicts and settlements against practitioners of
inappropriate psychotherapies.
Dr. Barden has been interviewed regarding complex science
issues by U.S. Congressional Quarterly, CBS 60 Minutes, ABC
Nightline, the CBS Evening News, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News
& World Report, Insight Magazine, The New Yorker, the L.A.
Times, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the London
BBC, U.S. National Public Radio, ABC NEWS 20/20, National
German Television, National Finnish Television, 60 Minutes
Australia, Canadian Public Radio and many other media sources.
Patricia C. Kuszler, M.D., J.D., is the Associate Dean for
Faculty Research and Development at the University of
Washington School of Law, Adjunct Professor in the Department
of Medical History and Ethics, and Adjunct Professor in the
Department of Health Services. Dean Kuszler joined the faculty
in 1994 to teach in and develop a health law program after
practicing health law with Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C.
Prior to pursuing a career in the law, she practiced emergency
medicine in New York and Connecticut and later served as a
medical director for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Connecticut.
Her primary teaching and research interests include health care
finance and regulation, health insurance fraud and abuse,
research misconduct and biotechnology and the law. She is
admitted to the Connecticut and District of Columbia bars.
Scott Lilienfeld, Ph. D., is Associate Professor of Psychology at
Emory University. He has authored or coauthored approximately
100 articles and book chapters, serves on the editorial board of
several major journals, and is founder and editor of The Scientific
Review of Mental Health Practice. Dr. Lilienfeld is past president
of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology and a recipient
of the David Shakow Award for Early Career Contributions to
Clinical Psychology from Division 12 (Society for Clinical
Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. He is the
coeditor, with Steven Jay Lynn and Jeffrey M. Lohr, of Science and
Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology. Some of his current
publications: Herbert, J.D., Lilienfeld, S.O., Lohr, J.M.,
Montgomery, R.W., O1Donohue, W.T., Rosen, G.M., & Tolin, D.F.
(in press). Science and pseudoscience in the development of eye
movement desensitization and reprocessing: Implications for
clinical psychology. Clinical Psychology Review; Cale, E., &
Lilienfeld, S.O. (In press). What every forensic psychologist should
know about psychopathic personality; in W. O1Donohue,
Handbook of Forensic Psychology. New York: Wiley. Lilienfeld,
S.O., Wood, J.M., & Garb, H.M. (In press). The scientific status of
projective techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest.
Carol Tavris earned her Ph.D. in social psychology at the
University of Michigan, and her career as a scholar, writer, and
lecturer has been devoted to educating the public about the
importance of scientific and critical thinking in psychology. She has
given many addresses and workshops on the difference between
testimony based on good psychological science and that based on
pseudoscience and subjective clinical opinion; in the legal arena,
her audiences have included the Council of Chief Appellate Judges;
judicial education programs in Illinois, New Jersey, Kansas,
Virginia, Michigan, and California; forensic investigators; and
conferences of criminal defense attorneys in the United States and
Canada.
Dr. Tavris is author of two award-winning and highly acclaimed
general-interest books: The Mismeasure of Woman: Why women
are not the better sex, the inferior sex, or the opposite sex
(Touchstone) and of Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion
(Touchstone). She is also co-author of several influential textbooks,
including Psychology (7th ed., 2003) and Invitation
to Psychology (3rd ed., 2005, both Prentice Hall), which pioneered
in the integration of principles of scientific and critical thinking and
assess the reasons for the growing scientist-therapist conflict in
psychology. Her essays and book reviews for the New York Times,
Los Angeles Times,
Scientific American, and other publications has been collected in
"Psychobabble and Biobunk: Using psychology to think critically
about issues in the news."
Dr. Tavris has written on psychological topics for many magazines
as well as professional journals, and her columns and book reviews
for The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times have
appeared in newspapers across the United States. She has taught in
the psychology department at UCLA and at the New School for
Social Research in New York. She is a Fellow of both the
American Psychological Association and the American
Psychological Society; on the board of the Council for Scientific
Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry; and on the editorial board of
Psychological Science in the Public Interest.
Refunds are available up to five days prior to the program.
In lieu of a refund, we encourage participants to send a substitute.
Please notify the UW CLE of any requests for refunds or substitutions.
All cancellations are subject to a $30 handling charge.
Learn science intensive litigation methods
Human endeavors, though motivated by the best of intentions,
often fall short of desired ends. Attempts made to alleviate
suffering sometimes actually cause injury and harm. When
physicians inadvertently and unintentionally cause, rather than
cure disease, the result is an iatrogenic (from the Greek, doctorgenerated)
disorder. Often the result of unwanted side-effects of
medication or treatment, iatrogenesis is always a concern for the
ethical, prudent practitioner.
Well-intentioned experts in mental health have sometimes claimed
to be doing science while ignoring the cardinal rules of the
scientific methodÐreplicable findings, verifiable data, objective
confirmation of evidence and the concerted effort to control
prejudices and any biasÐ with devastating consequences.
Pseudoscientific assumptions, methods, and ways of thinking
increase the prevalence of iatrogenesis. Over the past several
decades, clinical psychology and allied disciplines (e.g.,
psychiatry, social work, counseling) have experienced a widening
gap between science and practice as a growing number of
clinicians appear to be basing their therapeutic, assessment, and
diagnostic practices primarily on clinical experience and intuition
rather than on research evidence.
The proliferation of unsubstantiated techniques which have never
been subjected to scientific scrutiny is cause for alarm when
considered with the trend towards greater utilization of mental
health professionals as expert witnesses in legal proceedings and
increased attention being given by the courts to serious social
problems, such as child abuse, sexual harassment, and domestic
violence. The use of behavioral science and mental health expert
testimony has expanded considerably over the last few decades to
include such issues as competency to stand trial, diminished
capacity, mitigation and aggravating factors at sentencing, the
accuracy of eyewitness testimony, claims of psychological injury
or neuropsychological impairment, the veracity of child sexual
abuse allegations, and prediction of violent behavior.
This conference will address the legal and professional standards
pertaining to the admissibility of expert testimony by mental
health professionals and behavioral scientists, and attempt to
distinguish scientifically appropriate and scientifically
inappropriate uses of such testimony. Participants will learn to
distinguish scientific from pseudoscientific claims in clinical
psychology and to identify the most frequently exhibited features
of pseudoscience, including absence of self-correction, evasion of
peer review, reversed burden of proof, emphasis on confirmation
rather than refutation, use of obscurantist language.
By attending this conference you will gain an insight into how
conviction rates can be improved by incorporating scientific
epistemology into clinical psychology and forensic practice.
Registration Welcome and Introduction: Ethics,
Psychology, and the Law: Perspectives of an Educator
Patricia C. Kuszler, Associate Dean for Faculty Research and
Development, University of Washington School of Law, Seattle
The Scientist-Practitioner Gap in
Psychology: Where it came from and Why it
Matters in Courts of Law
Carol Tavris, Ph.D., Social Psychologist, Writer, Lecturer
Break Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical
Psychology
Scott O. Lilienfeld, Ph. D., Department of Psychology, Emory
University, Atlanta
Lunch (on your own) Bridging the Gap between Science and
Practice
R. Christopher Barden, Ph.D. (U. of Minnesota, U.C. Berkeley,
Palo Alto V.A./Stanford); J.D. (Harvard Law School) Attorney at
Law (Minnesota) Licensed Psychologist (Minnesota and Texas)
Refreshment Break Panel Discussion; Questions and Answers Closing Comments and Issuance of
Certificates of Attendance
R. Christopher Barden, Ph.D., J.D., LP, has often been
introduced as 3the only licensed psychologist and licensed
attorney in America to receive two national research awards in
psychology and a law degree with honors from Harvard Law
School.2 Dr. Barden has obtained world record verdicts and
settlements in a number of cases involving reform of the mental
health system. He received his training in psychology from the
University of Minnesota, the University of California at
Berkeley, and the U.S. Veterans Administration/Stanford
University Medical Center. As a result of his research and
publishing efforts in the field of psychology, Dr. Barden received
several Fellowships from the National Institute of Mental Health.
He has published in, and/or served as an editor or reviewer for,
several of the most highly regarded journals and texts in
psychology, medicine and law including Developmental
Psychology, Child Development, Psychological Bulletin,
Ambulatory Pediatrics, Advances in Child Clinical Psychology,
the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Journal of
the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the Journal of
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the Harvard Journal of Law
and Public Policy, and the Harvard Journal on Legislation. Dr.
Barden has been invited to give national addresses to the
American Bar Association, the American Psychological
Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the U.S.
Surgeon General1s Conference, the International Assn. of Plastic
and Reconstructive Surgeons and many other groups.
Dr. Barden currently practices both law and psychology and
serves as an expert witness/consultant in both fields. As an
expert witness and speaker, Dr. Barden has educated courts,
national professional associations, state legislatures and the
media on the validity and reliability of social science theories,
methodologies and information. As an attorney and consultant,
he has won several landmark cases resulting in record setting
jury verdicts and settlements against practitioners of
inappropriate psychotherapies.
Dr. Barden has been interviewed regarding complex science
issues by U.S. Congressional Quarterly, CBS 60 Minutes, ABC
Nightline, the CBS Evening News, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News
& World Report, Insight Magazine, The New Yorker, the L.A.
Times, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the London
BBC, U.S. National Public Radio, ABC NEWS 20/20, National
German Television, National Finnish Television, 60 Minutes
Australia, Canadian Public Radio and many other media sources.
Patricia C. Kuszler, M.D., J.D., is the Associate Dean for
Faculty Research and Development at the University of
Washington School of Law, Adjunct Professor in the Department
of Medical History and Ethics, and Adjunct Professor in the
Department of Health Services. Dean Kuszler joined the faculty
in 1994 to teach in and develop a health law program after
practicing health law with Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C.
Prior to pursuing a career in the law, she practiced emergency
medicine in New York and Connecticut and later served as a
medical director for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Connecticut.
Her primary teaching and research interests include health care
finance and regulation, health insurance fraud and abuse,
research misconduct and biotechnology and the law. She is
admitted to the Connecticut and District of Columbia bars.
Scott Lilienfeld, Ph. D., is Associate Professor of Psychology at
Emory University. He has authored or coauthored approximately
100 articles and book chapters, serves on the editorial board of
several major journals, and is founder and editor of The Scientific
Review of Mental Health Practice. Dr. Lilienfeld is past president
of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology and a recipient
of the David Shakow Award for Early Career Contributions to
Clinical Psychology from Division 12 (Society for Clinical
Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. He is the
coeditor, with Steven Jay Lynn and Jeffrey M. Lohr, of Science and
Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology. Some of his current
publications: Herbert, J.D., Lilienfeld, S.O., Lohr, J.M.,
Montgomery, R.W., O1Donohue, W.T., Rosen, G.M., & Tolin, D.F.
(in press). Science and pseudoscience in the development of eye
movement desensitization and reprocessing: Implications for
clinical psychology. Clinical Psychology Review; Cale, E., &
Lilienfeld, S.O. (In press). What every forensic psychologist should
know about psychopathic personality; in W. O1Donohue,
Handbook of Forensic Psychology. New York: Wiley. Lilienfeld,
S.O., Wood, J.M., & Garb, H.M. (In press). The scientific status of
projective techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest.
Carol Tavris earned her Ph.D. in social psychology at the
University of Michigan, and her career as a scholar, writer, and
lecturer has been devoted to educating the public about the
importance of scientific and critical thinking in psychology. She has
given many addresses and workshops on the difference between
testimony based on good psychological science and that based on
pseudoscience and subjective clinical opinion; in the legal arena,
her audiences have included the Council of Chief Appellate Judges;
judicial education programs in Illinois, New Jersey, Kansas,
Virginia, Michigan, and California; forensic investigators; and
conferences of criminal defense attorneys in the United States and
Canada.
Dr. Tavris is author of two award-winning and highly acclaimed
general-interest books: The Mismeasure of Woman: Why women
are not the better sex, the inferior sex, or the opposite sex
(Touchstone) and of Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion
(Touchstone). She is also co-author of several influential textbooks,
including Psychology (7th ed., 2003) and Invitation
to Psychology (3rd ed., 2005, both Prentice Hall), which pioneered
in the integration of principles of scientific and critical thinking and
assess the reasons for the growing scientist-therapist conflict in
psychology. Her essays and book reviews for the New York Times,
Los Angeles Times,
Scientific American, and other publications has been collected in
"Psychobabble and Biobunk: Using psychology to think critically
about issues in the news."
Dr. Tavris has written on psychological topics for many magazines
as well as professional journals, and her columns and book reviews
for The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times have
appeared in newspapers across the United States. She has taught in
the psychology department at UCLA and at the New School for
Social Research in New York. She is a Fellow of both the
American Psychological Association and the American
Psychological Society; on the board of the Council for Scientific
Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry; and on the editorial board of
Psychological Science in the Public Interest.
Refunds are available up to five days prior to the program.
In lieu of a refund, we encourage participants to send a substitute.
Please notify the UW CLE of any requests for refunds or substitutions.
All cancellations are subject to a $30 handling charge.
Science and Pseudo Science in Clinical Psychology and the Courtroom
University of Washington School of Law
William H. Gates Hall
Seattle
Standard (Paid after April 2, 2004) $220
New Attorney Discount $154 (30% off standard registration for attorneys
admitted to the Wash. State Bar after 12/31/01)
Full-Time Public Defender and Non-Attorney $75
University of Washington School of Law
Washington Law School Foundation
and
EducationPlus+
-- Absence of self-correction
-- Evasion of peer review
-- Reversed burden of proof
-- Emphasis on confirmation rather than
refutation
-- Use of obscurantist language
Program Schedule
8:00 a.m.
8:30 a.m.
9:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
10:15 a.m.
12:00 p.m.
1:15 p.m.
3:00 p.m.
3:15 p.m.
4:30 p.m.
5.75 General and .50 Ethics CLE Credits are approved (6.25 total). For more information regarding CLE credits in other states, contact UW CLE at 206-543-0059.
To request accommodations for the disabled, please contact
the office of the Disability Services Office at least ten days
in advance at:(206) 543-6450 (voice); (206) 543-6452
(TDD); (206) 685-7264 (FAX), or dso@u.washington.edu
(E-Mail).
-- Absence of self-correction
-- Evasion of peer review
-- Reversed burden of proof
-- Emphasis on confirmation rather than
refutation
-- Use of obscurantist language
Program Schedule
8:00 a.m.
8:30 a.m.
9:00 a.m.
10:00 a.m.
10:15 a.m.
12:00 p.m.
1:15 p.m.
3:00 p.m.
3:15 p.m.
4:30 p.m.
5.75 General and .50 Ethics CLE Credits are approved (6.25 total). For more information regarding CLE credits in other states, contact UW CLE at 206-543-0059.
To request accommodations for the disabled, please contact
the office of the Disability Services Office at least ten days
in advance at:(206) 543-6450 (voice); (206) 543-6452
(TDD); (206) 685-7264 (FAX), or dso@u.washington.edu
(E-Mail).
