The Hoffman report, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the defense of the nation: A personal view

I was asked by the Central Intelligence Agency in the spring of 2002 about how the research on learned helplessness could help captured Americans resist and evade torture and interrogation. There was no discussion of how learned helplessness could be used with detainees nor any mention of the interrogation of detainees. James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen later created a program of “enhanced interrogation” of detainees and it was incorrectly reported that they based it on the theory of learned helplessness. I played no role at all in these developments, and I am grieved that scientific research created to relieve helplessness and depression might have been used for brutal interrogations. The unfounded attacks on me and others, however, may have been intended to discourage young psychologists from working with the Department of Defense, and I urge American Psychological Association not to waver in its long-standing commitment to serve the nation.