Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2005, Page 39
accommodate and live with forever. This book offers a dramatic case study that shows
exactly how and why this is so.
This book will be valuable to people who study cult programming. It will also find an
audience among people who enjoy novels about cults. It should stand up well along side
well known novels about cults, such as Mind Game, by Norman Spinrad (1985), Kalki, by
Gore Vidal (1998), and The Program: A Novel, by Gregg Hurwitz (2004). Those books are
powerful, but mere fiction. Servant of the Lotus Feet is true.
Nori Muster
Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology
Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, Jeffrey M. Lohr (Editors)
New York: Guilford Press, 2004. ISBN: 1572308281 (hardcover) $48 ISBN:
1593850700 (paperback) $25. 474 pages
Those who attended the 2004 AFF Conference in Atlanta might remember vividly Dr.
Lilienfeld keynote PowerPoint presentation. Dr. Lilienfeld was scholarly and scientific, yet
energetic and funny. In contrast, this 474-page book to which 37 authors contributed 16
chapters also succeeds in distinguishing a variety of defensible mental-health practices from
the merely fashionable, but without the cartoons and amusing asides. In their concluding
comments, the editors state, ―...the preceding chapters make clear that the scientific
underpinnings of the field of clinical psychology are threatened by the increasing
proliferation of unsubstantiated and untested psychotherapies, assessment, and diagnostic
techniques.‖
The three editors are established academics. Scott O. Lilienfeld, Ph.D., whose work on
pseudoscience in clinical psychology has come to the attention of the popular press, is
Associate Professor of Psychology at Emory University. Steven Jay Lynn, Ph.D., is Professor
of Psychology at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Jeffrey M. Lohr, Ph.D., is
Professor of Psychology at the University of Arkansas—Fayetteville. In my unofficial analysis
of the 37 contributors, 19 with doctorates are housed in departments of psychology 11 with
masters degrees, also housed in psychology departments, are probably advanced graduate
students 5 are psychologist practitioners, 1 is in a department of counselor education, and
1 is a lawyer. Carol Tavris, Ph.D., who wrote the Foreword, has a doctorate in social
psychology and is an independent writer. It is safe to say then that in style, perspective,
and orientation this book (like this reviewer) is weighted toward academic psychology. And
academic psychologists emphasize science, experimental design, statistics, evidence, and
data. It follows that within the diverse ICSA (formerly AFF) community, the academics,
especially in psychology, will appreciate this fact-filled book. However, those to whom terms
such as ―double blind‖ and ―meta analysis‖ or ―DSM‖ and ―ADHD‖ are unfamiliar will prefer
chapter 1 for an overview, and part V (chapters 14, 15, and 16), ―Controversies Regarding
Self-Help and the Media.‖ Mental-health practitioners might be informed by the evaluations
of Alcoholics Anonymous, age regression, memory recovery, Myers Briggs Type Indicator,
neurolinguistic programming, rebirthing, and dozens of other controversial interventions for
assessment and diagnosis, psychotherapy, and the treatment of adult and child disorders. A
glossary of technical terms and extensive references at the end of each chapter, and an
Index that covers the entire volume, are helpful, especially to graduate students and
scholars.
Before I consider Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology‘s possible value to ICSA
and the possible value of ICSA to clinical psychology, I want to comment on the ―widening
gap‖ between ―scientists‖ and ―practitioners‖ alleged by Carol Tavris. Most of the
contributors to this book, as I have noted, are the ―scientists‖—psychologists who teach
aspiring doctoral-student clinical psychologists. But who are ―the practitioners?‖ What
accommodate and live with forever. This book offers a dramatic case study that shows
exactly how and why this is so.
This book will be valuable to people who study cult programming. It will also find an
audience among people who enjoy novels about cults. It should stand up well along side
well known novels about cults, such as Mind Game, by Norman Spinrad (1985), Kalki, by
Gore Vidal (1998), and The Program: A Novel, by Gregg Hurwitz (2004). Those books are
powerful, but mere fiction. Servant of the Lotus Feet is true.
Nori Muster
Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology
Scott O. Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, Jeffrey M. Lohr (Editors)
New York: Guilford Press, 2004. ISBN: 1572308281 (hardcover) $48 ISBN:
1593850700 (paperback) $25. 474 pages
Those who attended the 2004 AFF Conference in Atlanta might remember vividly Dr.
Lilienfeld keynote PowerPoint presentation. Dr. Lilienfeld was scholarly and scientific, yet
energetic and funny. In contrast, this 474-page book to which 37 authors contributed 16
chapters also succeeds in distinguishing a variety of defensible mental-health practices from
the merely fashionable, but without the cartoons and amusing asides. In their concluding
comments, the editors state, ―...the preceding chapters make clear that the scientific
underpinnings of the field of clinical psychology are threatened by the increasing
proliferation of unsubstantiated and untested psychotherapies, assessment, and diagnostic
techniques.‖
The three editors are established academics. Scott O. Lilienfeld, Ph.D., whose work on
pseudoscience in clinical psychology has come to the attention of the popular press, is
Associate Professor of Psychology at Emory University. Steven Jay Lynn, Ph.D., is Professor
of Psychology at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Jeffrey M. Lohr, Ph.D., is
Professor of Psychology at the University of Arkansas—Fayetteville. In my unofficial analysis
of the 37 contributors, 19 with doctorates are housed in departments of psychology 11 with
masters degrees, also housed in psychology departments, are probably advanced graduate
students 5 are psychologist practitioners, 1 is in a department of counselor education, and
1 is a lawyer. Carol Tavris, Ph.D., who wrote the Foreword, has a doctorate in social
psychology and is an independent writer. It is safe to say then that in style, perspective,
and orientation this book (like this reviewer) is weighted toward academic psychology. And
academic psychologists emphasize science, experimental design, statistics, evidence, and
data. It follows that within the diverse ICSA (formerly AFF) community, the academics,
especially in psychology, will appreciate this fact-filled book. However, those to whom terms
such as ―double blind‖ and ―meta analysis‖ or ―DSM‖ and ―ADHD‖ are unfamiliar will prefer
chapter 1 for an overview, and part V (chapters 14, 15, and 16), ―Controversies Regarding
Self-Help and the Media.‖ Mental-health practitioners might be informed by the evaluations
of Alcoholics Anonymous, age regression, memory recovery, Myers Briggs Type Indicator,
neurolinguistic programming, rebirthing, and dozens of other controversial interventions for
assessment and diagnosis, psychotherapy, and the treatment of adult and child disorders. A
glossary of technical terms and extensive references at the end of each chapter, and an
Index that covers the entire volume, are helpful, especially to graduate students and
scholars.
Before I consider Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology‘s possible value to ICSA
and the possible value of ICSA to clinical psychology, I want to comment on the ―widening
gap‖ between ―scientists‖ and ―practitioners‖ alleged by Carol Tavris. Most of the
contributors to this book, as I have noted, are the ―scientists‖—psychologists who teach
aspiring doctoral-student clinical psychologists. But who are ―the practitioners?‖ What
