Advocacy for psychiatric survivors, veterans, and victims of violence. Critical thinking about psychological research, clinical work, and social policy.
Paula Joan Caplan (July 7, 1947 – July 21, 2021) was an American psychologist, activist, writer, and artist.
Biography
Caplan was an associate at Harvard University's DuBois Institute, director of the Voices of Diversity Project, and a past Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. Previously she had been full professor of psychology, assistant professor of psychiatry, and lecturer in Women's Studies at the University of Toronto, as well as head of the Centre for Women's Studies in Education there, and was chosen by the American Psychological Association as an "eminent woman psychologist". She also taught at Harvard University, Connecticut College, and the University of Rhode Island, gave hundreds of invited addresses, and did more than 1,000 media interviews about social issues. She was the author of The Myth of Women's Masochism, Don't Blame Mother, and a number of other books. Her twelfth and final book was When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home: How All of Us Can Help Veterans, which won the 2011 American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence in the Psychology category.[1][2]
Starting in the 1980s, Caplan was concerned that psychiatric diagnoses are unscientific, that giving someone a psychiatric label does not reduce their suffering, and that labeling them carries enormous risks of harm. Caplan outwardly addressed her concerns to the public. In her book, They Say You’re Crazy: How the Worlds most Powerful Psychiatrists Decide Who’s Normal, Caplan discusses the nature of diagnosis and how the DSM contributes to the unique faults of psychiatry.[3] She sought to educate the public about the unregulated nature of psychiatric diagnoses and the consequent lack of recourse for people who have been harmed by getting such labels, including how getting a psychiatric diagnosis and label often may stand in the way of recovery.[4]
Paula Caplan died on July 21, 2021, in Rockville, Maryland.[5]
