Paula Joan Caplan (July 7, 1947 – July 21, 2021) was an American

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how in ...

, activist, writer, and artist. She was an associate at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

'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 Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppres ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, as well as head of the Centre for Women's Studies in Education there, and was chosen by the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It has ...

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. Since 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. 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. Paula Caplan died on July 21, 2021, in Rockville, Maryland.

References

External links

Paula Joan Caplan Official SiteIn Memoriam: Paula Joan CaplanEnding Harm from Psychiatric DiagnosisThe Welcome Johnny and Jane Home ProjectPapers of Paula J. Caplan, 1973-2006.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Caplan, Paula 1947 births 2021 deaths Duke University alumni American women psychologists American psychologists Psychiatric assessment Radcliffe College alumni People from Springfield, Missouri 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women

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