The field of clinical psychology: Past, present, and future

Jewish Quotas in Clinical Psychology? The Journal of Clinical Psychology and the Scandal of 1945

“…Thorne's plan was to publish reports by practicing clinicians on their applied psychological work (Thorne, 1945c). During peacetime this would have gained him a small but steady stream of submissions.…”

“…Boldly, Thorne (1945c) began the first issue of his journal with a 20 page, unsigned article “The Field of Clinical Psychology: Past, Present and Future.” In it he sketched an expansionist plan for clinical graduate programs that would have looked very much like today's PsyD schools: freestanding institutions that were separate from university PhD-granting departments. Because such programs would attract a more diverse applicant pool, Thorne argued that admission standards would need to be rigorous.…”

“…Thorne (1945c) further cautioned that Jews could be overrepresented in the applicant pool and as clinical graduate students. 5 If that happened, he warned, “public acceptance of the whole program [would] be jeopardized” (p. 13) Because he later denied that his intent was anti-Jewish, it is necessary to examine his language in detail.…”

“…He wrote, “A further practical problem of importance in the selection of students involves the avoidance of undue representation of any one racial group among those accepted for training” (Thorne, 1945c, p. 13). Trying to sound sympathetic, Thorne explained that Jews were drawn to psychology for reasons that he understood.…”

“Back to the future” in clinical psychology: Introduction to the first millennial issue

“…In the current issue, we present seven papers that were originally published in the mid 1940s. The first of these is an article by Frederick C. Thorne (1945), the first editor of the Journal. Thorne addresses the history and his perspective of the future of clinical psychology.…”