Remembering to Wonder

Abstract

Abstract It has been argued that there are basic and unavoidable incompatibilities between the science and the profession of psychology. This article challenges this claim, and explains why it is important for trauma therapists to reject this distinction. Misleading descriptions of “science,” together with pejorative and simplistic descriptions of complex clinical tasks, have led to a backlash against research and science within our sub-field. The trauma therapy field would benefit if clinicians learn to reclaim their right to define “scientific trauma treatment” from non-clinicians, and if trauma therapists more frequently publicly affirm their commitment to the values associated with this model. The relevance to trauma practice of the scientific principles of valuing confusion and wonder, respect for demand characteristics, awareness of the illusory correlation phenomenon, avoidance of confirmation bias, and emphasis on magnitude over the statistical significance of effects is considered. There is a gre...