A Nurturing Zeitgeist 345The internship is generally regarded as one of the most
significant experiences in the training of clinicians (Doll,
1920). The Training School at Vineland, an institution for
persons with mental retardation, is considered the first non-
university institution to offer an internship, beginning in
- Routh (2000) identified 26 psychology internships that
were established before 1946. According to Morrow’s (1946)
personal communication from William Healy, psychology in-
terns would stay “for at least a year, the tenures sometimes
overlapping for considerable periods. These students en-
gaged in psychometric examinations and in research and at-
tended all staff meetings” (p. 168). What is of significance
about this description is that prior to 1946, training in psy-
chotherapy for clinical psychologists was more the exception
than the rule.
A NURTURING ZEITGEIST
World War II represents a watershed in the history of clinical
psychology. In its aftermath, clinical psychology received
something it had not received before: enormous institutional
support from the federal government, from universities, and
from the APA for the training of clinical psychologists. In
1942, Robert Yerkes chaired a committee of the National Re-
search Council, which sought to unite the AAAP and the APA
by drafting a new constitution that would be acceptable to
both groups. Such a constitution was drafted and provided for
an APA dedicated “to advance psychology as a science and as
a means of promoting human welfare.” Henceforth, the APA
would be involved in professional and scientific issues, and a
new journal, American Psychologist,would give coverage to
both concerns. In 1944, the APA accepted the new constitu-
tion, the AAAP transferred its membership of about 600 psy-
chologists to the APA, and the dues went up. American
Psychologistbegan publication in 1946. The new APA had a
divisional structure, in which psychologists with similar in-
terests could affiliate. Division 12 was the division (now
known as the Society) of Clinical Psychology, and it for a
time became APA’s largest division.
Even before America’s entry into the war, oppressive dic-
tatorships in Europe had brought about an influx of psycholo-
gists to the United States who did much to invigorate and
enrich American psychology. Many of the leading Gestalt
psychologists, such as Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler,
Kurt Koffka, Kurt Lewin, and many lay analysts (that is, those
without MD degrees), such as Erik Erikson, Erich Fromm,
and Hanns Sachs, immigrated to this country. Many who were
recognized psychoanalysts in Europe found their practices
impeded by the American Psychoanalytic Association, which
had a long history of opposition to lay analysts, despite
Freud’s precepts to the contrary (Freud, 1927). At training in-
stitutes under its aegis, the American Psychoanalytic Associ-
ation would admit only physicians, unless a nonphysician first
agreed to use his or her education only for purposes of re-
search or self-enlightenment and not to train nonphysician
colleagues in psychoanalysis. European psychologists such as
Theodore Reik did not accept these restrictions. Instead, Reik
founded his own psychoanalytic training institute in the
United States, which welcomed psychologists and other men-
tal health professionals.
As the war drew to a close, it was recognized that there
were going to be enormous demands for clinical psycholo-
gists to provide their services to veterans. There were 16 mil-
lion veterans of World War II and 4 million veterans of
previous wars. The Veterans Administration (VA) estimated it
alone would need 4,700 clinical psychologists and vocational
counselors, and there was nothing close to that number of clin-
icians. A joint APA and AAAP committee, with David Shakow
as chairman, began meeting in 1944 to address the problem.
That committee decided that rather than develop new profes-
sional schools, it would be better to use existing universities
and programs. A 4-year graduate course of instruction leading
to the PhD degree was proposed: the first year to ground the
student in psychology as a science, research methodology,
and theory; clinical courses, practicums, and an internship
would be in the second and third years; and the fourth year
would involve finishing the doctoral dissertation.
All the planets and stars seemed to be in the proper
alignment. The chief of the Division of Clinical Psychology
and Neuropsychiatry at the VA was James G. Miller, who
earned simultaneously both a PhD in psychology and an
MD at Harvard; he recognized the value of clinical
psychologists, supported their training in psychotherapy,
and sought to give them equal status with psychiatrists
(Hilgard, 1987). The APA endorsed the graduate program
recommended by the committee and agreed to evaluate and
monitor schools and training facilities to ensure they were
meeting standards. Robert Felix, a psychiatrist who was the
first director of the newly created National Institutes of
Mental Health (NIMH), was also friendly toward psychol-
ogy; in 1946, the NIMH began its program of training
grants and was soon awarding over $200,000 a year to stu-
dents in clinical psychology and making funds available for
psychological research. Also in 1946, the APA published its
first list of acceptable schools for graduate training in clini-
cal psychology, realizing there was much more to be done
in setting standards.
In 1947, Carl Rogers, as president of the APA, appointed
David Shakow to chair yet another Committee on Training in