Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Many psychologists feel betrayed by the APA's involvement with interrogations

Psychologists took part in military interrogations at Guantanamo and in other places, according to a new report. Health professionals are grappling with the disclosures.

Sitting at a bar in Alexandria, Virginia, several years ago, a US army officer told me about some psychologists who'd helped during interrogations at Guantanamo.

I'd said I thought they were supposed to take care of people - not get information from them. He reassured me, saying they'd helped to ensure the interrogations were done in a proper manner.

A new report by a Chicago lawyer, David Hoffman, provides details about health professionals who'd agreed to participate in the interrogations during the administration of President George W Bush. The 542-page report also looks at the relationship between their professional organisation, the American Psychological Association (APA), and the military.

The report was commissioned by the APA after some members objected to the idea of psychologists participating in interrogations.

You want to be able to trust your doctor Steven Reisner, Co-founder, Coalition for an Ethical Psychology

In one instance a psychologist helped keep a detainee focused during his interrogation at Guantanamo. According to the report, the psychologist suggested he sit in a swivel chair "to keep him awake". It seemed like odd advice from a health professional - not to mention an unusual role for him.

Many people who work in the profession agree. "You want to be able to trust your doctor," says a New York psychologist, Steven Reisner, a co-founder of Coalition for an Ethical Psychology. "The only thing that should be on his mind is: 'what's the best for you.'"

That wasn't always the case for detainees, say the authors of the report.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A hut used for interrogations (seen in 2006)

The Defense Department is one of the nation's biggest employers of psychologists, and at the time the APA was trying to expand its role in the military's interrogation programme. Yet many of the detainees were treated harshly in the programme, which was a controversial aspect of President Bush's "war on terror".

For these reasons psychologists at the APA found themselves in an ethical dilemma.

"They wanted to take a position that allowed psychologists to be as involved as possible in interrogations," say the authors of the report. "But on the other hand they knew that to articulate this publicly in any sort of detail would look horrible."

The report, Mr Reisner says, set off a "huge uproar of shock and despair" among psychologists. Several APA leaders resigned, according to a 14 July statement, including its chief executive.

"APA apologises for the actions, policies and the lack of independence from government influence detailed in the Hoffman report," Jim Sliwa, the organisation's spokesman, told the BBC.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A military officer walks past a now unused part of Guantanamo

Officials in the military didn't sound happy about the report, either.

"The department is aware of the APA report," said a Defense Department spokesman, Major Ben Sakrisson, "and always takes any allegations of inappropriate activity seriously."

The report is filled with details about the relationship between psychologists and their professional organisation and the US military.

Yet one individual, the APA's ethics director, Stephen Behnke, stood out for his efforts to cultivate ties with military personnel.

He was an APA staff member who participated in a task force looking at interrogations and the role of psychologists. The task-force members examined whether an APA Ethics Code for psychologists (it states: "do no harm") adequately addressed the ethical dimensions of the topic.

With input from members of the task force, he wrote a report about their findings in June 2005. In an introduction, according to Mr Hoffman, Mr Behnke quoted the Ethics Code. He edited it slightly, however, leaving out the phrase: "do no harm".

In their report, the task-force members concluded it was OK for psychologists to participate in interrogations.

He also ran workshops for health professionals who assist in the interrogations of detainees.

Defense Department officials "called him a hero and their 'knight in shining armour'", according to the report.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Some 116 prisoners still remain at camps on the US military base

Members of the APA were surprised by the revelations in the report. Mr Behnke was, according to Mr Sliwa, "terminated" on 8 July because of its findings.

Speaking on Mr Behnke's behalf, his lawyer, former FBI director Louis Freeh, said he'd been misrepresented, adding Mr Behnke "strongly rejects the APA's Hoffman report as a gross mischaracterisation of his intentions, goals and actions".

The army officer who'd told me about health professionals at Guantanamo spoke highly of their work. He believed they made things better - for the detainees and the military officers. As more information about the role of psychologists at Guantanamo and other facilities comes to light, though, their work become harder to defend.

Many psychologists say they feel betrayed by their colleagues and by their own organisation.

"The basic idea is that we trust these professionals," Mr Reisner says. "But the APA sold out."