The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is investigating the American Psychological Association following allegations of antisemitic discrimination, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law announced on Wednesday.
The Brandeis Center filed a complaint with HHS on Aug. 8, 2025, alleging that the APA has “become one of the worst purveyors of antisemitism and extremist ideology in healthcare.” The complaint states that the association, which has more than 172,000 members, receives millions of dollars in federal funding annually.
“We are very pleased that HHS has recognized these problems and is investigating the APA,” Rebecca Harris, a litigation staff attorney at the Brandeis Center, told JNS. (JNS sought comment from HHS and the APA.)
The complaint alleges that Jewish and Israeli current and former APA members reported that the association promoted “Decolonizing Therapy,” which treats Zionism as a mental illness. Harris said the association sponsors continuing education courses that psychologists are required to take to maintain their licenses, and states entrust it with accrediting those courses.
“You have anti-Israel activist psychologists teaching courses about ‘psychic militancy’ and teaching about how to incorporate the ‘resistance’ or the ‘Palestinian liberation struggle’ into the clinical practice of mental health care,” Harris told JNS. She added that these teachers also use mental health terminology, like calling Zionists “psychotic,” that “advances political activism that is dangerous to Americans, but particularly Jewish Americans.”
The complaint also alleges that the association’s conferences have featured sessions promoting “Decolonizing Therapy” and portraying the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel as attacks on military targets. It further cites messages sent by association members through listservs that “glorify Hamas, call for boycotts of Israel, compare Gaza to the Warsaw ghetto and pray for Israel’s destruction.”
According to the complaint, Jewish members who raised concerns about antisemitism faced “open hostility” and saw their reports “dismissed, downplayed or ignored.” Harris said one Jewish therapist reported being harassed at an APA conference and “proper remedial steps were not taken.”
“She was told that the harasser would be removed from the conference. They ended up not removing him from the conference where this happened,” Harris said. “My understanding is that he actually will be speaking again at the APA’s upcoming conference.”
Harris told JNS that HHS informed the Brandeis Center that, as a result of the complaint, it is investigating whether the association is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which extends Title VI to federally funded health care programs.
“Our hope is that HHS will ensure that if APA is going to continue to be a recipient of federal funds, that it comes into compliance with its obligations under the federal civil rights law, that it’s not discriminating against its Jewish members, that it’s not promoting discrimination of Jews within the broader mental health profession,” she told JNS.
