The Open Therapy Institute is working to understand issues in mental health that are overlooked because of socio-political bias. We aim to develop a robust knowledge base on these topics: gathering data to assess problems, developing evidence-based clinical tools, supporting case studies, and facilitating theoretical papers with diverse perspectives.

Report on Overlooked Issues

The Open Therapy Institute is drafting a report on issues, perspectives, and patient populations that are overlooked because of socio-political bias. We have over 30 scholars, writing on over 50 such issues, which include:

  • political stresses like DEI-based discrimination and cancel culture

  • self-censorship, how it impacts mental health, how it comes into therapy, and how to address it

  • masculinity issues, such as negative stereotypes of men, and how therapists sometimes work poorly with male clients

  • anti-white bias and aggression

  • understanding dysfunctional cultural dynamics like the spread of authoritarian personality and the psychological impact of politicized arts and culture

  • helping therapists understand clinical issues related to religious clients and conservatives

Research Team

  • Richard Redding, J.D., Ph.D.

    Richard Redding is a professor of Psychology and Education and Ronald D. Rotunda Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence, at Chapman University. He was previously a professor at Villanova University, Drexel University, and the University of Virginia. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Psychological Science. Among Dr. Redding's publications are "Sociopolitical Diversity in Psychology: The Case for Pluralism" (American Psychologist, 2023), "Sociopolitical Values: The Neglected Factor in Culturally-Competent Psychotherapy" (in Prejudice, Stigma, Privilege, and Oppression: A Behavioral Health Handbook, 2020), Ideological and Political Bias in Psychology: Nature, Scope, and Solutions" (Springer, 2023), and "Sociopolitical Values as the Deep Culture in Culturally-Competent Psychotherapy" (Clinical Psychological Science, 2023).

  • Craig Frisby, Ph.D.

    Craig Frisby recently retired from the School Psychology training program at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He has been an associate editor for the journals School Psychology Review and Psychological Assessment, and he is currently associate editor for the Journal of Open Inquiry in Behavioral Science. He serves on the American Institutes for Research (AIR) National Center on Intensive Intervention Academic Screening Technical Review Committee. He is the co-editor for the “Comprehensive Handbook of Multicultural School Psychology,” “Cultural Competence in Applied Psychology,” and is the author of “Meeting the Psychoeducational Needs of Minority Students.” He is the lead editor for an upcoming book to be published in 2022-23 entitled “Ideological and Political Bias in Psychology: Nature, Scope and Solutions.”