Milestones That Changed the Psychology Profession

Reference · Understanding Psychology

In brief: Psychology became a modern profession through a series of benchmark changes: the founding of the American Psychological Association in 1892, state licensing laws (Connecticut first in 1945, all states by 1977), standard training models, a formal ethics code, and successive editions of the DSM. Later milestones, including insurance parity laws, prescribing rights in some states, interstate telehealth through PSYPACT and the 988 crisis line, reshaped how psychologists practice and how the public reaches them.

This page covers changes within the profession itself. For the history of psychological ideas, see the history of psychology; for a primer, see what is psychology.

What are the key milestones in the psychology profession?

When was the American Psychological Association founded?

The American Psychological Association (APA) was founded on July 8, 1892, at a meeting in the office of G. Stanley Hall, president of Clark University, who became its first president. Accounts of the founding note that Hall invited 26 psychologists and about a dozen attended; the first annual meeting followed in December 1892 at the University of Pennsylvania.

When did states start licensing psychologists?

Connecticut was the first state to license psychologists, in 1945, followed by Virginia in 1946, according to the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB). Licensing laws restrict the title “psychologist” and the practice of psychology to people who meet education, supervised-experience and examination requirements.

Missouri’s licensing statute dates to 1977 (House Bill 255), and by that year all states and the District of Columbia had licensure laws. ASPPB, founded in 1961, created the national licensing exam, the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP), in 1965.

What are the Boulder and Vail training models?

The 1949 Boulder Conference in Colorado defined the scientist-practitioner model: clinical psychologists would be trained as both researchers and clinicians, usually earning a PhD. It became the standard template for doctoral programs in clinical psychology.

The 1973 Vail Conference, also in Colorado, endorsed the practitioner-scholar model, which puts clinical practice first and recognized the Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) as a legitimate practice degree. The University of Illinois had launched an early PsyD program in 1968. Today both PhD and PsyD graduates can be licensed as psychologists.

What is the DSM and how has it changed?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is published by the American Psychiatric Association, not the American Psychological Association, but psychologists rely on it for diagnosis, research and insurance billing. Its editions are:

• DSM-I (1952), with about 106 diagnoses
• DSM-II (1968)
• DSM-III (1980), which introduced explicit diagnostic criteria
• DSM-III-R (1987)
• DSM-IV (1994) and DSM-IV-TR (2000)
• DSM-5 (published May 18, 2013)
• DSM-5-TR (March 2022), the current edition as of October 2026

When was homosexuality removed from the DSM?

In December 1973 the American Psychiatric Association’s board of trustees voted to remove homosexuality as a mental disorder, a decision upheld by a membership vote in 1974. The seventh printing of DSM-II (1974) replaced it with “sexual orientation disturbance.” DSM-III (1980) substituted “ego-dystonic homosexuality,” which was dropped in DSM-III-R in 1987.

What is the APA Ethics Code?

The American Psychological Association published its first ethics code in 1953, after committees began developing it in the late 1940s. It was revised many times before the current Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, adopted in 2002 and effective June 1, 2003. That code was amended in 2010 and again in 2016.

A full revision has been under way: APA released a draft revised code for public comment with a deadline of March 19, 2025, and its task force was still reviewing thousands of comments later that year. Until a new code is formally adopted, the amended 2002 code remains the operative standard.

What is the Goldwater Rule, and does it apply to psychologists?

The Goldwater Rule traces to 1964, when Fact magazine surveyed psychiatrists about whether presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was psychologically fit for office. Goldwater sued and won damages in 1969. In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association added Annotation 7.3 to its ethics principles, which says it is unethical for a psychiatrist to give a professional opinion about a public figure without examining that person and having proper authorization. In 2017 it reaffirmed and expanded the rule, clarifying that saying someone does not have an illness is also a professional opinion.

The rule formally binds only American Psychiatric Association members, who are physicians. The American Psychological Association has no rule by that name. Its ethics code instead contains general standards: Standard 5.04 (media presentations) and Standard 9.01 (bases for assessments), which says psychologists offer opinions about an individual’s psychological characteristics only after an examination adequate to support them, or must clearly state the limits of their conclusions.

In August 2016 then-APA president Susan McDaniel publicly interpreted those standards as meaning psychologists should not diagnose candidates or other public figures they have not examined. In practice, this leaves psychologists free to discuss behavior, research and general psychological principles in the media, while diagnosing a specific person from a distance runs against the code’s guidance. The American Psychoanalytic Association took a different line in 2017, telling members that political commentary by individuals is not an ethics matter for that organization.

How did deinstitutionalization change mental health care?

The Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act, signed by President John F. Kennedy in October 1963 and known as the Community Mental Health Act, funded local mental health centers as an alternative to large state hospitals. The state hospital census had peaked at 558,922 in 1955 and fell by more than 90% by the early 2000s.

Only about half of the planned centers were built, and long-term operating funding was never secured, leaving gaps in care that are still debated.

What are mental health parity laws?

The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 barred large group health plans from setting lower annual or lifetime dollar limits for mental health benefits than for medical benefits. The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was signed October 3, 2008 as part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act; it extended parity to substance use disorders and to treatment limits such as visit caps and copays. The Affordable Care Act later applied it to individual insurance.

A 2024 federal rule tightened enforcement, but on May 15, 2025, the Labor, HHS and Treasury departments announced they would not enforce the rule’s new provisions while litigation continued. The underlying statute remains in effect. See also our page on landmark legislation.

Which states let psychologists prescribe medication?

New Mexico was the first state to grant prescriptive authority to specially trained psychologists, in 2002, after Guam (a territory) did so in 1999 and a Department of Defense pilot program began in 1988. As of October 2026, psychologists with advanced psychopharmacology training may prescribe in seven states:

• New Mexico (2002)
• Louisiana (2004)
• Illinois (2014)
• Iowa (2016)
• Idaho (2017)
• Colorado (2023)
• Utah (2024)

Two newer laws are not yet in full operation. Vermont’s Act 84, signed April 27, 2026, creates a prescribing psychologist specialty whose prescribing provisions take effect July 1, 2029. Hawaii’s Act 266 of 2026 became law without the governor’s signature on July 16, 2026, creating a three-year pilot for physician-supervised prescribing at federally qualified health centers on Kauai and Hawaii Island.

What was the Hoffman Report?

In November 2014 the APA’s board hired attorney David Hoffman of Sidley Austin to investigate whether the association had colluded with the government on post-9/11 interrogations. The report, released in July 2015, concluded that key APA officials had worked with Defense Department officials to keep ethics guidance loose, prioritizing the profession’s interests.

In August 2015 the APA Council of Representatives voted 156–1 to bar psychologists from participating in national security interrogations. Some officials named in the report, and some military psychologists, have publicly disputed its conclusions.

How did telehealth and PSYPACT change practice?

The Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT) lets a psychologist licensed in one member state provide telepsychology, and limited temporary in-person services, in other member states without obtaining each state’s license. It became operational in April 2019 when the seventh state enacted it, and member-state laws first took effect on July 1, 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic pushed therapy online.

As of October 2026, PSYPACT lists 42 jurisdictions where the compact is enacted and effective (40 states plus the District of Columbia and the Northern Mariana Islands). Montana has enacted it but it is not yet effective, and bills are pending in Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts and New York.

What is the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline?

On July 16, 2022, the three-digit 988 number went live nationwide, replacing the 10-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number. It was authorized by the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, signed in October 2020. Callers, texters and chat users reach trained crisis counselors, and veterans can press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line.

Why does the Goldwater Rule debate matter for TV commentators?

Psychologists and psychiatrists are often asked on air to explain the behavior of politicians. The debate over the Goldwater Rule shapes what they can responsibly say. For more on how psychology is applied to politics, see what is political psychology and our politics commentary.

The case for restraint: Supporters argue that a diagnosis without an examination is unreliable, can stigmatize people with mental illness, and can be used as a partisan weapon. The American Psychiatric Association has said that judging a public figure to be healthy is equally improper.

The case for speaking out: Critics, including some who signed public letters about Donald Trump during his first term, argue that observable public behavior can be meaningful evidence and that professionals may have a “duty to warn” when they see potential danger. The American Psychoanalytic Association has said individual political commentary is not an ethics question for its members.

A common middle path, consistent with the American Psychological Association’s guidance, is to discuss observable behavior, communication patterns and relevant research, such as how groups influence opinions, while avoiding any clinical label for a specific person.

Key takeaways

• The APA (1892), state licensing (Connecticut 1945; all states by 1977) and the 1953 ethics code turned psychology into a regulated profession.
• The DSM is a psychiatric manual, now in its DSM-5-TR (2022) edition; the 1973 removal of homosexuality was a landmark revision.
• The Goldwater Rule binds psychiatrists; psychologists are guided instead by APA ethics standards that discourage diagnosing people they have not examined.
• Parity laws (1996, 2008), prescribing rights in seven states, PSYPACT (42 effective jurisdictions) and 988 expanded access to psychological care.
• The 2015 Hoffman Report led the APA to bar psychologists from national security interrogations.

More in Understanding Psychology

• What Is Psychology? A Plain-English Guide
• A Brief History of Psychology: From Philosophy to Science
• What Is Political Psychology? How the Mind Shapes Politics

Sources

• The Long and Winding Road: 125 Years of the American Psychological Association — Behavioral Scientist
• ASPPB: Its Role in the History of Psychology Licensure — ASPPB
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — Wikipedia
• As Another Election Looms, the Goldwater Rule Remains Relevant as Ever — Psychiatric News
• Deinstitutionalization Through Optimism: The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 — American Journal of Psychiatry Residents’ Journal
• Mental Health Parity Act Enacted as Part of Economic Stimulus Bill — AGC
• Act No. 84 (H.237), As Enacted — Vermont General Assembly
• Governor’s Message 1370 (SB 847, Act 266) — Hawaii State Legislature
• APA Votes 156-1 to End Psychologists’ Participation in Interrogation — The Psychologist (BPS)
• PSYPACT Map — Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact Commission

Part of the brossi.us reference library, written for readers of Dr. Bart Rossi, PhD. Last reviewed October 2026.