It was adopted in 1945, and has held up remarkably well. I felt that an important concept was missing, and conversations with many APA members and staff have confirmed my suspicion that our mission statement needs to be updated.
Health needs to be inserted.
The essence of what so many psychologists dedicate their careers to needs to be part of our mission statement. APA has long recognized the importance of health in its own activities. And we need to clearly and boldly begin in our mission statement to erase the line between health and mental health that stunts our discipline's potential to grow. Reaction to this proposal has been gratifying. In June of 2000 the APA Board of Directors voted to include health in our mission statement.