Caplan, Paula J.

Paula Joan Caplan, clinical psychologist, researcher, lecturer, playwright, and actor, is known for her work on mother blaming. Her influential 1989 book, Don't Blame Mother: Mending the Mother-Daughter Relationship was revised in 2000 and renamed The New Don't Blame Mother: Mending[Page 166]the Mother-Daughter Relationship. In her writing, lectures, radio and television appearances, and keynote addresses, Caplan presents detailed data to substantiate the fact that within both the scholarly domains of psychological theory and the popular media, mothers are held primarily responsible for any difficulties their children manifest. Caplan has identified many of the pressures faced by mothers and categorized them into myths that perpetuate mother blaming. The unattainable standards of performance implicit in these myths and their profoundly harmful impacts give rise to personal as well as societal ills that further undermine the well-being of all. Ways to transcend these controlling, destructive myths and approaches to dealing with the injuries resulting from mother blaming are important elements of Caplan's work.

In addition to exposing the harm done by mother blaming, Caplan demonstrates her deep commitment to justice by articulating significant forms of bias against women found in the systems that mental health professionals use to diagnose psychiatric disorder, and the systems that the courts use to determine child custody. In numerous publications, Caplan critiques the lack of a scientific basis for many of the disorders found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the text used nearly universally to diagnose psychiatric abnormality. She focuses especially on those labels that pathologize women who experience distress as they negotiate the demanding expectations placed upon them by the cultural construction of womanhood.

Within the court system, Caplan regularly serves as an expert witness, often advocating for poor mothers in custody cases where their fitness to parent has been called into question by the application of problematic psychiatric labels, or as a consequence of other forms of institutionalized bias. These issues have mobilized Caplan to petition the U.S. Senate to address more effectively the rights of children and mothers in custody cases, especially those involving child sexual abuse.

Caplan's active life as a psychologist is creatively blended with her work in the theater as actor, playwright, and director. Her desire to artistically express some of the issues central to her work as a psychologist are reflected in several of her powerful plays, including Call Me Crazy and What Mommy Told Me, which have been successfully performed in a variety of venues.

Throughout her extensive career, Caplan has served in many professional capacities, such as professor of applied psychology and director of the Centre for Women's Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, and as a Fellow at Harvard University's DuBois Institute. She is credited with teaching some of the first courses on mothering at the university level. Caplan is the recipient of many prestigious awards, such as the Distinguished Career Award conferred by the Association for Women in Psychology, and the Woman of the Year Award granted by the Canadian Association for Women in Science.

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