Seth C. Kalichman is an American clinical community psychologist and professor of

social psychology Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field ...

at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

, known for his research into HIV/AIDS treatment and

HIV/AIDS denialism HIV/AIDS denialism is the belief, despite conclusive evidence to the contrary, that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Some of its proponents reject the existence of HIV, while other ...

. Kalichman is also the director of the Southeast HIV/AIDS Research & Education Project in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia, and

Cape Town, South Africa Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, and the editor of the journal '' AIDS and Behavior''. He is the developer of the Sexual Compulsivity Scale.

Education

Kalichman completed a B.A. (Psychology) from the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

in 1983 and then a further PhD in clinical community psychology.

HIV denialism

Kalichman stated in 2009 that "While working in South Africa I became aware of the devastating effects that AIDS denial was having in that country. The former President

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the 2nd democratic president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Cong ...

had enlisted AIDS denialists among his advisors and bought into the idea that scientists are debating the cause of AIDS. Mbeki’s misguided AIDS policies resulted in over 330,000 senseless deaths and 35,000 babies who were needlessly infected with HIV. I was aware of the failure to offer treatment for South Africans living with HIV/AIDS and I knew that AIDS denial was to blame". Kalichman began researching denialism after reading the work of Nicoli Nattrass and after encountering further HIV denialists in the US, Kalichman spent a year infiltrating HIV denialist groups. He argues that denialism is often a

coping strategy Coping refers to conscious or unconscious strategies used to reduce and manage unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviors and can be individual or social. To cope is to deal with struggles and difficulties in life. It ...

, and that followers are often anti-government, anti-establishment, and prone to

cognitive distortion A cognitive distortion is a thought that causes a person to perceive reality inaccurately due to being exaggerated or irrational. Cognitive distortions are involved in the onset or perpetuation of psychopathological states, such as depression a ...

s; he says that leaders in denialism exhibit

paranoid personality disorder Paranoid personality disorder (PPD) is a mental disorder characterized by paranoia, and a pervasive, long-standing suspiciousness and generalized mistrust of others. People with this personality disorder may be hypersensitive, easily insulted, ...

Sexual compulsivity scale

Kalichman developed the Sexual Compulsivity Scale which is a measure of a high libido, hypersexuality and sexual addiction. The Sexual Compulsivity Scale was developed to assess tendencies toward sexual preoccupation and hyper-sexuality drawing on items of persons who self-identify as having a ‘sexual addiction’ and from sexual addictions self-help group. The scale has been shown to predict rates of sexual behaviors, numbers of sexual partners, practice of a variety of sexual behaviors, and histories of sexually transmitted diseases.

Academic career

Kalichman is the director of the Southeast HIV/AIDS Research & Education Project in Atlanta (Georgia, USA) and Cape Town (South Africa); the editor of the journal '' AIDS and Behavior''; and the author of ''Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, and Human Tragedy'', an examination of

. Royalties from the book fund antiretroviral drugs for people with HIV/AIDS in Africa. He was previously on the faculties of

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic Church, ...

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is al ...

, and the

Medical College of Wisconsin The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) is a private medical school, pharmacy school, and graduate school of sciences in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The school was established in 1893 and is the largest research center in eastern Wisconsi ...

, where he worked under the direction of Jeffrey A. Kelly to help establish the Center for AIDS Intervention Research (CAIR). Kalichman's research focussed on AIDs in the South Eastern United States and South Africa, his research predominantly funded by the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

since 1992.

Awards and honours

*1997 Early Career Award in Health Psychology from the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

. *2005 Distinguished Scientist Award from the Society of Behavioral Medicine.

Publications

*2018 ''Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy Against Science'' "HIV Does Not Cause AIDS': A Journey into AIDS Denialism":MIT Press: edited by Allison B. Kaufman, James C. Kaufman:

References

External links

University of Connecticut, faculty

Kalichman's 'Denying AIDS' blog

on Little Atoms {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalichman, Seth Living people University of Connecticut faculty HIV/AIDS researchers HIV/AIDS denialism American social psychologists American academic journal editors Year of birth missing (living people) University of South Florida alumni