Dear APsA Member,

This has been a turbulent year for our world, psychoanalysis, and for APsA. As difficult as it has been, it has also inspired us to reflect on the future of APsA and to envision the work that lies ahead for our organization to thrive as an inclusive psychoanalytic home. It is clear to me that we all share a belief in the life-changing power of psychoanalytic work, the wish to help it grow and evolve, to meet our present moment, and to help APsA serve the psychoanalytic community. I am convinced that, despite our differences, we have much more in common than divides us.

I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome our newest members who now include psychotherapists, academics, researchers, scholars, students, and individuals who share an interest in psychoanalysis. I find inspiration from our new colleagues and from our trainees who are on the same lifelong mind-expanding education that is still teaching me new ways to think and work. Analytic work leads to powerful change. This is what the APsA community offers — opportunities to learn, reflect, grow, feel welcomed, be inspired, and connect. This is APsA.

Here are a few initiatives APsA is involved in which directly benefits your membership:

Holmes Commission on Racism in American Psychoanalysis

The commission has concluded its work and delivered its final report. Its findings and recommendations are being studied by the Board of Directors as well as others in order to find the best ways to reduce racism.

Expanded Membership

APsA is implementing the bylaw amendment that granted full membership rights to psychoanalytic psychotherapists, academics, researchers whose work is profoundly informed by psychoanalysis. Our new membership structure formalizes the inclusiveness that was accelerated during the pandemic when we opened our doors to the broader psychoanalytic community. The new structure also includes a category for Community membership open to individuals who share an interest in psychoanalysis and in being members of APsA but are not eligible for clinical or academic membership.

Collegiality Development Groups

APsA launched the Collegiality Development Groups to give APsA members an opportunity to talk to each other about anything they want in an open and respectful way that will promote a lasting sense of trust, understanding, and community.  I strongly encourage you to join.

Governance

APsA is evaluating the pros and cons of the many governance proposals we received, our Board self-studies, and the necessary changes to implement expanded membership to create an integrated coherent governance structure for APsA. An education program is being developed to assist all members to understand the APsA governance structure.

Commission on the Economics of Psychoanalysis

This commission is examining the economics of practice, including the financial state of members’ clinical practices; the economics of training, including the direct and indirect costs of becoming a psychoanalytic clinician; and the economics of running local and national psychoanalytic institutions. This largely overlooked area is long overdue for a close and candid discussion.

Public Information and Advocacy

We are establishing guidelines to lead the broader psychoanalytic community in advocacy for parity and access to psychoanalytic treatments. These efforts will bring necessary recognition of psychoanalytic thinking and treatments to the public.  We are revamping our popular blog, “Psychoanalysis Unplugged,” under a new title and editorial direction, and this fall we are launching a new APsA podcast, “Psychoanalysis & You.”

New APsA.org Website

We launched a new dynamic website in April and if you haven’t already logged in to the Member Dashboard, I encourage you to do so.  Simply use the email address on file with the National Office and you will have single sign-on access to the membership dashboard, the listservs, and the payment portal.

Publications

The American Psychoanalyst, TAP, has been dramatically reimagined from an inward facing newsletter to an outward facing publication to let people know who we are. The Psychotherapist Newsletter received a branding update to coincide with the new membership changes. APsA membership continues to provide deep discounts for JAPA, the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and IJP, the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, is again offering members an extremely discounted rate for a digital subscription.

Thank you for your continued membership in APsA, a vibrant community of individuals profoundly informed by psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic work.  Being an APsA member is the best way to grow as a professional, expand your practice, and lend a psychoanalytic hand to meeting the challenges of our time. Enclosed you will find your 2024 invoice statement which is due by January 31, 2024. Please join more than 3,500 of your colleagues by returning your membership payment today.

I look forward to connecting with you at APsA’s 2024 National Meeting, which will take place February 6 – 11, 2024, at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel in New York City.

Sincerely,

Dan Prezant

President