Psychotherapy Department: Our Home at APsA

 By Richard (Rick) Summers MD, Psychotherapy Department Co-Chair

APsA’s inclusion of psychotherapists as a member category in 1998 eventually led to several structural and administrative changes, one of which was the subsequent formation of a Psychotherapy Department in 2010. The Department’s founders’ (Carol Reichenthal PhD and Richard Fox MD) envisioned the Department as a way to boost the connection between psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, and psychoanalysts and psychotherapists in APsA. The Psychotherapy Department has shared the same level on APsA’s organizational hierarchy as the Department for Psychoanalytic Education, Administrative Governance Department, Membership Department and other major components of our organization.

 

Our Department’s agenda is to promote psychotherapists’ membership in APsA, bolster psychotherapists’ participation in the broadest possible range of APsA activities and cultivate the resultant cultural change in APsA due to including psychotherapy and psychotherapists.  There is a palpable sense of elevated momentum in the Department and tremendous appreciation for the support and inclusion of psychotherapists as full Clinical Members since 2023.

 

After a hiatus in the Department’s leadership, Petra Pilgrim and I were appointed to be the Psychotherapy Department’s Co-Chairs in 2024. Petra is a psychiatrist and psychodynamic psychotherapist; I am a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst primarily focused on psychodynamic therapy. We share the view that psychotherapists are the future of the psychoanalytic movement and essential to the future of APsaA.

 

There is a lot going on in the Department! We have two standing committees: The Psychotherapist Committee whose diverse agenda includes planning and chairing scientific meeting programs, arranging and hosting networking social events and implementing creative approaches to membership development. The Committee is a powerhouse and has carried the ball for psychotherapists at APsA in many ways over the years. The Department’s second Committee is The Psychotherapy Advisory Group, formed several years ago. Their first task was to advise the MRRC about the best criteria for an expanded membership pathway for psychotherapists who were not trained in APsA Institute Psychotherapy Training Programs.  This is critical because such a pathway is a key opportunity to bring additional skilled psychodynamic therapists into our organization.  The Advisory Group recommended that substantial equivalency to APsA training programs is best operationalized through the following criteria: Applicants must have hourly CME credits and supervision hours that meet their respective licensure requirements in addition to supervision hours; personal psychotherapy or analysis is recommended but not required. These proposed guidelines that balance broadened access with membership standards were accepted by the Board of Directors and provide parameters for accepting new psychotherapist members. The Psychotherapy Advisory Group is currently working with the IRRC to create an aspirational psychoanalytic psychotherapy program to establish parameters for unaffiliated psychoanalytic therapy training programs to meet if they apply for APsA affiliation.

 

Other new developments in the Department have included collaboration with the Department of Psychoanalytic Education on a Two-Day Clinical Workshop for Psychotherapists at the National Meeting and inclusion of a psychotherapist’s clinical presentation at the Meeting’s Scientific Prize Session. As a consequence, the 2025 National Meeting saw the largest number ever of Psychotherapy Department-sponsored educational programs, with more to follow in 2026!

 

The longstanding link between the Psychotherapy Department and the Fellowship Committee has evolved into a robust pipeline for including new and more diverse members in the Association. Department Co-Chair Petra Pilgrim is connecting APsA Fellows to Department events and sponsored programs at APsA’s Scientific Meetings. In keeping with this collaboration, several Psychotherapist Committee Members are now on the APsA Fellowship Mentor List. Furthermore, APsA Fellows have published articles in this Newsletter (Spring 2025) and are welcomed to submit future articles. The relationships that develop between fellows and department members through these initiatives will help fellows consider a variety of avenues for pursuing fuller participation in APsA, beyond just attending the scientific meetings.

 

Finally, members of the Psychotherapist Committee have developed new recruitment approaches and tools, including a terrific video explaining the value of APsA membership for psychotherapists.

 

The Psychotherapy Department’s greatest current challenge is determining how to increase the number of psychotherapist members and identifying and mitigating potential barriers to boosting such membership. The Department’s Committee members have made significant time commitments for these ongoing goals and are working on new approaches to communicate the value of membership in APsA.

 

We are really excited about the Psychotherapy Department’s high quality meaningful programs at the 2026 Annual Meeting and are delighted by APsA’s support for our mission.

 

More in the Fall/Winter 2025 Edition