FROM THE PRESIDENT
Strong Beginnings
Harriet Wolfe
Harriet Wolfe, M.D., is president of the American Psychoanalytic Association.
The Waldorf Astoria as we knew it will have closed by the time you receive this issue of TAP, but the memories of the 2017 National Meeting remain fresh. It was a very good meeting, dominated by a range of strong feelings, an excellent scientific program and substantial progress in governance. The meeting occurred in the context of the Inauguration and the Women’s Marches. Many members took early trains to Washington for the main march January 21, others left the Waldorf to join the march in New York City. In settings ranging from Executive Council, to the symposium on “The Scientific Standing of Psychoanalysis,” to the ceremony inducting Honorary Members, we gave serious consideration to what we face as citizens and how we must participate.
On the level of the APsaA meeting itself, there were sad goodbyes to familiar places that have felt like home. The Waldorf honored APsaA’s long association with the hotel at their “End of an Era” party at the Starlight Roof. Hundreds of APsaA members and guests enjoyed a generous array of hors d’oeuvres and wine, conversation with old and new colleagues and a last look at the Art Deco elegance of the hotel. Other lost “homes” included the settings of Board on Professional Standards (BOPS) committees that are completing their work by June 2017. Many of those committees have worked together for years as tight-knit groups of educational stewards.
At the Joint Meeting of Executive Councilors and BOPS Fellows, the Six Point Plan was further realized through a focus on APsaA’s continuing vigorous educational mission, which is now fully under membership control. Excitement was generated about new structures and important new initiatives. The BOPS leadership, Dwarakanath Rao and Dionne Powell, described the external regulatory options available to members and institutes/centers. The new Department of Psychoanalytic Education (DPE) was represented by its recently appointed head, Alan Sugarman, and associate head, Britt-Marie Schiller, plus the chair of the DPE Task Force that conceptualized the department, Erik Gann. In their presentation of the future of psychoanalytic education in APsaA, Alan and Britt-Marie envisioned an inclusive, rigorous, creative approach to analytic training. The DPE’s mission, vision and organizational structure is posted on the APsaA website under http://www.apsa.org/content/resources-january-2017.
How APsaA standards will be defined and how training will differ when BOPS sunsets: Within APsaA, the Executive Council will set educational policy based upon recommendations of the Institute Requirements and Review Committee (IRRC). The work of the DPE will be consultative. The DPE Steering Committee will advise the IRRC on revisions of the current training standards. Per the Six Point Plan, APsaA will adopt the IPA Eitingon standards as guidelines. This means that APsaA-affiliated institutes and center training programs will have the option to use IPA standards. Those standards, for example, do not include certification as a requirement for training analyst appointment. Institutes and centers are free to continue or not continue to use the standards as currently defined by BOPS. They may even choose a training structure that uses features of both plus creative new approaches. In any case, the IPA Eitingon standards will be APsaA’s baseline standards.
The opportunity for choice is exciting but it brings with it a new level of local institute and center responsibility, which may cause anxiety insofar as training programs have traditionally turned to BOPS to establish rules. In this new approach there will be an emphasis on APsaA psychoanalysts thinking through an institute’s approach to training and making conscious choices about local standards. Many institutes will elect to add features to the IPA Eitingon standards that suit their local context and reflect their specific training and academic goals. Institute and center training programs may choose to join the American Association for Psychoanalytic Education (AAPE), which will mandate the current BOPS standards. APsaA standards can be maintained locally without mandatory oversight and the DPE will actively consult to institutes regarding best practices. To the extent it is useful and desired, the DPE leadership, the elected officers and former BOPS leaders plan to consult to APsaA training programs regarding their transition to greater local responsibility for maintaining and continuing the growth of excellence and diversity in psychoanalytic training.
The new energy in several aspects of APsaA’s mission is reflected in the work of all seven APsaA departments. In the area of psychoanalytic research, for example, Mark Solms, the new head of our Science Department, gave a Presidential Symposium on “The Scientific Standing of Psychoanalysis.” He presented in lucid and compelling terms the substantial existing evidence for the efficacy of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. A vigorous, lengthy question and answer period reflected the intense interest of members and their recognition of the importance of research for the future of our profession.
Mark began his talk with acknowledgment of the Inauguration, which was going on at the same time. He did that, he said, lest we be dissociated as we sat together considering science. The recognition on the part of our international colleagues of the importance of our sociopolitical reality and the threats to democratic values that face us was echoed in many of the scientific sessions.
The theme of citizen responsibility and the importance of internationalism was captured during the ceremony to induct Honorary Members. Three different types of scholar-activists accepted Honorary Membership in APsaA: Louis Rose, Eric Plakun and Bessel van der Kolk. They spoke eloquently about our responsibilities through citizenship, professional liaisons and the understanding and treatment of trauma, respectively.
Lou Rose, a historian of psychoanalysis, spoke about his introduction to psychoanalysis through the reading of Civilization and Its Discontents. He first emphasized the deep responsibility each of us carries as a citizen of our nation to monitor and insist upon the values our form of government is designed to ensure. He also emphasized—again following Freud—the importance of internationalism and constructive, collaborative participation in the global community.
Lou’s comments offer us a “container” for our individual and our organizational activity now and for the foreseeable future. Each of us as citizens and also APsaA as a professional, mental health organization must take clear positions and plan for action on such issues as ethnic, racial and gender equality; fair and humane policies regarding immigration; and access to mental and general health care. A new Task Force on Advocacy Priorities started meeting in February to define and recommend to the Executive Council the best use of our organizational resources. I urge you to follow and contribute to APsaA’s efforts. We need to support a renewed commitment to the values of our country and to the principles of our own professional organization.