Response to Bursten and Nelson: The Future of the American Psychoanalytic Association

The debacle over Dr. Lara Sheehi has revealed painful fissures and polarizations in the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA), and it remains to be seen whether our organization will survive. And if it does, it remains to be seen whether APsaA can still function as a viable professional organization for psychoanalysts and analytic psychotherapists. I fear that APsaA is transforming itself into a social justice organization, driven by progressive and woke politics, and sharply deviating from its historical mission to promote psychoanalytic education and support the professional work of psychoanalysts and analytic psychotherapists.

Regarding the question of whether Dr. Sheehi should have been invited to speak: Although she is responsible for deplorable anti-Israel vitriol (including prejudiced and profane comments on her Twitter account), I think that the organization could have digested the fallout from a controversial presentation and the reactions by many APsaA members who would have been offended by views they felt were anti-Semitic. In retrospect, I think that this would have been less damaging for the organization. But I say this now only in hindsight, seeing what erupted in our organization as a result of not inviting her to speak. That decision caused individuals who share Dr. Sheehi's anti-Zionist politics (and who are largely unaware of her offensive and profane anti-Israel discourse) feel unsafe in APsaA. And then, the situation quickly cascaded to make additional APsaA members who identify with other vulnerable minority groups feel unsafe in APsaA as well. I wish to clarify, however, that I really do not blame APsaA's President at the time, Dr. Kerry Sulkowicz, for his decision to disallow her invitation until after the U.S. Department of Education completes its investigation into allegations against Dr. Sheehi for anti-Semitic conduct as an educator at George Washington University. This was, actually, a reasonable decision and well within his purview