International Psycho-Analytical Congress, 1961

As announced in the previous issue of this Journal, the 22nd Congress of the International Psycho-Analytical Association will be held under the auspices of the British Psycho-Analytical Society in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 31 July to 3 August, 1961.

The Programme Committee and the Congress Design Committee have been considering various suggestions received from members for improving scientific sessions. These suggestions are mainly concerned with methods of presenting and discussing scientific and clinical problems at our Congresses in such a way that different points of view can be brought out and compared. Obviously, it is not possible to design a Congress programme that will please everyone, but the Committee feel that, if the structure and content of the programme could be experimentally changed from time to time in response to the needs of Congress members, a more satisfactory method of arranging and conducting scientific events would emerge.

The Programme Committee have therefore decided, in consultation with the Congress Design Committee and with the consent of the President of the International Psycho-Analytical Association, to implement some of these suggestions. Their aim is to build up the scientific programme of the Congress largely around themes, which will be presented in the form of symposia with discussion. Instead of the usual method of asking members to submit titles of individual papers for presentation to the Congress, the Programme Committee have selected certain themes from a large number of suggested topics that have been submitted to them, around which they wish to organise symposia and discussions. They are therefore inviting those members of the Congress who would like to take part in a symposium to indicate the aspects of the theme they would propose to deal with in their paper. It is planned that each symposium paper should take about thirty minutes to read. The Programme Committee hope that those who are not selected to read papers