The Psycho-Analytic Society1

It is the privilege of the President of the International Psycho-Analytical Association to address the participants of the Congress on a topic of his own choice. This enables him to tell you his thoughts and reflections and to relate to you his impressions and the experiences which have occupied his mind during his term of office. This in turn serves to increase mutual understanding between the members of the International Psycho-Analytical Association and the Executive Council and to improve the cooperation which is of such paramount importance in our relationship.

In his last address to the International Psycho-Analytical Association and the American Psychoanalytical Association, Dr Gitelson discussed the present scientific and social position of psychoanalysis and drew our attention to the problems connected with the identity crises in psychoanalysis. Here I will talk to you about the life of the psychoanalytic societies and the relations between analysts.

During our term of office, the Honorary Secretary and I myself have more than once been asked to discuss and exchange ideas concerning problems which have come up within the component societies. It has been our policy to bring out into the open whenever possible the existing problems and conflicts. This attitude, which for an analyst should be regarded as a matter of course, appears to be quite an exception as far as the affairs of the societies and personal relationship within them are concerned. Our experiences have made it easier to gain a more objective view of our own society and we have gradually obtained a picture of the differences and similarities between the societies. Time and again, I have found that the problems in our groups are more or less the same everywhere. The couleur locale (such as race, language, social and cultural factors), often merely forms a cover under which identical problems are hidden.

I wish to tell you about some of my observations, perhaps I should say impressions, regard