Presidential Address

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The administration over which I have had the privilege of presiding has focused its efforts on six major strategic objectives. They include, first, outreach into our social, political, cultural and health delivery environment; second, collegial relations throughout the psychoanalytic community, involving professional contacts and conferences, including the International Psychoanalytic Congresses; third, the development of psychoanalysis in new geographic areas, particularly Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia; fourth, administrative streamlining and reorganisation, successfully completed with the approval of the SAM Proposals and the appointment of a Director General; fifth, radical expansion of our investment in psychoanalytic research; and, sixth, innovation in psychoanalytic education. I believe that we have made significant progress in most of these areas.

The strengthening of our three regions and the integration of the IPA administration with regional structures are important objectives of the newly approved changes in our constitution and by-laws developed in the SAM Committee's proposals. The outreach activities initiated by the new Committee on Psychoanalysis and Society have stimulated expansion of our relations with the world around us. The Research Committee and Research Advisory Board have brought about an impressive increase in our research activities and conferences. The Interregional Conferences Committee, by means of the faculty exchanges activated during these years, has contributed to our professional exchanges and mutual scientific stimulation. Our International New Groups Committee has generated interest in the development of regional Institutes, supported by the IPA. The first of these, the IPA Eastern European Institute, is already in an advanced planning stage at this time.

With this glance at the achievements of this administration, I should like to turn to an area that requires immediate attention, an area of co