Correspondence

From Dr A. Plaut

Sir,—I welcome the idea of a register of the International Association for Analytical Psychology in your recent issue (July, 1969) but notice with concern that the medical qualifications are omitted in the case of those members who work in Great Britain and have a Diploma of Psychological Medicine.

Members living outside the United Kingdom and former Commonwealth countries may not be aware of the fact that only a very small percentage of medically qualified persons have in fact an M.D. degree in this country. It would, therefore, be interesting to point out that a distinction between medically qualified and non-medical analysts could only be made if the medical qualifications registrable in the United Kingdom, e.g. M.B., B.Ch., L.R.C.P., L.R.C.S., were added after the name and initials as is customary here.

A multiplicity of such letters may be unfamiliar to readers abroad, who may feel puzzled. On inquiry they could learn that of the 60 or so members of the Society of Analytical Psychology, many more than the nine M.D.'s are medically qualified—in fact over 50 per cent.

I am, etc.,

A. PLAUT

11 Devonshire Place, London, W.I.

The list of members of the I.A.A.P. was taken from that circulated to its members.

In comparison with other countries there was an excess of titles added to the names of the British members. Were they necessary? Many were logically redundant and would be understood by informed readers. Accordingly I removed all those titles which were implied in others. Thus, if a member has a specialist degree (D.P.M., D.C.H., M.D., M.R.C.P.) or the honorary title F.R.C.P., he must also have qualified in general medicine and surgery. He would not otherwise have been allowed to specialize.

This arrangement leaves those less adequately informed who wish to ascertain the medical or non-medical status of analysts to find out what is meant for themselves. My criterion here was whether a good dictionary of