The Executive Committee has decided that the report of the Central Fact Gathering Committee (CFGC) will be published in the Bulletin Section of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. This decision marks the culmination of a labor which began in 1952, when the original CFGC, under the chairmanship of Dr. Harry I. Weinstock, undertook the task of collecting data about the practice of psychoanalysis in the United States.
The first CFGC report was submitted in 1958, but because of a variety of statistical and nosological difficulties, it was felt that it could not be published. It was kept on file, along with the mass of raw data, which included hundreds of IBM punch-cards, and the raw data were made available to qualified investigators. From time to time there were unfounded complaints from lay sources that the Association was keeping “secret” the findings of its committee, particularly with regard to the efficacy of psychoanalytic treatment.
In 1961, during the Presidency of Dr. Leo Rangell, it was decided that a fresh attempt should be made to analyze the data with a view to determining whether valid conclusions could be drawn from it. A new CFGC was appointed, consisting of Dr. David A. Hamburg, Chairman; Drs. Grete L. Bibring, Charles Fisher, Alfred Stanton, Robert S. Wallerstein, and Harry I. Weinstock, with Ernest A. Haggard, Ph.D., as consultant. This committee worked over the data for some 5 years. Its report, which was submitted to the Executive Committee in December, 1966, has been reproduced in mimeographed form, with copies available to members on request. With the latest decision of the Executive-Committee, it will now be generally available in printed form.