To the Editor:
I would like to express, on behalf of The Association for Psychoanalytic Medicine, our deep disappointment in the “Statement Regarding Community Psychiatry.” The tenor and attitude of this statement are needlessly negative and defensive. It is concerned more with the dangers Community Psychiatry presents to psychoanalysis than with the positive contributions psychoanalysis can make to Community Psychiatry.
Typical of what we object to is the sentence: “He may join with psychiatrists or other mental health specialists or he may function solely as an enlightened, educated citizen.” Why should he not operate as a psychoanalyst, identify himself as such and bring his own unique psychoanalytic knowledge to bear on this endeavor? Surely it is difficult to conceive that psychoanalysis can enlighten so many areas by its application but cannot illuminate so vital a field as Community Psychiatry.
We are also disappointed that this statment does not, as we were led to expect, take a position. We believe that there should be a definition of the relationship of psychoanalysis to Community Psychiatry and of the American Psychoanalytic Association to relevant national issues.
We can appreciate the statement's caution: “No degree of emphasis on action to meet the vast mental health problems of the nation should obscure the need for more knowledge and research.” However, the converse is equally true. An over-emphasis on knowledge and research cannot justify the lack of appropriate action to meet these enormous needs. The two are not mutually exclusive. The continued inaction of the American Psychoanalytic Association poses far more threatening consequences to psychoanalysis than the unrealistic fear of contamination.
We believe the time has come for the formation of a Standing Committee on Community Mental Health composed of such dedicated men as Dr. Bernard Bandler, Dr. H. Robert Blank and Dr. Louis Linn. After formulating a position statement which would strike the proper balance between study and action, the Committee might have the following functions:
To keep the membership informed of developments in Community Psychiatry which are particularly relevant to psychoanalysts.
To function as the proper vehicle for involvement with national agencies, organizations and pertinent Federal legislation.
To act in an advisory capacity to those affiliate Societies that desire to participate in local community projects.
It is our hope that other affiliate Societies will join with us to support the establishment of such a committee in the Executive Council when next the question arises.
Alvin H. Polatin, M.D.
Representative Councilor Assn. for Psychoanalytic Medicine