The Fifty-fifth Annual Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association was held May 9th to 13th, 1968 at the Statler Hilton Hotel, Boston, Mass. Attendance was quite high for a spring meeting; a total of 1,248 people registered for the meeting. Of the total registration, 507 were members of the Association and the balance of the registrants were wives or husbands of members, members of Affiliate Societies, candidates and graduates of psychoanalytic institutes, members of the A.P.A. and of the International Psycho-analytical Association, psychiatric residents, and professionally qualified guests.
As might have been predicted from the nature of the topics, the Sunday afternoon Open Meeting (“Psychoanalysis and Sex Education”) and the Monday Joint Session with the A.P.A. (“Youth Unrest”) both drew very large audiences. The widespread interest in the present-day problems of young people was similarly reflected in the press coverage of the meeting. At a briefing arranged by the Committee on Public Information, at which Drs. Samuel Ritvo, Calvin F. Settlage and Robert Wallerstein addressed reporters and answered questions. Interest focused on the above two subjects and on the Hippies, who had been the subject of a Thursday Discussion Group.
Members expressed gratification for the work of the local Hospitality Committee, co-chaired by Mrs. Martin Berezin and Mrs. Sidney Levin.