Many issues were dealt with at the December meetings of the Board on Professional Standards and the Executive Council, but it seemed likely, at least to this observer, that membership questions will engage the Association's attention more actively than any other issue in the immediate future. The “hottest” item at both meetings, at the Business Meeting, and in many informal discussions, was the preliminary report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Policies and Problems of Membership, Chaired by Dr. Jay Katz, of New Haven. This committee, widely referred to by the less cumbersome title of “The Katz Committee”, was appointed in 1969 by the then President of the Association, Dr. Samuel Ritvo, because of the general concern over the fact that increasing numbers of graduates of the Institutes have not been applying for APsaA Membership.
The Committee (whose other members are Drs. Sidney Levin, Gerhart Piers, Jerome Sapirstein, Herbert Schlesinger and Jay Shorr) has made a comprehensive survey of the problems it was charged to consider. It has prepared a preliminary report, said to deal with only a fraction of its study; this condensed report was distributed late in September, 1970 to all Executive Councilors and Fellows of the Board on Professional Standards, as well as to the officers of all Societies and Institutes, and it has stirred vigorous debate.
The space limitations of the Newsletter make it impossible even to
summarize the broad considerations advanced by the Committee to explain its preliminary recommendations. The recommendations themselves in abbreviated form are as follows:
Institutes should be permitted to admit candidates at an earlier age.
Interest in psychoanalytic training should be encouraged, especially by teaching at the undergraduate level.
The APsaA should create a formal membership category for candidates.
Application to the APsaA should be simplified, and the 2-year wait after graduation eliminated. The task of supervising standards of training should be strengthened, but should be accomplished by means other than through the work of the Membership Committee.
Membership should be based on psychoanalytic competence and not on prior professional labels (i.e. physician or non-physician).
It became evident to the Executive Committee prior to the December meeting that, while the Katz Committee is a Committee of the Executive Council, some of its proposals (especially #4) deal with important functions of the Board on Professional Standards. After considering the matter with the Coordinating Committee of the Board, the Executive Committee decided that two members of the Board should be named as consultants to the Katz Committee and Drs. Martin Stein and Arthur Valenstein have been asked to serve in this capacity.
Although the preliminary nature of the Committee's report was emphasized, its proposals led to animated discussion in both Board and Council. While there was considerable support for the first 3 recommendations, the proposal for eliminating the 2-year waiting period between graduation and application to the APsaA met with widespread opposition. The report said that in many localities Institute graduation is tantamount to certification, so that many graduates consider the Association's admission procedures a kind of double certification; there was much debate over this.
It is expected that the preliminary report will be revised after discussion with the two board members, and it will be reviewed by the Coordinating and Executive Committees before being released for general distribution. Any minority opinions will be reported along with the majarity view, when the completed report is distributed. After full discussion locally and nationally, proposals in the report may become the basis for action if the members so desire.
DAVID KAIRYS, M.D.