The Annual Meeting in Denver the first week in May, 1974 promises enthusiastic hospitality by the young thriving Institute, and a scientific program that will continue innovations of the Fall Meeting, and add at least one new format, “Meet the Author.”
Dr. Paul DeWald's new book, The Psychoanalytic Process, will be discussed and reviewed by Drs. Harold Blum and Kenneth Calder, while Dr. Charles Brenner will act as moderator.
Two panels will be followed by afternoon workshops limited to fifteen participants under the chairmanship of experienced analysts. As many as three such workshops per panel may be arranged. This new approach follows the success of similar experiments at the December Meetings. More and more, planners are aiming toward the active collaboration among participants in the learning process at scientific meetings.
Two plenary speakers will address the Meeting: Dr. Margaret Mead will speak on “The Increase in Unbound Aggression,” and Dr. Anna Maenchen on “Some Thoughts about the Psychoanalyst Today.”
At the business meeting of December 15, 1973, Dr. Francis McLaughlin of Baltimore was named President-Elect of the APsaA. The recently-retired Chairman of the Board on Professional Standards is currently Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Certification. He has shown both tact and courageous integrity in a professional lifetime dedicated to psychoanalytic education, in Baltimore where he has held every position of leadership, and in the national organization.
A quiet, unassuming man who radiates friendly warmth, Dr. McLaughlin holds uncompromising views and has struggled persistently for what he believes represents the highest standards attainable in the training for, and practicing of, psychoanalysis.
The quality of this man is tellingly conveyed in his address to the Board of Professional Standards on December 12, 1973. He said, “…our understanding of and convictions about psychoanalysis affect deeply those
whom we educate and how we go about educating them and sharing with them our knowledge and sense of dedication.” On analysis in today's American society: “Manipulation of people and their environment has become the accepted thing—matters of integrity and real concern for people have been replaced by image, by secrecy, by lies and by attempts to control diversity of thoughts and opinion.” “(The analyst) is an advocate of ideas that create opposition and hostility and thereby remains an outsider, which, perversely, I believe is a good thing.” Remaining steadfast in the face of palliative cant and temptations to play “prophet and savior” is the goal toward which this “impossible profession” aims. And with characteristic pride tempered by modesty, Dr. McLaughlin sums up: “… We are in a useful and rewarding profession; only when the individual becomes irrelevant and emotion ceases to be significant will our present conception of personality and character become meaningless.”
Dr. John Frosch assumes his new position after twenty-two years as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal. His inspiriting enthusiasm has sparked a wide spectrum of professional activities, including teaching at many levels and substantial contributions to the analytic literature on psychosis. Dr. Otto Kernberg, newly arrived in New York from Topeka, has done distinguished work in teaching, hospital administration, and is an internationally renowned leader in theoretical and clinical research in borderline and narcissistic disorders.