It was a happy coincidence of timing that enabled me to assume the office of Treasurer of the International Psychoanalytic Association just after I had completed my term of office as President of the American Psychoanalytic. As a result, I was in a position to compare and contrast the two organizations. The similarities are most striking; the differences are of less importance.
Both the I.P.A. and the APsaA are concerned with the scientific and the educational aspects of the psychoanalyst's life. The scientific portion of the work of the International Psychoanalytic takes place every two years at an International Congress which requires careful advance preparation to insure that papers of scientific interest to psychoanalysts all over the world are presented. There is a Program Committee, chaired for the coming London Congress by Miss Pearl King, assisted by Dr. André Green and by Dr. Edward Weinshel of San Francisco, the Chairman of The American Program Committee (of I.P.A.). There is close collaboration between the American and European sub-committees; the Chairmen visit each of the other subcommittees once or twice between congresses to coordinate the work of the Program Committee. Just as has been true of the program of the semiannual meetings of the American, the format of the international congresses has been a constantly changing one, and each Program Committee tries to improve upon the work of past committees. Because of the number of people involved and because of the difficulties of communication between countries and between continents, it takes almost two full years to organize fully for a congress.
A feature of the international psychoanalytic scene is the existence of regional scientific meetings between the biannual congress of the International Association itself. As a member of the Executive, I have had an opportunity to attend the Latin American Congress in which the Latin American psychoanalytic societies participate. There are also meetings of English-speaking analysts, Scandinavian psychoanalysts, and the Romance Language psychoanalysts held between the regular scientific meetings of the congress. All of these afford an opportunity for analysts in a region to come together to share their scientific knowledge and advancement.
Unlike the biannual congress, the regional meetings are financed by the local organizations. The biannual congress, on the other hand, is self-supporting since the dues of the I.P.A. are relatively low. Thus, unlike the scientific meetings of the American, which are included in the membership dues, anyone attending the International Congress must pay a registration fee sufficient to cover the anticipated costs of the congress. These costs include, not only meeting rooms and other organizational matters, but also the very expensive simultaneous translation into the four languages of the International Association. At the forthcoming London Congress, in addition to simultaneous translation at the plenary sessions, translations will also be available at the smaller workshops to facilitate the interchanges among analysts from all countries. Should the Organizing Committee of the Congress incur a deficit, the Treasury of the International will absorb it. On the very rare occasions in which there has been a profit, this has been returned to the Association.
From a Treasurer's point of view, also, the congresses provide a demonstration of the value of organizational stability of funds, since it is through the treasury that the start-up costs of a congress are handled. This holds for the work of the Program Committee as well as for the work of the local Organizing Committee in the city that a congress is going to be held. Much work by individual members of an Organizing Committee goes into the myriad details that have to be arranged to prepare for 1500 to 2000 persons attending a week-long congress. The Office of the Executive Secretary of the American (now to be called the Administrative Director) handles many of the details prior to the scientific meetings.
The educational activities of the International Psychoanalytic Association, which take a good portion of the budget supplied by the annual dues, is involved with the same educational matters as is the Board on Professional Standards of the American Psychoanalytic Association. That is, the International is concerned with the maintenance of educational standards in the various institutes in all countries other than the United States. Only here are educational matters the jurisdiction of the regional association, the American Psychoanalytic Association. The responsibility of the I.P.A. for psychoanalytic education in the rest of the world also involves the development of study groups leading toward full-fledged institutes, and the development of local societies. To maintain these educational activities requires a great deal of work by the President and Secretary of the International (currently Professor Serge Lebovici and Professor Daniel Widlöcher), and of many committees that supervise the study groups evolving toward institute status. This is analogous to the work of the new Training Facilities Committee and the Board on Professional Standards of the American. Much of the work of the Sponsoring Committees, as well as all other matters, funnels through the President and Secretary of the International, and also the Executive Office maintained in London.
Outside of the United States, the psychoanalytic society is usually a national organization, with only a single society in each country. The problems, difficulties, and successes for that matter, seem to parallel those encountered within the United
States. Because of the distances involved and problems of communication, it has often been advisable for either a committee, or the Executive itself to visit local areas with problems to obtain first-hand knowledge. The time demands on the officers and the financial demands on the treasury are evident.
The third component of the work of the International is done through its London Executive Office. There, an Executive Secretary and a small staff serve to collect information about psychoanalytic activities throughout the world. This office publishes and distributes the President's Newsletter and annual roster.
While members of the Program and Organizing Committees, Study Groups etc., as well as the executive officers, serve without pay, their expenses between congresses are an obligation of the Association. It is fair to say that the Executive Office and the educational activities of the International take about 60% of the annual budget, while the scientific activities and preparation for the congresses take the remainder.
There seems no question that psychoanalysis throughout the world is advancing. While no national society is as large as the American Psychoanalytic, most of them are growing, and there is no dearth of candidates nor of patients for those candidates. A special committee of the International will report in London on its study of the impact of national health plans on psychoanalytic practices in those countries in which there are such forms of nationalized medicine. This report should prove of interest to American analysts who wonder what the effect of a national health plan will be upon psychoanalytic practice. The impression from the Treasurer's office is that psychoanalysis as a therapy, as an educational activity, and as a research, is alive and thriving in the component parts of the International Psychoanalytic Association.