The scientific program of the Fall Meeting of The American Psychoanalytic Association in New York City, December 17-21, 1975, ranges widely, reflecting a recognition and encouragement of the processes of ferment and of differences in viewpoints in psychoanalysis and its related disciplines. The Program Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Arnold Cooper has ventured farther than ever before in creating forums for those who wish to engage in free questioning and probing dialogue on topics whose breadth one can only appreciate by persuing the titles of some of them.
Dr. George H. Pollock, Past President, will speak on The Mourning Process and Creative Organizational Change. Dr. Paula Heimann, a guest from England, will present a plenary address entitled: Freud's Challenge to the Courage and Creativeness of the Individual. She will be introduced by Dr. Phyllis Greenacre.
These focus on crucial areas in analytic theory, and lively debate is anticipated. On Friday, December 19th, Dr. Robert Wallerstein chairs Adrienne Applegarth and Milton Horowitz presenting The Concept of Psychic Energy—A Defense; while Drs. Allan Rosenblatt and James Thickstun will offer A Critique. Dr. Merton Gill will be the discussant. On Sunday, December 21st, Dr. Harold Blum conducts a panel on The Psychology of Women: Adulthood with Drs. Eleanor Galenson, Adrienne Applegarth, Peter Barglow, Burness Moore and Gertrude Ticho. Concurrently, another panel is scheduled on The Varieties of Oedipal Distortion in Severe Character Pathologies chaired by Dr. Ernst Ticho. Drs. William Robbins, Marjorie Harley, Otto Kernberg, Annemarie Weil, and Margaret Mahler will participate.
The Fourth Workshop in Oral History will take place on Thursday, December 18th. Dr. Sanford Gifford will chair a conversation among a group of senior analysts who will reminisce about their experiences in psychoanalytic training in Europe prior to World War II.
On Friday, December 19th, Dr. Pollock will moderate a discussion between Drs. Manuel Furer of New York and Hanna Segal from London. That same day this year's Meet the Author will present Drs. John Gedo and Arnold Goldberg discussing their book Models of the Mind. Dr. Paul Myerson will moderate, with Drs. Robert Michels and Arnold Modell serving as reviewer-discussants. Friday afternoon, Dr. M. Ralph Kaufman will also be showing film tapes of interviews with Dr. Helene Deutsch and the late Dr. Gustav Bychowski.
These will cover a broad spectrum of topics. They are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, December 17th and 18th. Because of the recent death of Dr. Ira Miller of Ann Arbor, the group on Reconstruction and Unconscious Fantasy in Psychoanalytic Treatment will be chaired by Dr. Harold Searles.
The twenty-eight scientific papers to be presented on Friday and Saturday, December 19th and 20th, are grouped as two presentations per session to allow fuller discussion from the floor. The Program Committee has succeeded in arranging for
many candidates and recent graduates to participate in discussions.
Starting Wednesday, December 17th, a three-day clinical workshop limited to 15 registrants will be launched under Dr. Stanley R. Lesser's chairmanship. Dr. Barbara R. Easser's recent death has deprived this workshop of her anticipated co-chairmanship.
On Sunday, December 21st, the Interdisciplinary Colloquia will include Psychoanalytic Questions and Methods in Anthropological Fieldwork, Dr. L. Bryce Boyer; Problems of the Psychoanalytic Theory of Aggression, Dr. Leo Stone; Contribution of Social Work and Psychoanalysis to Each Other, Dr. Irving Kaufman and Mrs. Shirley Goldstein; and Psychoanalysis and Education, Dr. Howard Schlossman. Four Interdisciplinary Seminars are also planned: Problems of Divorce, Dr. Grace Abbate; The Profession of Psychoanalysis, Drs. Kenneth Calder and Richard Druss; Developmental Aspects of Perception and Cognition, Drs. Theodore Shapiro and Fred Pine; and Sexual Awareness and Sexual Identity in Nursery School Children, Drs. Heiman van Dam and Jules Glenn.