To The Editors:
I concur with Harold P. Blum's article of July, 1976, recommending the continuation of our Annual Meetings. To reduce the frequency of our meetings for deficit reasons offers no long term solution to the non-participation of our members. As psychoanalysts we have a special responsibility to uncover the reasons for the apathy of our membership.
Are our members being encouraged to participate on the programs and in the leadership of our Association?
Are our programs scientifically exploring issues pertinent to contemporary psychoanalysis?
Because of the demographic changes of our membership, we should again reconsider whether Winter Meetings be only held in New York. Should we not meet in the same city as the American Psychiatric Association, where we can maintain an important position in the mainstream of American Psychiatry?
We need the American Psychoanalytic Association in order to insure psychoanalysis as a viable science and form of therapy. We are at a new crossroads-let us face our problems squarely and continue our much needed forum by having Annual Meetings. Maybe an ongoing panel should be devoted to problems in the practice of psychoanalysis and/or prospects for psychoanalysis over the next twenty years.
Sincerely,
Arnold L. Gilberg, M.D.
Member, Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute and Society