Under the joint aegis of the A.P.A. and C.O.P.A.L. (Council of Psychoanalytic Organizations of Latin America), George Pollock and his wife last October visited 8 cities in 6 countries and Puerto Rico. In a report to our membership, he stated that he had gained “… a clearer understanding about the varying conditions of psychoanalytic education, research, practice in the different parts of Latin America”, and was very favorably impressed.
In Brazil, the Psychoanalytic Association, now 10 years old, has 4 component societies and is in some ways similar to our organization in structure and function. Dr. Pollock anticipates that Argentina and Mexico, each of which has an Institute in one city (Buenos Aires and Mexico City, respectively) and a Study Group in another (Mendoza and Monterrey), will develop similar structures within a few years. There is a small Association in Santiago, Chile; an Institute in Bogota, Colombia; and Study Groups in Lima, Peru and San Juan, Puerto Rico. In each place, the Pollocks “… were impressed with the sincerity, dedication, generosity, and loyalty of our colleagues to the basic values and goals … shared by psychoanalysts all over the world… . In almost every Institute we visited Freud's picture was prominently and exclusively displayed … and his works appear in the libraries.”
Dr. Pollock urges greatly increased communication and interaction with our Latin American colleagues. While they are aware of our work, we know little of theirs. In addition to the six Journals published in Latin America, “… there are many pivotal books on original topics … unknown to us”. He thinks that it would be useful to establish a means of regular communications for interchange of ideas, that newsletters and meeting programs be exchanged among all analytic groups and that we should have more than token representation at each others' meetings. In part because of the precarious political situation in several countries, it is important for analysts who live there to “… know that we are with them as fellow psychoanalysts and as human beings”.
Throughout his trip, Dr. Pollock found the quality of research, teaching, administration and clinical work to be high. He states that “There is a spirit, excitement and openness to new ideas as well as a basic grounding in essential theory.”
In May Dr. Pollock was elected the first scientific coordinator of C.O.P.A.L. The next C.O.P.A.L. meeting will be held in Mexico City in February, 1978, and, as part of the C.O.P.A.L. leadership, he hopes to take an active role in these meetings.