It is almost three years since the Program Committee of the American Psychoanalytic Association, under the leadership of the then Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Arnold Cooper, decided that it would be worthwhile to present a program to mental health professionals, offering them the expertise and experience of members of the American Psychoanalytic Association in selected areas. A subcommittee was formed, consisting of Dr. Sydney Pulver as Chairman, and Dr. Melvin Scharfman and Dr. David Werman as members. The chairman of the subcommittee subsequently became Dr. Scharfman and Dr. Werman will now assume this position.
Three programs have thus far been presented as two-day workshops. The subjects were carefully chosen and have included:
Special Problems in the Treatment of Adolescents
Special Problems in Brief Psychotherapy
Children's Reactions to Object Loss
It was anticipated that these programs would offer a format in which we could present appropriate analytic understanding to nonanalysts, helping them to conceptualize the special areas in which they worked. It was also expected that this would serve to indicate to a larger audience that psychoanalytic understanding was applicable to modified forms of treatment of a much more limited scope. We hoped that this would serve as a positive expression of the interest of the American Psychoanalytic Association in educating and working with a variety of mental health professionals.
From most perspectives the meetings have been highly successful. Many prestigious members of our association have served as panelists and discussion group leaders and the presentations have generally been of excellent quality. The response from other disciplines has been most gratifying with four hundred or more registered at the workshops. Approximately forty percent of the audience has been psychiatrists, forty percent social workers, fifteen percent psychologists and the remainder from other mental health disciplines. An evaluation procedure has been used which indicates that the participants have overwhelmingly felt that this was a most positive learning experience. Most of the pitfalls with which we were concerned, namely, that this would be distorted into a short “how to do it” approach have been avoided.
Those of our members who have participated almost unanimously felt that this was a most useful contribution. They agreed that it would ultimately help the image of psychoanalysis by indicating our willingness to share experiences with colleagues of other backgrounds.
The program has been more than self-supporting and the Program Committee and the Subcommittee for Allied Disciplines are well pleased with the initial experience of these workshops.
Melvin A. Scharfman