The American Psychoanalytic Association will be host to the 31st Congress of the International Psycho-Analytical Association in New York City from July 29 through August 3. A reception sponsored by the American will be held the evening of July 29 in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel for all Congress registrants. Approximately two thousand registrants and guests are expected to attend this first Congress to be held in North America.
Details of the Congress scientific program on “Clinical Issues in Psychoanalysis” and the participants were reported in the Newsletter of July 1978. The three panels on Monday, July 30 are: The Closing Phase of the Psychoanalytic Treatment of Adults and the Goals of Psychoanalysis, The Value of Reconstruction in the Psychoanalysis of Adults, and the Handling of Resistances in Adult Psychoanalysis. On Tuesday, July 31, there will be three Plenary Addresses on The Life Cycle as Indicated by the Nature of the Transference in the Psychoanalysis of (a.) Children, (b.) Adolescents and (c.) The Middle-aged and Elderly. The three simultaneous afternoon panels are on External Reality as a Facilitating and Interfering Force in Clinical Psychoanalysis, The Psychoanalytic Treatment of Patients with Physical Illness or Handicaps, and Formulating Interpretations in Clinical Psychoanalysis. There will be panel workshops in the four official languages of the International following each panel. On Thursday morning, August 2, forty individual scientific papers will be presented. In the afternoon, there will be twenty discussion groups on special topics led by distinguished analysts from Europe, North and Latin America. Attendance at these discussion groups is by pre-registration only. The Plenary Address will be given by Erik H. Erikson on Friday morning.
In addition to the opening session at the Waldorf on July 29, other special activities include on Tuesday evening, July 31, a Circle Line Tour of Manhattan for registrants and their families. There will also be a reception at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Wednesday evening, August 1, where guests will have access to two private collections of art.
The Eighth Pre-Congress Conference on Training is being held immediately prior to the International Congress from July 26 through 28. The theme is “The Influence of the Theory and Practice of Psychotherapy Upon Education for Psychoanalysis.” There will be a major address by Dr. Leo Stone on this Pre-Congress theme, discussion groups and a Plenary Session. Participants are invited to a reception in the Delegate's Dining Room of the United Nations Building the evening of July 26.