To the Editor:
I disagree with Dr. Stanley Goodman's recently published “Point of View” on the Association's membership requirements.
Dr. Goodman suggests that certification by the Board on Professional Standards as a prerequisite to membership is directly analogous to the membership and certification requirements established by other medical specialties. This is misleading. A resident psychiatrist becomes eligible for full membership in the American Psychiatric Association directly upon graduation from an approved residency. In fact, in every other specialty, certification is the province of a separate certifying board and is not attached to the membership organization. It certainly seems wise for our Association to adopt this model. All graduates of approved institutes should be welcomed as full members and psychoanalytic certification should be handled separately.
Dr. Goodman asserts that the future of psychoanalysis and of the Association is safe only in the hands of certified analysts whose primary identity, interest, and activity is psychoanalysis, and that all others need not apply. The isolationist tone of this statement is unsettling. In addition to psychoanalysis, I am also following an academic career—a choice that is not at all atypical for many of the members of our Association. This has not prevented me (or many others like me) from maintaining an active analytic practice, teaching at the institute, and contributing to the literature. We too have a stake in the Association, and our other endeavors may enhance our work as psychoanalysts.
Dr. Goodman implies that the Board on Professional Standards is a necessary shield protecting psychoanalysis and the Association from potentially noxious influences. This is surely an extreme view.
The growth of psychoanalysis, as with any intellectually viable movement, comes from its capacity to attract the brightest people and ideas, rather than from any excessive attempt to avoid contamination. Dr. Goodman's view threatens to purify psychoanalysis to the point of sterility. The future of psychoanalysis is too important to be the exclusive concern of any one small and self-sustaining group, no matter how well intended.
Allen Frances, M.D.
Westchester, New York