In 1968 the then President of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Charles Brenner, appointed an Ad Hoc Committee on the Editorship of the Journal, with David Beres as chairman and Leo Rangell and Arthur Valenstein as members. They submitted a report to the Council in 1970, requesting action on a number of points, two of which were:
That the President of the Association be authorized to appoint an Ad Hoc Search Committee to scrutinize the qualifications of the persons nominated for the post of Editor of the Journal and to recommend one person to the Executive Council for its approval. This Search Committee should consist of five persons, the majority of whom shall be past or present members of the Editorial Board.
That the tenure of the Editor be limited to two five-year terms.
The Executive Council unanimously voted to adopt these recommendations.
It was with deepest regret that I learned that the present Editor of the Journal, Dr. Harold Blum, will complete his second five-year term December 31, 1982. We are forever indebted to Dr. Blum for the vision, vitality, scholarship, and dedication which he has shown. He is the embodiment of the ideals of the Journal, which has flourished under his guidance and is pre-eminent in the field of psychoanalysis today. In full recognition of the importance of their task, the following members have agreed to serve on the Ad Hoc Search Committee for the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association: Drs. Samuel Ritvo (Chairman), Jacob Arlow, Otto Kernberg, Charles Kligerman, and Sydney Pulver. The Committee was given the following charge:
“1. Select a nominee for the Editorship of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. This nomination is to be presented to the Executive Council for action. If at all possible, the nomination should be made before November 15, 1982, in time for the Winter Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association.
2. Review the governance structure and editorial policies of the Journal under the stewardship of the present Editor and his staff.
3. Make any recommendations concerning governance structure and editorial policies.
To achieve these goals, the Committee is urged to:
Consult our membership and other appropriate sources for potential nominees for the Editorship.
Consult the present Editor and any other members of the Editorial Board with regard to current policies and plans, and assets and problems of the Journal.
Consult with editors of other professional journals, not necessarily psychoanalytic, as an aid towards understanding the qualities being sought in the editor and in assessing the governance structure and editorial policies of our Journal.
Investigate thoroughly the qualities of candidates for the editorship, including interviewing them and assuring that they meet the high qualifications for the office and that they will serve, if selected.
Consider any special problems of the transition period between editors.
Our present Editor, Dr. Harold Blum, has served superbly well, bringing to the task the highest qualities of intellect, industry, and skill. Under Dr. Blum's leadership, the Journal has gone through a period of marked growth in scientific purview and prestige and has extended its audience and its influence. We are all aware that this Committee is undertaking an unusually difficult task, but one of the greatest importance to psychoanalysis and to the American Psychoanalytic Association. I am confident that this distinguished Committee will succeed in carrying out its charge.“
This Committee will be working hard, and I know they welcome your assistance.
By the time this letter reaches you, the outcome will be known, but the last few weeks have been important ones with regard to congressional legislation threatening to curtail reimbursement for psychiatric treatment. Many of our members and especially Drs. Granatir and McGrath in Washington have led an important campaign to preserve governmental insurance covering outpatient psychiatry on a nondiscriminatory basis. Senator D'Amato from New York was the sponsor of an amendment which would preserve the pre-existing insurance provisions for long-term psychotherapy for federal employees and CHAMPUS, and we rallied to support him in this amendment. This effort was, of course, not staged by us alone, but had the support of the APA and the AMA, as well.
There is an increasingly powerful movement to discriminate against mental health coverage as an alleged means of attempting to hold down health care costs, despite good data that full mental health coverage for outpatient care is not a significant element in the totality of health costs. Those of you who have not been aware of this effort should, through your local Societies, alert yourselves to what has been happening nationally and to what the situation is in your own communities. We owe it to our patients and to our profession to resist this attack.
This has been a Fall of celebrations. The Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute held its Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration in November, at which I was honored to represent the American Psychoanalytic Association. The event will be history as you read this, but I can confidently predict that it will have been a wonderful scientific and celebratory occasion. The sad note, of course, is that one of their most eminent members, Dr. Heinz Kohut, died on October 8.
Coincidentally, during the same month, the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute held their scientific and social celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Society and the 50th Anniversary of the Institute. I believe we can confidently expect that these two groups, who have been so significant for the advance of psychoanalysis in America during at least the past half century, will continue to provide leadership in the future. American psychoanalysis owes much of its vigor to the contributions that have flowed from these great organizations, and we have every reason to hope that they will continue to be as richly productive in the years to come. We wish them a very good next half century.
We also congratulate the Cincinnati Psychoanalytic Institute on the opening of their new quarters and the dedication of the Frederick Kapp Memorial Library. We are sure they will flourish.
The Coordinating Committee of the Board on Professional Standards and Executive Committee of the Council met during the weekend of October 16-18. Minutes of these meetings will
be available to you before the Board and Council meetings. I will mention only one item. The Executive Committee, joined by Secretary of the Board Vann Spruiell, Chairman-Elect Homer Curtis, and Secretary-Designate Carl Davis, discussed in considerable detail the review of the Bylaws which had been brilliantly and carefully prepared by the Ad Hoc Committee to Review the Bylaws, chaired by Jerry Beigler and including Jay Katz and Bernard Diamond. The Bylaws, as we suspected, turned out to be riddled with significant inconsistencies and simple errors. Some of these are trivial, but others carry serious legal implications.
At this preliminary discussion, we prepared a reply to the Ad Hoc Bylaws Committee, indicating those areas where the Executive Committee concurs on certain remedies, another group of problems where legal assistance will be necessary to help us decide how properly to frame the Bylaws, and a third group of problems, referring primarily to membership matters which will best be resolved after the Association has voted on the upcoming proposal for a revision of membership categories.
When the suggestions for Bylaws changes are somewhat better organized than they are now, we will, of course, provide each member with a detailed discussion of each of the changes proposed, as a preliminary to asking for any amendments. As I have indicated before, the vast majority of the changes are housekeeping issues, in an attempt to bring order to the Bylaws, which have been revised piecemeal over many years. Bylaws seem trivial—until one needs them.
I look forward to our December meeting in New York. The scientific program is splendid, and we will have another meeting on legal issues. Societies, be sure that your representatives are appointed. If your Institute or Society is involved in a legal matter of interest, please be sure that we are informed about it to the extent that you feel appropriate, so that our sister organizations can benefit from your experience. Dr. Beigler will be chairing that meeting, and we will have legal counsel present. A reminder: the Bylaws require that Councilors of the Executive Council be elected by their Societies by a vote limited to members of the American. Please be sure you are in compliance with this requirement.
Arnold M. Cooper, M.D.
President