One of the two longest-lived of the Discussion Groups held at the semi-annual meetings of the Association, the Discussion Group on “Psychoanalytic Considerations about Patients with Organic Illness or Major Physical Handicaps” has now met continuously (with the exception of May 1976) for thirteen years. It shows every indication, moreover, that it will continue to meet for years to come.

The Discussion Group was initiated by David A. Freedman, M.D., who was its Chairman from 1969 through 1970. H. Robert Blank, M.D., was chairman from 1970 to 1971 and was succeeded by Pietro Castelnuovo-Tedesco, M.D., who has been its chairman from 1972 through the present. Initially called a “workshop,” it became known as a Discussion Group some years later, when the APsaA nomenclature for such gatherings changed.

Devoted to the psychoanalytic study of mind-body problems, the group has appealed particularly to those members with a special interest and expertise in psychosomatic medicine. The emphasis has been highly clinical, and discussions have always centered on the members' own experience with patients. A very popular feature has been the opportunity to present detailed psychoanalytic material and to receive the responses of the other members of the group in spontaneous and frank give-and-take discussion. Most of the members know one another well from years of participation in the group, and this familiarity has imparted to the meetings a congenial quality of informality. A number of papers by members, which have appeared in the literature, were first presented and “sharpened” by discussion within the group.

The original name of the Discussion Group, “Psychic Consequences of Congenital Lack of Acquired Loss of Body Parts,” was changed in 1975 to its current title to reflect the new, broader interests of the Group. Examples of topics that have been discussed over the years include deafness, blindness, amputation and phantom limb phenomena, renal transplantation, transsexualism, diabetes, breast augmentation, and cancer.