The Tenth Annual Conference of the Regional Council of Psychoanalytic Societies of Greater New York was held on June 10 through June 12, 1983 at the Concord Hotel in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The theme of the program was “Planned Termination.” On Friday evening, there was a dinner to welcome members and their families. After dinner, all were invited to see the Jean Renoir film, “Grand Illusion,” followed by a discussion led by Jose Barchilon.
On Saturday morning Anna Burton presented a fascinating case of a long analysis with a planned termination, followed by a panel discussion chaired by Stephen K. Firestein. The formal discussants were Isadore Bernstein, Stephen K. Firestein, and Robert Michaels. All six societies of the Regional Council were represented, and many of the participants belonged to more than one society.
In the afternoon there was leisure time for members and their families. Many participated in a tennis tournament, others played golf, swam and sunned themselves. A complimentary cocktail party in the evening preceded the dinner dance.
On Sunday morning there were two discussion groups, led by Theodore B. Cohen and Abraham Freedman, who represented the two neighboring societies from Philadelphia. The groups continued to discuss the theoretical and clinical isues of a planned termination in psychoanalysis. Anna Burton divided her time between the groups and answered further questions about the analysis that she had presented on Saturday.
The idea for the Regional Council of Psychoanalytic Societies of Greater New York was developed in 1971. Lawrence Deutsch (then President of the New Jersey Psychoanalytic Society), Ira Mintz, and Alvin H. Polatin (then President of the Association for Psychoanalytic Medicine) hoped such an organization might serve a dual purpose. First, it could provide a forum for practicing psychoanalysts in the same geographic area to present their ideas about a topic of common interest, and acquaint analysts trained at different accredited institutes of the American with their work and thinking. Second, the Regional Council's conference would also provide an opportunity for their members and their families to meet each other under less formal circumstances (than for example the national meetings) in a pleasurable and relaxed setting over a weekend. The meetings have been well attended and highly regarded. The presence of families, the vacation setting, and the scheduled free time and other informal activities have, as hoped, contributed greatly to the congeniality and success of these conferences.
Each year a different society hosts the conference and the representative of the host society to the Council serves as the chairman for the year. The first conference was sponsored by the New Jersey Psychoanalytic Society in 1972; Benedict Bernstein was the first chairman. The site of the first meeting was in the quiet seclusion of the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York. In recent years the meetings have been so successful that the boundaries have been extended to include Philadelphia. The six societies of the Regional Council of Psychoanalytic Societies of Greater New York are: The Association for Psychoanalytic Medicine, the Long Island Psychoanalytic Society, the New Jersey Psychoanalytic Society, the New York Psychoanalytic Society, the Psychoanalytic Association of New York, and the Westchester Psychoanalytic Society.
Next year, the annual weekend meeting will be in June, 1984; the theme will be countertransference. The Regional Council will also sponsor an all-day conference entitled “Current Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Symptom and Defense: A Tribute to Anna Freud,” on September 22, 1984, at the New York Academy of Medicine. More information will be made available about this event soon.