John A. Talbott, M.D., was elected President-Elect of the American Psychiatric Association in May, 1983. Dr. Talbott is an Active Member of the American and a certified psychoanalyst. In addition to practicing psychoanalysis and psychiatry, he is Professor of Psychiatry at Cornell University Medical College, Associate Medical Director of the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic, and a Collaborating Psychoanalyst at the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Center. He is also the editor of Hospital and Community Psychiatry and has been the editor of the Bulletin, New York State District Branches of the American Psychiatric Association.
A graduate of Harvard College, Dr. Talbott received his medical degree from Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed his psychiatry residency at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Presbyterian Hospital. He is a graduate of the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center for Training and Research.
In an interview with the Newsletter, Dr. Talbott discussed what he feels to be the inaccurate perception by some that the voices of individual analysts are not heard in the American Psychiatric Association. He pointed out that the 2500 members of the American Psychoanalytic Association comprise almost ten percent of the 27,000 member American Psychiatric. The psychiatric group is far from a monolithic organization and it would be incorrect to so identify it. In fact, eighty percent of the membership identify themselves as primarily engaged in outpatient private practice. There is a great overlap in interest among such practitioners and psychoanalysts.
The overlap of interest is particularly true in areas such as medical insurance. Dr. Talbott notes that there are great pressures to cut medical costs. In the current sociopolitical climate, both psychoanalysis and psychiatry are under the same kind of attack. Both are victims of the old prejudice that they treat the so-called worried well. Unfortunately, beneficiaries of psychoanalytic treatment are usually unable to plead the case for increased insurance compensation as compared, for example, to beneficiaries of more expensive cardiac or renal care.
Dr. Talbott is concerned that the admission of too many nonmedical analysts to the American would lessen the effectiveness of the analytic voice within the American Psychiatric Association. This, of course, is a question to which our members are now devoting a great deal of study.
The American Psychiatric Association's President-Elect noted that throughout the country individual analysts are becoming more and more involved in their local district branches, and when they do, it is to the mutual benefit of psychoanalysis and psychiatry. It is always easy to say, “Let John do it,” but it is much more effective if many of us become involved. Dr. Talbott added that involvement with psychiatric organizations complements involvement with psychoanalytic groups.
In summing up, Dr. Talbott reemphasized that the members of the American Psychoanalytic Association represent a substantial minority of the American Psychiatric Association; there is an eagerness to hear our voices and a readiness and willingness to use our abilities and talents. The enthusiasm, dedication, and intelligent administration with which Dr. Talbott has served in many capacities in the past should prove highly beneficial to the American Psychiatric Association in the future.