To the Editor:
Instructed by our faculty and membership, we recently raised the issue of the timing of the Fall Meeting so close to Christmas at the Board on Professional Standards and the Executive Council. We requested that a serious reexamination take place with the objective of finding a more convenient and congenial time.
Our membership was perfectly aware of the efforts and hard work of the Arrangements Committee in this regard and of the difficulties encountered in their negotiations with the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. They were also aware of the convenience and comfort of the hotel and of the long tradition of meeting there. However, in their view, the inconvenience of meeting so close to Christmas far outweighed the conveniences of any particular hotel or city.
A serious problem that has to be considered is the break in our analytic practice so close to a holiday period. This results in a disrupted year end. The meetings do not coincide with public school holidays or the “natural” year end break. Therefore, our patients are asked to take their vacations at inconvenient times, or to have repetitive or unnecessarily long interruptions in their analysis with all the attendant transference distortions.
We in turn not only endure the emotional hardships of the situation, but also suffer financial loss if we or our patients care to enjoy the holiday season with our families. Additionally, some members have college age children whose vacations overlap with the meetings, and they are home while we are away.
When we come to the Fall Meeting from a distance there is no way to “run back and forth,” so to speak, to our practice as some on the East Coast do, when we are not actively engaged in Association business. For those of us who attend the administrative meetings of the Association as well as the scientific portion of the meetings, it requires a full week away from our practices. To return for a few days of analysis and then have the holiday breaks or vacation is not fair to ourselves or our patients.
In addition, it is more expensive to attend the meetings during the preholiday period. Air fares are at their peaks and reservations are difficult and sometimes impossible to obtain. One of us had to leave the Executive Council meeting before this actual debate was completed because it was the only flight he could get back to California over the Christmas weekend. New York is packed, and stores, theaters and restaurants are more crowded than usual. Although many may enjoy the added hustle and bustle of the city, there are many more who find it unpleasant and burdensome.
Of greater importance, fewer of our members and candidates are willing to come to the meetings because of the above facts. We were not able to convince enough of our members to come to attend all the various workshops during the business sessions that are so useful and vital for communications between the American and the institutes and societies. Except for those with official business or family connections, there were no other members or students of our organization at the administrative meetings. There were a small number who did come later for the scientific meetings.
We feel that it is essential for the health and future of the American that as many members attend the meetings as possible. Only in this way can there be an interchange and mutual learning between the leadership and the membership. Experience has shown us that this is the best way for our members to become knowledgeable and informed about our organization. The way the Fall Meeting is now set up, attendance from our city, and we believe from the non-Eastern Seaboard, generally is not encouraged.
A further result of this situation is that major portions of our membership feel that the American is not sensitive to their needs, and that the meetings, rather than being made as convenient and inviting as possible to attend, are being held for the convenience of a small group in and around New York. Although this may or may not be the case, it is perceived as such and the result is major lack of attendance by many societies. In fact, a member of the Arrangements Committee mentioned to one of us in New York that attendance was off by 200. Our members are not wedded to the Waldorf. We cannot believe, and have not been convinced by the Arrangements Committee, that in a city the size of New York another facility or series of facilities cannot be found to house our meetings.
We believe that there are other societies and institutes which feel similarly, and we encourage them to urge our leadership to find a way to reschedule the meetings as soon as possible.
Arthur J. Ourieff, M.D.
Executive Councilor
Seymour E. Bird, M.D.
Director of Education and Fellow, Board on Professional Standards
Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society and Institute