Dr. George H. Allison, President-Elect, Dr. Gunther Perdigao, Liaison, Latin American colleagues, and Ms. Helen Fischer, Administrative Director of the American Psychoanalytic Association, attended the XVII Congress of the Federation of Psychoanalysts of Latin America held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, July 17-22, 1988. Drs. Alan Zients, (Washington, D.C.) and Facundo Lima, (Bethesda, MD) also attended the Congress. The delegation from the Association, invited by FEPAL, represented the Association in its continuing interest to effect better communication and closer relationships among psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic societies in South and North America.
Participating in a panel on contemporary psychoanalysis, Gunther Perdigao discussed psychoanalysis in the United States and presented his paper in Portuguese. A welcoming address was delivered by George Allison, who also participated in the scientific program. Alan Zients presented a child case at the meetings and a paper was delivered by Facundo Lima.
Perdigao, in his report on the visit to Brazil, comments that despite differences, “the result was a very cordial exchange and a discussion about having informal meetings in the United States or Latin America, and how the American approach compared with the approach of the Latins, many of whom have been trained in England.” Drs. Allison, Perdigao and Ms. Fischer met during the course of the Congress with a number of groups of Latin American psychoanalysts, including those from Argentina, FEPAL, Peru, and the two societies in Rio de Janerio. Dr. Terttu Eskelinen De Folch, who attended the Congress as President of the Federation of European Psychoanalysts, met with representatives of the American and discussed plans for the next meeting of the Federation in Heidelberg in 1989.
Possibilities for future and further scientific and colleagial interchange were discussed with all the groups and with a large number of individual psychoanalysts. Everyone was enthusiastic about possible plans for more and better scientific exchanges and a number of innovative formats have been suggested which may be implemented.