More than 2,000 registrants from North America attended the 36th Congress of the International Psycho-Analytical Association held from July 29 to August 4 at the Cavalieri-Hilton Hotel in Rome.
Three nonmedical United States institutes, two in New York and one in California, were unanimously elected to Provisional Society status in the International Psycho-Analytical Association at the business meeting of the 36th IPA Congress on August 2. In his welcoming statement, President Robert Wallerstein noted that these institutes had been found to be “fully comparable” in all respects to other institutes within the IPA.
This action was the culmination of work begun at the last meeting of the IPA, in Montreal, when the Regional Association status of the American Psychoanalytic Association was modified. In the two years since, these institutes have participated in an extensive application and review process, wherein all aspects of training and practice, and criteria for selection and graduation and for appointment of training analysts, have been reviewed by site visit committees of the IPA. Two other institutes are also being evaluated, according to Charles Hanly of Toronto, who chairs the Committee on New Groups. Professor Hanly also emphasized the excellence found in these institutes, most of which have been fully functional training facilities for many years. The three new members are the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (IPTAR), the New York Society of Freudian Psychologists (Freudian Society), and the Psychoanalytic Center of California After the vote, members of these groups who were present in Rome were welcomed by a standing ovation as they filed into the business meeting as full members.
In a hotly contested election for President Joseph Sandler defeated Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel. Three North American vice-presidents were elected from a slate of five nominated by the Nominating Committee and one nominated by petition from the floor. Elected were Alain Lussier of Montreal, John Kafka of Washington, and Leonard Shengold of New York. After his election, Dr. Sandler announced the appointment of Arnold Cooper as Assistant Secretary for North American and Harold Blum as Chair of the Program Committee of the next Congress, which will be held in Buenos Aires in 1991. Appointed to the North American Program Committee were Eva Lester, Theodore Shapiro, Alvin Skolnikoff, and Leonard Inderbitzen.
In a new procedure for the IPA, the candidates for president were asked to address the membership assembled at the business meeting. Only IPA members attending the business meeting are eligible to vote for officers in an IPA election. Mme. Chasseguet-Smirgel, who spoke first, said that although she is French, a woman, and a lay analyst, she wanted to become the president of all IPA psychoanalysts, men and women, M.D. and non- M.D., and from every region in the world. She said that although it would be a great honor to be the first non-M.D. President of the IPA, she viewed the relationship of psychoanalysis to psychiatry and its role in mental health as a central concern of the organization during the next decade. “Psychoanalysis deals with man's soul, heart, and body,” she said.
Dr. Sandler discussed the implications of the rapid growth in membership of the IPA, 7,000 currently, 10,000 in the near future. He said, “We can expect the buregeoning of new societies in many countries, including Eastern Europe and the Orient The IPA will need to develop new organizational structures which balance centralization and decentralization, and assure communication from administration to membership and from membership to administration.” He also stressed that the IPA needs to deal with theoretical diversity and pluralism, at the same time maintaining standards and enhancing the identity of the members as psychoanalysts. He continued that the IPA needs to guard against the disappearance of the boundary between psychoanalysis and psychotherapy and must recognize that it is primarily a standards-setting, rather than a standards-policing, organization.
After the election results were announced, Mme. Chasseguet-Smirgel was very gracious in her words of congratulation to the new President Dr. Sandler, in his acceptance remarks, took note of the degree of bitterness and acrimony that had marked the election and observed that “wounds had been left which would take a long time to heal.” He felt that the organization will need to engage in serious self-examination and will have to reconsider the election procedures, with an eye, perhaps, to the implementation of a mail ballot for future elections. He also reminded us of the specific problems that may develop in connection with the appplication of new societies from the United States for membership in the IPA Dr. Sandler stressed that the American Pschoanalytic Association remains a vital component of the IPA and that the IPA plans to cooperate fully with the American to maintain standards for psychoanalysis in the United States and to insure the integrity of the American Psychoanalytic Association.
—Lynne Moritz/Arnold Richards