New York
In my capacity as Treasurer of the American Psychoanalytic Association, I have held the longest continuous tenure on the Executive Committee of any officer in the history of our association. There have been many troubling and major issues during this period of time, including the lawsuit We not only had to remain solvent financially and seek out a new Headquarters office because of substantially increasing rentals, but had to continue to maintain the functioning and goals of the Association. I played a major role in pursuing these tasks.
I have learned much during those past years from the collective wisdom of our leadership, from my frequent discussions with many members, attendance at many meetings of standing and ad hoc committees, and participation in discussions involving every activity of the Association. The office of Treasurer involves not merely dealing with finances—as a member of the executive committee he/she maintains a close involvement with every activity of the Association; as with the other officers, the Treasurer is a voting member of the Coordinating Committee which consists of the Chairmen of the standing committees of the Board on Professional Standards, and is likewise a member of the Board, the Executive Committee and the Executive Council. Additionally, the Treasurer is the only officer who is, ex-officio, a voting and participating
member of the Board of Directors of the Fund for Psychoanalytic Research of the American; I would add that I was a member of the original committee to assess the desirability and feasibility of establishing such fund. These activities afford the Treasurer a vantage point in all the affairs of the Association with no exceptions. I have encountered problems and issues which range from individual members and their dues all the way to the recently escalated activities of the Committee on Government Relations and Insurance.
The last two years have represented major turning points in the evolution of our Association, participarly in relationship to the functions of our newly formed standing Committee, the Committee on Non-Medical Clinical Training. (CNMCT). This has raised new important issues which the leadership must carefully and properly address. These issues involve not only the functions of the Committee in relationship to the accredited Institutes and Affiliate Societies, but our recently revised relationship to the International Psychoanalytic Association as well, which will be accrediting new Institutes in the U.S. not accredited by the American.
The functions of the CNMCT interfaces directly with the activities of our accredited Institutes concerning admission and training standards of non-medical applicants for full clinical training. I believe that the educational autonomy of individual institutes must be recognized and reinforced, while the national organization sets standards and monitors the individual institute's adherence to them through the Committee on Institutes.
Another matter which must be addressed by the leadership involves categories of membership, voting rights and certification. Our present membership structure imposes an artificial and unfair differentiation of members by restricting voting rights only to active members, who became full members by certification. The certification procedure is very important and should be sought after by our members, much as certification by the different specialty boards in medicine are regarded as highly desirable and even mandatory in Medical School and Hospital appointments, but it should not be confused with the rights of membership in a professional Association or professional Society. If an accredited Institute has graduated a candidate, and qualifies him by accepting him/her as a member of the Society, then with the approval of his local Institute and Society, I believe he/she should qualify for full active membership in our national organization.
Another matter I consider to be of increasing importance is the visibility which our members and the entire field of psychoanalysis have in relationship to our colleagues in the medical and psychological sciences, to those in the scientific world at large, to the public, and certainly to lawmakers and third party payers. I have played a role in instituting activities in several committees which currently function in these areas.
I have given many years of service to the Association, to my local Socities and Institutes (dual membership in Columbia and New York), and to Psychoanalytic endeavors and practice. Additionally, I have had considerable experience in academic psychiatry and psychoanalysis, research and administration. Activities and appointments include: Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University; Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NY State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia- Presbyterian Medical Center, full-time, for many years; Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Roosevelt Hospital; Associate Research Psychiatrist and acting chief of Research Psychiatry, N.Y. State Psychiatric Institute.
Other activities include: charter member of Academy of Child Psychiatry, and recently chair, committee on therapy of the Academy; President, Margaret S. Mahler Psychiatric Research Foundation; President, Psychoanalytic Assistance Fund; Board members, and formerly President, Psychoanalytic Research and Development Fund; members, Board of Directors and Executive Committee, Sigmund Freud Archives, Inc., and SFA representative on the Board of Trustees of the Freud London Museum.
I feel that my experience in the organization and my understanding of the problems confronting the profession have prepared me to be president.