Chicago
The importance of the field of psychoanalysis cannot be overestimated. At a time when human values are constantly threatened by the nature of the society in which we live, psychoanalysis standards as a bulwark against dehumanization. As an amalgam of science and the humanities, it represents our best attempt toward a psycholotically enlightened future. The heritage which Freud left us is in an early stage of development. We are currently in a position to advance our field through continuing scientific discoveries, scholarly work, excellent clinical care, and superior education.
In the United States, the American Psychoanalytic Association is the predominant professional organization which concerns itself with the maintenance of standards and the advancement of our field. For this reason, it is essential for us to support our organization and make sure it is strong, viable, and growing. The recent decision to enlarge the range of fields from which our members are recruited while maintaining the foundation in our medical heritage is a step in the right direction. In recruitment, the emphasis must be on quality rather than numbers, and we must continue to look for the best possible candidates who are to enter our field. We should be in a position to stir the imagination of superior young people about to choose a professional career. Our Association should do its utmost to ensure a psychoanalytic presence in medical schools, psychiatric residency programs, and other sources of professional recruitment.
The relationship between the local societies and institutes and our national organization is an important source for continuous cross-fertilization. The national organization benefits from the input and the points of view formed and expressed in the local center. While paying close attention to standards and requirements which maintain a strong association, I believe it is important to encourage and support local efforts in recruitment and educational innovation. Concurrently, the national organization must benefit from local endeavors and reflect what is positive in such efforts on a general level.
I believe that it is important for our organization to continue to grow in membership and that unnecessary impediments to such membership growth should be removed. I think we are all interested in having well-trained, responsible psychoanalysts become members of our organization. We do not want our organization to become a rigid, exclusionary club which adheres to atavistic and outmoded rules and regulations. Thus, criteria for membership and certification procedures should be reexamined and evaluated in order to determine whether they are cumbersome and outmoded.
Currently, we are faced with the problem of economic and social forces which impeded the desire and ability of potential patients in seeking psychoanalytic treatment. Our organization should do its utmost to inform the community at large of the value of psychoanalytic treatment and the opportunities it offers for health, personal enrichment and productivity. We have been hesitant in the past to engage in this task because of misguided attitudes toward promoting social change.
What are my qualifications for the position of President of the American Psychoanalytic Association? I understand psychoanalysis as a clinical treatment based on an empirical theory of knowledge, supported by both the sciences and the humanities. Thus, my view is that of a clinician grounded in familiarity with psychoanalytic thought. As a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, I have served on the Indexing Committee, the Committee on Institutes, the Committee on University and Medical Education, and the Coordinating Committee. I have been on the Editorial Board of the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN PSYCHOANALYTIC ASSOCIATION. In my local institute in Chicago, for the past 12 years, I have been a member of the Educational
Council. I have been president of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Society. For the last few years, I have chaired the Committee on Research and Special Training. I have served as Acting Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago. I am familiar with the numerous difficulties that beset our field in critical academic communities outside the Association.
One of our colleagues has recently stated that it is a privilege to practice psychoanalysis. I agree, and would add that it is also a struggle—but a struggle that is worth the effort. Freud taught us that men and women are strong as long as they subscribe to a strong ideal. They become weak when they abandon it. Psychoanalysis is a strong idea. I would like to strengthen it further.