The American Psychoanalytic Association has long recognized that it is a hybrid organization serving at least two functions. The first is that of an educational institution, with all its concomitant needs and responsibilities; the second is that of an organization of professionals who share a scientific interest as well as a guild interest in their relationship to organized psychiatry, organized medicine, and the larger society.
Over the years, an inevitable tension has grown between these two main functions of the Association with, by and large, the main emphasis being on establishing and consolidating educational criteria and standards. This emphasis grew partly out of necessity, given the events within the field of psychoanalysis since the end of World War II. That the educational interest of psychoanalysis and of the Association has been well served is evidenced by the strong educational position of our institutes and of the Association. The large influx of trainees into psychoanalysis in the 50s and 60s created the need for a good, well-qualified, and standardized educational system. At the same time, the guild interest declined in importance.
“I would open the door to graduates of our various institutes and allow them full membership so that their voices may be heard and contribute to the strengthening of the Association.”
In the past 10 to 15 years, though, the interest and needs of the Association appear to have shifted gradually from a concentration on education to an involvement not only in scientific matters— as evidenced by the strength of our various scientific programs—but also in our increasingly important relationships with psychiatry, medicine, and government, with economic issues assuming greater and greater importance.
If I am correct in my assessment of this shift, which I anticipate will be more prominent in coming years, then we need to strengthen the membership side of the Association to bring as many psychoanalytic professionals as possible together in one organization that can best relate to the outside world. I do not feel that such a shift will weaken our educational system, for the Board on Professional Standards will maintain a high presence in the maintenance of standards.
Rather, I feel that the membership side of the Association needs to be strengthened in order to meet the outside challenges that I anticipate will impinge upon our profession and hence our Association. To strengthen the membership component of the Association, therefore, I would open the door to graduates of our various institutes and allow them full membership so that their voices may be heard and contribute to the strengthening of the Association.