I am writing this statement as a Councilor, a member of the Stein Committee, and the Chair of the Committee on Associate and Affiliate Members for the past six years. In this last position, I have heard many recent graduates and some younger members say that they would like The American to be their national organization, to promote psychoanalysis and to be a resource for support, professional stimulation, an interface with the larger professional community, and reinforcement of their identity as psychoanalysts. Many feel felt distant from the organization as it now exists.
“Since … fewer people have been able to fill a full-time analytic practice, the distinctions between full-time analysts and part-time analysts are blurring….”
I think it is important to strengthen the role of The American and its function as a professional organization. At this time, when the teaching of psychoanalytic ideas has been attenuated, and when the medical identity and affiliations of American psychoanalysis are changing, it is important to have a representative professional organization that will facilitate member participation and offer membership to qualified graduates of psychoanalytic institutes.
Certification, as an indicator of psychoanalytic excellence, can be valuable. To link certification to active membership, however, means that a considerable number of analysts are denied full participation in their professional organization. These analysts are not necessarily those less qualified or who practice by lower standards; nor are they necessarily not functioning as “full time” analysts. Since, in the last few years, fewer people have been able to fill a full-time analytic practice, the distinctions between full-time analysts and part-time analysts are blurring, in any case. They are all graduates of recognized institutes and have invested considerable time and effort in careful training. According to the data obtained by the Stein Committee, many find the certification process superfluous.
If there are serious doubts about the quality of training particular institutes offer, this concern needs to be addressed directly with the institutes in question either by the Committee on Institutes or by way of another process. One would also need to consider whether these problems in training are sufficiently serious to disqualify a graduate from membership in the national organization. The American can certainly withstand the occasional mistake. In any case, we do not entirely protect ourselves from mistakes under the current certification process. The goal of developing and maintaining a strong and representative professional and scientific organization seems to me to be of considerable importance.
I therefore support the proposal that active voting membership in The American be open to graduates of qualified institutes and not be linked to certification. Certification, if the process is improved, can be a valuable educational tool and an indicator of an individual's qualification for Training Analyst status. As one measure of psychoanalytic competence, it can serve a function similar to that of Board certification in other fields. Those analysts interested in training analyst status would need to be certified, as would those who are Fellows of the Board, members of Board committees, and officers.