Attendees at the 80th Annual Meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association in New Orleans will have a diverse array of scientific sessions from which to choose. Highlighting the program will be four exciting panels and a new format involving a panel discussion of a scientific paper.
Panel I addresses analytic failures. Entitled The Retrospectroscope Is 20/20: Learning From Our Unsuccessful Cases, this panel will be chaired by Paul Dewald and will feature Theodore Jacobs, James McLaughlin, and Morton Shane as presenters. Judith Chused will serve as discussant. Panel II is the next offering in our Classics Revisited format: Ferenczi's The Development of Psychoanalysis and will be chaired by Helen Meyers. Panelists include Gerald Fogel, John Gedo, and Lawrence Inderbitzin, and the discussant will be Jacob Jacobson.
Reflecting the complexity and controversy surrounding the topic Gender Disorder in Boys, Panel III will be an all-day session. Martin Silverman will be chairman; panelists will be Susan Coates, Richard Friedman, Lester Isenstadt, and John McDevitt; and discussants will be Jon Meyer, Bernard Pacella, and Phyllis Tyson. The fourth panel, Hate in the Analytic Setting, will be chaired by Glen Gabbard. Milton Horowitz, Donald Kaplan, and Alan Skolnikoff will present detailed process notes of analytic encounters with hateful patients, while Stanley Coen will serve as discussant.
At the New Orleans meeting, the Program Committee will experiment with a new format that involves a panel discussion of a scientific paper by Otto Kernberg: The Current Status of Psychoanalysis. To invite varying opinions, Chairman George Allison has arranged for five discussants of the paper: Homer Curtis, Marvin Margolis, Paul Ornstein, Fred Pine, and Morton Reiser.
The Plenary Address at the Annual Meeting will be presented by one of our colleagues from our host city, Vann Spruiell. His topic will be The Privileges and Burdens of Being a Psychoanalyst. We are also delighted to have an invited guest, Professor Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, who will be joining us for the Meet-the-Author seminar. Discussing her book, Anna Freud, will be Albert Solnit and Donald Spence. Henry Smith will serve as moderator.
Recent meetings of the International Psychoanalytic Association have stirred considerable debate about the theoretical pluralism in contemporary psychoanalysis. The debate will continue in New Orleans in our popular Psychoanalytic Dialogue format, where Leo Rangell and Robert Wallerstein will present their views on the topic Psychoanalysis: One or Many? Arnold Richards will moderate. Another area of controversy in our field is the relative contributions of biological and intrapsychic factors in the production of panic and anxiety. Gerald Klerman will address this topic in the Seminar for Psychoanalysts, chaired by Arnold Cooper.
Ethel Person will speak on the topic of Romantic Love and the Cultural Unconscious at the Psychoanalytic Forum, designed for associate and affiliate members. Under the guidance of Melvin Bornstein, we will have a series of programs for psychiatric residents and psychology and social work students coordinated around a single theme: The Value of Psychoanalytic Principles in Understanding Trauma.
History buffs in our ranks will enjoy the Oral History Workshop chaired by Eve Fortson. Panelists Robert Gilliland, Edward Knight, Henry Miles, and Vann Spruiell will discuss The History of Psychoanalysis in New Orleans and the Adjacent Deep South.
Ilsa Bick and Bruce Sklarew have organized a three-session film workshop on Sadism and Masochism in the Film Narrative. In addition, a variety of interdisciplinary seminars on topics ranging from Shakespeare's concept of creativity to grandparenthood will be offered. Jon Meyer will continue his efforts to organize Research in Progress sessions, and two-day workshops will also be available for registration. Finally, those analysts who are computer friendly will enjoy Paul Mosher's discussion with the Committee on Scientific Activities regarding The Use of Personal Computers for Psychoanalytic Studies.
Even though the lure of Cajun cuisine and New Orleans jazz may be formidable, members who are making the trip to New Orleans will find their attendance at this year's program richly rewarding. Those of you who are coming to the meeting for nourishment of the mind as well as of the body will find a smorgasbord of delicacies awaiting you.